Albemarle wins Commonwealth

Albemarle has been no stranger to close games this season, and the trend continued in the Patriots’ biggest game yet.

In a low-scoring affair, Albemarle rallied and eventually held off visiting Brooke Point 6-5 to claim its second straight Commonwealth District title on Thursday, less than 24 hours after surviving in the semifinals.

The Patriots knocked off Colonial Forge by the same score on Wednesday and found themselves in a similar situation coming down the stretch in Thursday’s championship game.

Albemarle struggled early on as turnovers continued to plague the Pats on offense, and Brooke Point capitalized. The Patriots were getting decent looks, but couldn’t finish, whether it was a shot off the post or a quality save. The Black Hawks grabbed a quick lead and went into halftime up 3-2.

Brooke Point’s Paul Hummer scored the second of his team-high three goals out of the gate in the third quarter, and AHS found itself trailing 4-2. The Patriots regrouped soon thereafter, as Ari Elgort scored off a beautiful assist by junior Hunter McCann to cut the Black Hawks’ lead to one.

After a Brooke Point penalty gave Albemarle an extra-man advantage, senior attackman Bernie Mowbray took control, as Billy Crist set him up perfectly for a goal that tied the score at four.

Mowbray continued his personal onslaught just 17 seconds into the fourth off another assist from McCann to give the Patriots their first lead of the night at 5-4.

Mowbray then scooped up a loose ball that he knocked out of a defender’s stick and capped off his game-high four-goal performance to give his team an important insurance goal with under 10 minutes to play.

“Bernie really stuck with the mentality of exploding to get the ball, and then once we have the ball, making their defense work and tire them out, then wait for opportunities,” Albemarle coach Pat McAdams said of his leader. “That’s what our offense does best.”

The Patriots’ defense came up big in the crucial final minutes, and sophomore goalkeeper Austin Sigler had nine huge saves. Hummer scored on a behind-the-back move with 32 seconds left to make things interesting.

Elgort battled for the ensuing faceoff, but AHS was called for a loose ball push, giving the Black Hawks one final chance to even things up. Albemarle defender Geoff Quick stepped in front of a wayward pass with six seconds left to seal the deal for the Patriots.

“We ended up having to play it out one-on-one defensively,” McAdams admitted. “Thankfully, we did enough collectively as a team on offense to weather the storm, because they came after us with everything they had down the stretch.”

Albemarle (12-3) will now host a first-round game in the Northwest Region playoffs on Wednesday.

“Obviously, every game is a one-and-done from here on out,” said McAdams. “I think it’s good that we’ve had these close games, that we understand where we’re vulnerable and where we’re successful.”