by Gary Adornato

Top-ranked St. Paul's wanted the 2004 MIAA A Conference lacrosse championship in the worse way and it waisted very little time making all 5,300 fans in Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium understand this, as the Crusaders rocked #3 Gilman with an 8-1 first quarter, last night, and went on to an impressive 15-10 win over the Greyhounds in the 2004 MIAA A Conference Championship game.

The victory completed a long comeback for the St. Paul's lacrosse program, which forfeited its entire 2001 season after several players were caught up in a videotape sex scandal. That St. Paul's team was the nation's top-ranked team in preseason polls, but it never got the opportunity to test its potential.

After struggling to rebuild through the last two years, this year's St. Paul's team entered the season to little fanfare and, outside of Brooklandville, few imagined they could challenge for the title in the nation's premier prep school league. This morning, however, they reign supreme over the A Conference.

"We really wanted, this year, to re-establish ourselves as a local and national power and think this solidifies that," said St. Paul's head coach Mitch Whiteley. "Our goals were to get back into the playoffs and show our true ability. These kids worked tremendously hard and proved a lot of people wrong. They've been surprising people all year."

No one was more surprised in the early stages last night than Gilman. The Greyhounds, which defeated St. Paul's in their lone previous meeting, are a defensive oriented team that likes to wear down its opponents, but St. Paul's (20-3) struck so fast and so hard that it was impossible for the Greyhounds (15-4) to recover.

Junior Gavin Gill, who had four goals and four assists on the night, beat Gilman keeper Patrick Marshall in the game's opening minute and then score two more quick goals, as St. Paul's built a 4-0 advantage less than two minutes into the contest. After a much needed time out, Gilman stopped the bleeding, for a moment, with a Scott Tompkins goal, but the Crusaders closed the period with another 4-0 run, leaving Gilman with a huge mountain to climb.

To their credit, the Greyhounds battle back and trailed just 10-6, with possession of the ball, in the final seconds of the third quarter. However, St. Paul's goalkeeper Matt Landsman, who had 16 saves on the night, turned back a pair of excellent opportunities and the quarter ended with St. Paul's still in front by four. St. Paul's then scored a quick fourth quarter goal and Gilman never again challenged.

"This is something we've been looking forward to all season long. We worked hard and we felt we deserved it, but we had to come out and prove it tonight," said St. Paul's senior Jason Donati, who had two assists. "This means so much to our school. It's been a tough few of years for our program, but that is all behind us and this is the start of something new. We are all very proud to represent St. Paul's in lacrosse."

St. Paul's did not lack for stars last night. In addition to Gill and Donati, the Crusaders got a huge game from senior Zach Thomas, who scored five times. Senior Johnny Black chipped in three goals and junior Bart Wagner had four assists.

In defeat, Gilman was led by Tompkins and sophomore Zach Bradley, who had three goals each, while senior Davis Lindsey had two goals and an assist. In addition, senior attackman Alex Wharton ended his brilliant career with a pair of assists, and linemate John Pinney also had two assists.