SMITHSBURG – Dante Rucci’s job description has multiple options.
In another time and place, he could be a magician. If he has a sinister side, he could be a pickpocket.
For now, he’s the goalie for the Smithsburg lacrosse team … and he does this job with an oversized, netted stick instead of a wand.
Rucci used some sleight of hand – and a little misdirection for diversion – for a solid performance in his cage on Wednesday night to help the Leopards to a 15-3 victory over Brunswick in the first game of the Maryland Class 1A West Region II playoffs.
The sophomore was credited with 12 saves, some on shots taken from what seemed like an arm’s length away. But what was more remarkable was his ability to snare balls-out of the Railroaders’ sticks before they ever could fire a shot.
“He definitely did a great job,” said Smithsburg Coach Cullan Ganley. “He is very active. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet a bit and hope for the best. He gets himself out of some situations for sure. He bails himself out some of the time and then bails us out.”
In the end, he did the trick. Rucci made the Railroaders disappear.
Rucci wasn’t the sole reason for Smithsburg’s victory. But he took the pressure off the Leopards’ offense, widening the margin for error and allowing it to score more methodically.
Rucci made his mark early by stonewalling Brunswick in point-blank opportunities – including one while sitting in the goalmouth. Add to it a couple of “now you see it, now you don’t” thefts of the ball, and Brunswick was off the rails.
“I just work a lot at goalie,” Rucci said. “I was going early. That’s what I’ve been taught. If you’re going to guess, keep your hands, your body low and just go.
“I try to sit as still as I can when the ball is that close. I just let my hands and body work and just get there.”
Ganley said Rucci was out of the Leopards’ lineup for much of the season but returned to his slot on April 28.
“It was a loss for us,” Ganley said “We had a freshman, Drake Cool, step in for most of the season and did a great job.
“Dante does a lot of work to make himself a factor in that position. He sees the field really well and clears the ball quickly. He sees the passes and is able to cause a few turnovers and that just creates things.”
While Rucci and Smithsburg’s defense controlled back of the field with physical play that stripped Brunswick’s offensive players of their sticks on a number of occasions, the Leopards went to work offensively.
“That was a point of emphasis in this game to get out and play them a little bit. We tried to play with some pressure to see how they handled it.”
Smithsburg, the fourth seed in the bracket, led 3-1 after the first quarter before ballooning the lead to 9-2 by halftime. The Leopards are the six-time defending champs of the region title.
The Leopards, who played most of the game without Zachery Linn and Blake Linn, two of their mainstays, won 14 faceoffs to help limit the Railroaders’ opportunities.
“We were down pretty much the whole game without the two Linns,” Ganley said. “They’re pretty important parts to our offense. Zach Linn takes a lot of faceoffs for us. Marquis Weakfall did a great job stepping in there and did a great job to control that part of the game.
“They usually split time on faceoffs, but it was all Marquis tonight.”
It just took Smithsburg 12 seconds to get a 1-0 lead as Noah Hegbe scooped up the opening faceoff and fed it to Blake Linn just to the left of the cage for the score. Brunswick’s Logan Kissleback popped in his first of two goals 90 seconds later to tie that game at one.
Ayden Weakfall scored with 4:28 left in the quarter, and Preston Coffman followed at the 3:33 mark to give Smithsburg the 3-1 lead. It was the first of four goals for Coffman, while Weakfall accounted for three.
“We had pretty good ball movement and pretty good movement in the crease. We just played well as a team,” Coffman said. “We came out and played as hard as we could for as long as we could.”
“We never dropped our heads. We stayed in the game the whole time so we did the best we could.”
The two scores to end the first quarter were the first of six straight goals for the Leopards.
Ayden Weakfall and Coffman got their second of the game along with scores by Kaden Dietrich and Nicolas Roncone to give Smithsburg a 7-1 lead with 2:15 remaining in the half.
Kisselback stopped the spree with his second goal before the Leopards scored twice in the final minute for the 9-2 lead at the intermission. Hegbe stole the ball and scored on a breakaway with :57 left before Dietrich got his second goal with 4.7 seconds remaining.
Smithsburg extended the lead to 11-3 after three quarters with goals by Kyle Kretsinger and Ayden Weakfall.
The Leopards closed out the scoring, while shutting out Brunswick, the fifth seed, on goals by Marquis Weakfall, Coffman and Matthew Smith.
Ayden Weakfall added four assists to his total while Dietrich, Hegbe and Coffman had two each.
With the victory, Smithsburg hit the road to face top-seeded Boonsboro on Friday at 7:30 p.m. as the Leopards continue the bid to retain that region title.
“It’s kind of a different position we are in this year, considering we’re very used to being that No. 1 seed,” Ganley said. “At times, we showed we can play with anybody and we can put a really good product on the field. And then there are times we shoot ourselves in the foot.
“At times, we are going to have to grind it out. It’s just going to take playing 48 minutes. But anytime you advance in the playoffs, it doesn’t matter how you do it. You just try to do it.”
