Northport boys lacrosse tops Huntington, advances to Suffolk Class A final
Northport's Gavin O’Brien scores in the second quarter during a Suffolk Class A boys lacrosse semifinal against Huntington on Tuesday at Northport. Credit: Bob Sorensen
Last time the Northport and Huntington boys lacrosse teams met, it was a gritty battle that stretched into overtime.
This time, in the Suffolk Class A semifinal game, the Tigers made sure to leave no doubt.
Northport defeated the Blue Devils, 17-9, at home. Senior attackman Jack Deliberti led the Tigers with six goals and two assists while senior midfielder Thomas Kline led the Blue Devils with two goals and one assist.
Huntington’s Thomas Smith opened the scoring just over 30 seconds into play, but the Tigers were quickly able to take full control of the quarter, holding the Blue Devils scoreless until the final five minutes. Northport senior Dylan Baumgarth earned the Tigers possession time on the faceoff circle for the majority of the game.
After a tough 11-10 victory over the Blue Devils back in April, Northport coach Billy Cordts said he knew some adjustments had to be made.
“Huntington is a very talented group and we knew we had to be prepared,” Cordts said. “We’ve been mixing in some different things, trying out some different matchups, and I’m proud of the resilience that we showed.”
With a 7–4 lead at halftime, it was the fundamental changes in the midfield that allowed the Tigers to pull away.
“In the first half, we were missing some of those 50/50 ground balls,” Cordts said. “Once we started locking down on those in the second half, the tide started to turn for us.”
It was also in the second half that sophomore Gavin O’Brien was able to find his groove. The attackman led the Tigers in assists with four and rattled off three goals in the third quarter.
O’Brien took April’s one-point matchup personally. He said heading into this game, his goal was to make sure a thriller like that did not happen again.
“We just couldn’t let up,” O’Brien said. “No lead is ever safe so we knew we had to play together, selfless, and keep the dumb mistakes to a minimum.”
With four assists, selfless is one of the first words Cordts would use to describe O’Brien. Although being on the scoring side is fun, O’Brien said seeing his teammates celebrate is one of the best parts of lacrosse.
“We’re always working in practice to be better off-ball, so it's fun when those looks are open,” O’Brien said. “We were just really clicking today.”
After falling short to Half Hollow Hills in the county championship last season, the Tigers are hoping to find glory this time around.
“Our jerseys say ‘hard work,’ ” Cordts said. “That’s how we got here and that’s how we’ll finish.”
