'That fourth quarter was electric': Inside Rumson's surge to a boys lacrosse state title

RUMSON – A change in scenery was what the Rumson-Fair Haven boys lacrosse team needed in order to break free from its legendary opponent Summit.

After all, the Hilltoppers had won 12 NJSIAA state titles, the third most in NJSIAA history and they were on their way to another title with a 2-0 lead after the first quarter when a lightning alert at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School on June 1 forced the temporarily postponement of the game that night.

The postponement turned into a suspension of the game until Friday at Rumson-Fair Haven and the Bulldogs didn’t squander their second chance at success.

The game resumed with 11:55 left on the clock in the second quarter and Rumson-Fair Haven quickly tied the game, 2-2, with 6:04 left in that quarter as senior midfielder Christian Bockelmann and junior midfielder Quinn Stankovits each had a goal.

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Summit would take its last lead, 5-4, with 1:27 left in the third quarter and then like lightning Rumson-Fair Haven tied the game just before the third quarter buzzer via Cole Cashion’s tally. Rumson later dominated Summit in the fourth quarter and completed an impressive 9-5 win over Summit in the NJSIAA Group 2 State Final.

“12 minutes for another week. That’s all we talked about. That’s all we said. 12 minutes of the best lacrosse that you have and we get another week. And they wanted another week. Sometimes it can be that simple. We didn’t change anything. They went out and executed. All the credit is to the kids.” – Rumson-Fair Haven coach Marc Moreau

Key play

With about seven seconds left in the third quarter, junior midfielder Cole Cashion was behind the Summit net and needed to make a decision. He ran right around the crease to the front left side of the net and fired in a shot with one second left in the third quarter. That goal, which was Cashion’s only score of the game, forged a 5-5 tie after three quarters. That goal also sparked Rumson-Fair Haven’s game-breaking, five-goal run, which allowed the Bulldogs to win the NJSIAA Group 2 Final on their home field.

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“It gave us a sense of confidence. We knew we could do this. After that goal, we scored a couple more and we knew we had the confidence to be state champions.” – Rumson-Fair Haven junior midfielder Cole Cashion

Unsung hero

That would be every member of the Rumson-Fair Haven defense. The Bulldogs became only the third school to hold Summit scoreless for two or more quarters in regulation in a game this season. Delbarton did it on April 13 in its 4-3 and New Providence did it on May 5 it is 7-1 loss.

By the numbers

2 – That’s the number of boys lacrosse NJSIAA State Titles that Rumson-Fair Haven owns. The Bulldogs other state title came in 2015 as a group 1 school. Also, the number of NJSIAA Tournament of Champions appearances the Bulldogs will make.

1 – Friday’s win over Summit, is believed to be the first time in school history that Rumson-Fair Haven defeated Summit. The Bulldogs had previously lost seven straight games to Summit, going back to the 2010 season. Prior to Friday’s game, Rumson-Fair Haven last met Summit in last year’s NJSIAA Group 2 State Final and lost 9-6.

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0 – That’s how many goals Rumson-Fair Haven scored in the first quarter of the game that was originally started on Wednesday, June 1 at Bridgewater-Raritan. When the game got moved to Friday, June 3 at Rumson-Fair Haven (after severe thunderstorms outlook on Wednesday), that’s also how many goals Summit scored in the second and fourth quarters.

They said it

“At halftime, we felt comfortable playing six on six offense. We wanted to speed them up a little bit and play fast when we could. But they (Summit) are a hard team to do that against. But we found some opportunities to do it. We made some plays.” - Rumson-Fair Haven boys lacrosse coach Marc Moreau

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“We’ve been working at this for a year. They got all of this out of the course of our base offense that we’ve run all year. They are so comfortable with each other that they know when they have the opportunity, who should shoot, when they should shoot, how they should shoot. We aren’t settling something up for one person. It is up to them to figure out what the best opportunity is out of the framework that we have and the defense that they are going against. They figured it out and then they capitalized on it.” -Rumson-Fair Haven boys lacrosse coach Marc Moreau

“It was intense. Every single person on the field had the adrenaline going and we were all locked in the entire game, offense, defense, goalie, faceoff. We got the result we wanted. At the end, we were ecstatic.” - Rumson-Fair Haven Junior Midfielder Quinn Stankovits

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“We don’t quit. If something doesn’t go our way that didn’t affect how we go out the next time. Say we don’t get the faceoff, it is fine. We try to get the ground ball. If we don’t get the ground ball, we get back on defense. If we make mistakes, we know it isn’t the end of the world. We’ll come back full force. - Rumson-Fair Haven Junior Midfielder Quinn Stankovits

“That fourth quarter was electric. We were working on all cylinders. We really knew that we could do it and we wanted to close it out before they could come back. They (Summit) are a very talented team. All kudos to them.” - Rumson-Fair haven Junior Midfielder Cole Cashion

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“It is our home turf. It really sunk in that this could be the last game. We just wanted that (extra) week together. This team’s bond is unbreakable. It is just a surreal experience to come on our home turf  and we knew that we were going to protect it.” - Rumson-Fair haven Junior Midfielder Cole Cashion

“We came out a little bit flat (on Wednesday) and got down 2-0, we knew we had to change something. We used the off day to get what we needed to do. We came out (today) and put them in the back of the net. Everybody had each other’s back. It was just awesome.” - Rumson-Fair Haven senior midfielder Tommy French

Box Score

Rumson-Fair Haven 9, Summit 5

RFH (21-4) 0-2-3-4 = 9

Summit (16-3) 2-0-3-0 = 5

Goals: (R) Quinn Stankovits 3, Tommy French 2, Christian Bockelmann, Grayson Goldin, Cole Cashion, Philip Passalaqua; (S) Dylan Sebastian 3, John Murray, Lucas Stocks.

Assists: (R) Cole Cashion 3, Tommy French 2, Philip Passalaqua, Christian Bockelman; (S) John Murray 2, Jake Lowry.

Saves: (R) Will Setteducate 3, (S) Will Kein 3.

What’s next

Rumson-Fair Haven advances to the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions for the second time in school history. The Bulldogs earned the No. 1 seed and have a bye into the TOC semifinals where they will play the winner of No. 5 seed Scotch Plains-Fanwood and No. 4 seed Bridgewater-Raritan on Wednesday, June 8. St. Augustine earned the No. 2 seed and will play winner of No. 3 seed Mountain Lakes and No. 6 seed Rutgers Prep on Wednesday, June 8. The TOC Final is Sunday, June 12 at Mount Olive High School.

Sherlon Christie is a sports reporter at the Asbury Park Press and has covered sports at the Jersey Shore since 2004. Don't miss any of his coverage by subscribing at https://subscribe.app.com. You can contact him at https://linktr.ee/schristie2

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rumson-Fair Haven boys lacrosse storms past Summit for Group 2 Title