Two versions of Petaluma-Casa Grande lacrosse game

Here are submitted stories on the Petaluma-Casa Grande NorCal title game.

From Petaluma

It has been a busy week for the Petaluma varsity lacrosse team. In the first round of playoffs, Petaluma played the Orangevale Rams that had previously defeated

Petaluma. Petaluma avenged the loss with a dominating 16-8 victory. The game was tied 4-4 at the half, but then the Petaluma team woke up and took over, scoring 12 goals in the 2nd half to secure a trip to the Final Four in Folsom this past weekend. Leading the scoring was Carter Olson with 8 goals and 2 assists, Devin Chiappari with 4 goals and 2 assists, Will Walls with 1 goal and 2 assists, Blake Olson with 1 goal and 1 assist, and Gabe Adams and Quinn Hunter each added a goal. Outstanding in goal, as always, was Colby Reece with 14 saves. He was protected by a strong defense of Matthew Williams, Michael Phillips, Zach Goddard and Jack Woerner. Eric Reichardt was excellent as Long pole defensive midfielder. It was a solid disciplined team effort.

Petaluma traveled to Folsom for the Final Four tournament this past weekend and faced a strong Folsom team in the first round and dominated every aspect of the game, achieving a 15-4 victory under the blistering hot sun on Saturday. Devin Chiappari led the team with 2 goals and 4 assists, Carter Olson had 4 goals, Gabe Adams had 2 goals, Blake Olson had 1 goal and 2 assists, Will walls had 1 goal and 1 assist, and DJ Kenny and PD Rubens each had a goal. Once again the defense played very well and Colby Reece had 7 saves. The win against Folsom secured the team's spot in the NorCal championship game against Casa Grande the following day.

Petaluma and Casa Grande came into the Championship game with an even playing field each having had one loss over the other team in the regular season and Petaluma 's first loss to Casa in 3 years.

Petaluma came on strong from the first face-off giving the Petaluma team a 3-2 lead in the first quarter with a goal each by Carter Olson, DJ Kenny, and Gabe Adams. In the 2nd quarter Petaluma pulled away in a dominating assault with an additional 2 goals by Carter Olson. Casa tried hard to fight back, but Petaluma 's strong defense led by Michael Phillips, Matthew Williams, Jack Woerner, Eric Reichardt, and Zach Goddard would not let Casa score in the 2nd quarter, giving Petaluma a 5-2 lead going into the 2nd half. In the third quarter Petaluma scored one goal by Quinn Hunter and Casa also scored one goal by Michael Dagnino. In the fourth quarter, Casa came back in the game with an instant three goals; two by Matt Samet and one by Thomas Cisneros to tie up the score and bring the game into overtime 6-6. In a nail biter overtime battle between these two highly competitive teams, Ernie Ortiz intercepted the ball and fed it to Blake Olson, who assisted Gabe Adams in scoring the winning goal. The crowd went wild as the Petaluma Varsity team took NorCal gold for 2009. Final score: Petaluma 7 - Casa 6.

Petaluma 's win might have been more easily earned had it not been for losing Devin Chaiappari and PD Rubens to St. Vincent’s prom in the 2nd half. Leading the assault were Carter Olson with 3 goals and 2 assists, Quinn Hunter had 1 goal and 1 assist, DJ Kenny had 1 goal, Gabe Adams had 2 goals. Colby Reece was excellent in goal with 8 saves.

The Petaluma team’s coaching staff was led by Dale Engles and Mike Spina. This win was especially sweet for the graduating seniors who won NorCal gold as a JV team; and took NorCal silver last year as a Varsity team.

Special recognition goes out to the senior players who have been with the Petaluma Youth Lacrosse League since its inaugural season in 2005 as 8th graders on the Junior B team: Gabe Adams, Devin Chiappari, Colton Feickert, Alex Gardner, Carter Olson, Michael Phillips, and Matthew Williams. Also graduating this year are: Mitch Dalbey, Colby Reece, Adam O'Brien, Ernie Ortiz, Michael Pinto, DJ Kenny, Quinn Hunter, PD Rubens, and Jack Woerner. Assisting the Petaluma team to victory this season included Jeff Slack, Bradley Nelson, Connor Ciocci, Zach Goddard, Blake Olson, Eric Reichardt, Robbie Sutliffe, and Will Walls.

From Casa Grande

Playing in Folsom, with game-time temperatures of 105º, Petaluma earned a hard fought 7-6 overtime win over Casa Grande to win the NCJLA varsity lacrosse championship. In the process, both teams earned the right to represent Northern California in the North-South Club Lacrosse Championship on May 30-31 in Newbury Park.

Petaluma started its playoff run a week ago with a 16-8 quarterfinal victory against Orangevale. They next faced tournament hosts Folsom-Cordova in the Saturday afternoon heat. After falling behind 4-1, Petaluma went on a run of 12 unanswered goals to end up with a convincing 13-4 semi-final win.

Casa played Gold Country (Grass Valley) in its quarterfinal match and dominated play for a 13-3 win. In the semi-final, played in slightly cooler conditions following the Petaluma-Folsom game, they prevailed over the Palo Alto Tomahawks for a 12-5 victory.

The championship game was played under difficult conditions, a combination of the extreme heat and the physical toll of a tough semifinal game less than 24 hours earlier. In this version of the ongoing rivalry, where almost all games have been decided by one or two goals, both teams came out as hard as could be expected. Petaluma scored first, with DJ Kenny finishing on a nice assist from Carter Olson. Casa responded less than two minutes later with Teddy Osmundson scoring from the crease on a feed by Jamison Bobo. Both teams then traded goals again with a two minute span. Gabe Adams made a strong dodge through several Casa defenders for an unassisted tally, while Bobo fed Rudy Tescallo for the next Casa Grande goal. Carter Olson scored on a Quinn Hunter assist to give Petaluma a 3-2 lead and round out the first quarter scoring.

The Petaluma defense, led by Erik Reichart, Matt Williams and Michael Phillips, began to dominate the Casa offense. As the second quarter advanced and both teams grew tired, Casa’s offense was unable to get into any type of rhythm. Colby Reece turned away the couple of scoring opportunities Casa was able to generate on good saves. Offensively, Petaluma was able to score twice on unassisted goals by Carter Olson. With a 5-2 lead at the half, it looked like Petaluma might pull away.

The same pattern continued in the third quarter. The Casa defense began to force Petaluma turnovers, but was unable to effectively clear the ball into their offensive end. This high tempo of play in the Folsom heat continued to wear on the players and the offensive pace slowed considerably. Petaluma scored with 7:29 left in the third quarter, this time Quinn Hunter assisted by Carter Olson, to extend its lead to 6-2. The Casa offense remained unable to generate much effective pressure and it looked like Petaluma would have a relatively easy win.

Casa came back to life with 8:30 left in the game. Matt Samet scored on an unassisted dodge through the heart of the Petaluma defense and the team seemed to pick up a head of steam. In the next four minutes, Samet would score two more goals – on assists from Osmundson and Mike Dagnino – and assist on a goal by Thomas Cisneros. Those four goals brought Casa even with Petaluma at 6-6. Casa continued to press the offense and had opportunities to score in the final four minutes, but Reece and the defense came up big on two different occasions.

At the start of overtime, Samet won the initial face off, only to have Petaluma regain possession. In a quick flurry, with the Casa defense disorganized, Gabe Adams scored his second unassisted goal by dodging through two Casa defenders to bang home a short shot. The goal gave Petaluma the NCJLA championship and continued the tradition of close, hard fought games between the two teams.

As a result, two teams from Petaluma will represent Northern California club lacrosse at the North-South Championship weekend. Petaluma, as the NorCal #1 seed, will play Thousand Oaks in its first game, while Casa Grande will play host Newbury Park in its first game. There is a very real chance that the two in-town rivals will face each other for the overall state championship.