Shawnee, Moorestown stage an instant overtime boys lacrosse classic

MEDFORD — Nate Sears saw an opening and took his shot.

That’s how the Shawnee senior indelibly wrote his name into the lore of one of south jersey’s best high school boys lacrosse rivalries. Sears flashed unexpectedly into the slot with 1:55 remaining in the first overtime period and scored to give the Renegades a 6-5 win over Moorestown in a South Group 3 semifinal. Shawnee will host Clearview on Saturday morning for the South 3 title.

“This is a great rivalry,” Sears said. “They've been up on us for most of the past 20 years or so. We came out for revenge this year. We woke them up in the regular season. We realized that they are a whole different team now. They're a lot better now.”

The regular season meeting between the teams wasn’t much of a game, with Shawnee winning 15-2.

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The rematch was so different, it may as well have been a different sport. Shawnee scored first but the lead wouldn’t hold. The same pattern was repeated four more times. If a team had to win by two goals, they might never have ended.

Depending on how you look at it Shawnee blew five one-goal leads. Or Moorestown tied it up five times. Either way, it was an epic battle.

“We love playing Moorestown,” Shawnee senior Freddie McAneney said. “I remember my freshman year when we lost to them. They embarrassed us in the sectional finals. We never wanted to feel that again.

“We knew we beat them pretty good in the beginning of the year. We knew it was going to be a completely different game. It is the semifinals. That's how it is.”

The Renegades have rebounded from a seven-game stretch when they lost four times. Since May 5, they’ve stacked up seven straight wins.

“I just think we're so much closer as a group overall,” McAneney said. “Nine out of our 10 starters are all football players. We are always together, year-round, four or five days of the week. We’re lifting weights in the offseason, playing football in the fall, working out together in the winter and then obviously together here in the spring.”

All that work, all that time together, all in service of reaching their goals. Beating Moorestown is an important one for the Renegades.

“You're going to have to earn it, you know that coming in,” Sears said. “It's one of the best feelings especially after seeing all the guys my freshman year. seeing those seniors get smoked by them. Winning is a great feeling, finally.”

There was a different feeling on the other sideline.

The Quakers finished the season with a deceptive 8-10 record, playing a schedule that feature all of south jersey’s elite programs sprinkled in with several top statewide powers. The design is to play their best lacrosse in late May.

“Everybody played their (butts) off until the end,” Moorestown senior goalie TJ Mindnich said. “Our defense, we let up six goals in a semifinal win-or-go-home game. Our offense scored goals. We did our thing and everybody played their hardest. That was the hardest I've seen this group of guys work all year. It was just awesome to see. It sucks to lose. It sucks that my lacrosse career will end like that but I'm glad was with these guys.”

Mindnich played the whole season on borrowed time. There was a very real chance that he wouldn’t have been able to play at all.

“I got diagnosed earlier in the year with psoriatic arthritis,” Mindnich said. “I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to play this year. It was tough. I had to weigh my options because I wasn't sure what would happen afterwards if I played. I just wanted to come out here one last time with all my friends and teammates. I wanted to try to win it all.”

The Quakers didn’t win it all. Mindnich lingered a bit longer than most of his teammates, collecting hugs from a nonstop line of coaches and teammates.

The senior was at his most eloquent when addressing the final question he would face as a lacrosse player.

Was it worth it?

“Yes,” Mindnich said.

Tom Rimback, sports reporter

Tom Rimback grew up reading the Burlington County Times and Courier Post sports sections and began writing for the BCT in 1996. He has covered everything from Super Bowls and Final Fours to Tri-County Swimming but he’s happiest on a sideline interviewing South Jersey scholastic athletes for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and The Daily Journal. Follow him on twitter @RimbackBCT. Email him with story ideas at trimback@thebct.com and, most importantly, support local journalism with a subscription.

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This article originally appeared on Burlington County Times: Senior Nate Sears put stamp on Shawnee-Moorestown boys lacrosse rivalry