BRUINS & SABRES CLAIM FINAL B PLAYOFF SPOTS

The Park School withstood a late charge from Glenelg Country, earning its first win against the Dragons in three years, 2-1, as well as a berth into the MIAA B Conference playoffs. Saints Peter & Paul also advances with 1-0 win over Key.

The Bruins led, 2-0, as Nick Ryugo assisted goals by Colin Smith and Noam Yaffe against league
rival Glenelg Country School in a key matchup that would determine the third and final playoff spot from Division II of the B Conference.

And as the clock wound down, the Bruins had the playoffs already in sight.  But, with a minute and 10 seconds to play, John Jones converted a feed from Kelson McAuliffe to put Glenelg Country on the board and make things interesting.

The Dragons continued pressured Bruins goalie Jon Hettlemen, forcing him to making a key save to perserve the 2-1 victory.

“It was real tough at the end, and this was the first time we’ve been able to beat them in three years,” said Hettlemen, who, “came up very big at the end,” according to his coach, Lucky Mallonee.

“The kids have played hard all season, and I’m very proud of them,” said Mallonee. “I would have been very proud of their performance, even if we had been on the losing end today.”

After a scoreless first half, the Bruins (10-4-1 league, 11-5-1 overall) went ahead, 1-0, on a beautiful feed from Ryugo to Smith, who headed the ball into the net.

“It felt real good to score in a big game,” said Smith, whose goal was his first of the season.

Seven minutes later on another great throw-in from Ryugo, Yaffe put Park ahead 2-0.  

“It was a great team effort,” Yaffe said. “We played real hard, and we’re looking forward to the playoffs.”

“We had trouble scoring all season, and after we went up by two we went into a defensive shell,” Mallonee said. “We had to stop Kelson from scoring again. I assigned Pat McMahon to hound him, and we managed to pull out the win.”

The win ousts the Dragons (10-5, 11-5) from playoff contention, as they finished one point behind the Bruins in the race for the final spot in postseason play.  Missing the playoffs will certainly be tough to digest for the Dragons, who finished with 30 points which would have been enough to tie for first place in Division I, which was won by Annapolis Area Christian.  By contrast Saints Peter & Paul, which edged Key, 1-0, yesterday to claim the third seed in Division I, finished with just nine points.

The Sabres qualified for the playoffs on the strength of a first half goal by John Kaestner, with about 10 left.  Both teams had numerous opportunities to score, but only Kaestner was able to capitalize.

Saints Peter & Paul employed two goalkeepers as Micah Steinmiller and John Paul Pellerin combined for 10 saves and the first shutout of the season for the Sabres.  In addition, Seth Whaley and Grant Harrison anchored the defense in front of the Sabre keepers.

With the victory Saints Peter & Paul (4-13, 3-11) slipped one point in front of Key (5-12-3, 2-10-2) to take the final playoff berth in Division I.

With the final two positions now filled, here is how the B Conference playoffs shape up:

The two division winners Boys’ Latin (13-5-1, 12-2-1) and AACS (10-5, 10-4) have earned first round byes and each will host semifinal contest on Tues., Nov. 6.  The remaining four teams will kick off the playoffs tomorrow with a pair of quarterfinal games.

Saints Peter & Paul will visit Friends (13-3-1, 12-3), the second seed in Division II, while Park will travel to Severn (11-5-1, 9-4-1) to face the Admirals in the other quarterfinal.

In the semifinals, BL will face the Severn/Park winner and AACS will take on the Friends/Saints Peter & Paul survivor.  The MIAA B Conference Championship Game will be played as part of championship triple header, with the C and A Conferences, on Nov. 10 at Calvert Hall.

Click here for the complete MIAA B Conference Playoff Bracket.