Is La Salle going to win the boys state lacrosse title? After the way the Rams beat Moses Brown on Wednesday, it's hard to say no

PROVIDENCE — The last time the La Salle and Moses Brown boys lacrosse teams got together, the rivals played the best game — of any sport — in 2021.

Wednesday rematch wasn’t as close.

In last year’s state championship game, the Rams had an unforgettable comeback thanks to the play in the face-off circle from Anthony DiCenso and their ability to execute when they had possession. In the most highly anticipated game of the 2022 regular season, La Salle did the same thing to Moses Brown over four quarters. The Rams struck early, often and everywhere in between, barely allowing the Quakers to see the ball on their end in a 16-6 win that cements La Salle as the favorite to win this year’s state title.

“We always know when we play them they’re going to give us their best game and we’re giving them our best,” La Salle’s Dylan Johnson said.

“It was a great team win all the way from top to bottom, from our face-off to our goalies to our midfield to our attackmen to our defense.”

“We were really looking forward to this game because the last time we were on this field, we lost, 9-8, and that just kind of rubbed us the wrong way,” DiCenso said. “We brought that energy into this game and I think the scoreboard shows it, but we can definitely still improve.

“We’re looking to keep striving out of league and in league and beat everyone down.”

It’s really what La Salle has done all season.

The Rams’ most competitive games this season have come in their out-of-state, non-league schedule where they’ve gone 4-2 — one loss to Garden City High School, one of the best teams in New York, and the other to St. John’s Prep, Massachusetts’ Division 1 champ.

In Rhode Island, La Salle hasn’t been challenged. Heading to Wednesday’s game, the Rams had outscored opponents, 136-24, and it could have been worse if they wanted it to be.

Moses Brown represented a challenge. The Quakers hadn’t been challenged in league play, either, making Wednesday a preview of the state championship game.

All La Salle did was dominate from start to finish, thanks in part to a player who didn’t score a goal or register an assist.

DiCenso is the best face-off specialist in the state and showed why Wednesday. He won the opening face-off and La Salle promptly scored 23 seconds into the game, then DiCenso won the ensuing face-off and gave the Rams a chance to score again.

There were 26 face-offs in the game and DiCenso won 20 of them. Those wins lead to possessions and having the ball makes it much easier to score.

The Rams did just that. With La Salle up, 2-1, in the first, Matt Hayes extended the lead and Johnson followed with another after a DiCenso faceoff win. Noah Rosa capped the first quarter to make it 5-1.

“It’s amazing. He’s the man,” Johnson said of DiCenso’s face-off dominance. “We know that he’s going to do his job, so we’re going to do ours. He does his part, we do ours and we put them on the scoreboard and it all comes from him.”

“I know I have my job to do and everyone else has to do theirs, so it’s just like paying the favor,” DiCenso said. “If I come out and win one, I know they’re going to score one. The ball movement was great, we had some great outside rips and everyone stepped up to the plate.”

Not much changed the rest of the game. La Salle got goals from Ronan Peterson and Nolan Johnson in the first three minutes of the second quarter and, after six minutes with no scoring from either team, Nolan Johnson and Garrett Clare added goals to make it 9-1 before taking a 10-2 lead into the half.

Playing with complete control, the eight-goal halftime lead seemed comfortable, but La Salle wasn’t treating it that way. After Moses Brown’s Jake Murray scored at the start of the second half, the Rams answered with four goals to go up, 14-3.

“We’re never satisfied,” DiCenso said. “We were a little comfortable with the lead, but we knew the last time [the teams played at Moses Brown], up 5-2 at half, and they came back and beat us, 9-8. We know never be content with the score and always keep running it up.”

“You always know they’re going to try to come back and give us their best effort,” said Dylan Johnson, who finished with three goals in the win. “We always have to keep our minds straight and focus on getting a team W.”

Moses Brown’s focus will shift quickly from Wednesday’s loss to finishing up the regular season before preparing for a postseason run that should include a second chance at playing La Salle.

The Quakers needed to bring their best against their rivals and clearly didn’t have it. It didn’t help that La Salle came out looking to prove a point and, by the time Moses Brown could get its head straight, things were pretty much settled.

“It’s just a wake-up call that we need to work a lot harder in practice and in preparation so when we get to the games, we’re ready,” Moses Brown senior Logan Ziegler said. “We were just a little slow to start but I know we have the potential to do it. We just have to work as hard as we can to get there.”

La Salle is aware the Quakers will come ready to play should the teams both make the state final set for June 4.

“Every single game you sit back and see what you can do better — just getting better every time you touch the field,” Dylan Johnson said. “Practice like you play and get that killer mentality.”

“We’re itching. We can’t wait to get there,” DiCenso said. “But we’ve got one game at a time.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: La Salle beats Moses Brown in rematch of boys lacrosse state title game