Clifford’s 7-goal outburst lifts Pope John boys lacrosse to 1st H/W/S title

It has been a long two-year wait for the Pope John boys lacrosse program.

It reached the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex title game in 2019, only to fall by just one goal to Hunterdon Central, the preeminent program in this tournament. The Lions were primed to take the next step in 2020, only before it had its season wiped out due to COVID-19.

The long wait finally came to an end on Saturday afternoon. It got the chance to prove that it can not only compete with a powerhouse, but be a powerhouse itself, and took full advantage of the opportunity. Behind a seven-goal performance from senior Jack Clifford, top-seeded Pope John claimed its first-ever Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament title with an 11-7 win over second-seed Hunterdon Central, No. 16 in the NJ.com Top 20, at Cassels Field in Sparta.

It was the first title for Pope John, and it ended Hunterdon Central’s hopes of a three-peat as well as an 11th title since the tournament’s inception in 2008.

“It’s such a great feeling. Every year at Pope John, we’ve kind of inched our ways a little closer, a little closer,” said goalie Gabriel Cummins. “To see all of that hard work, even in my freshman year when we made it to the semifinals, it’s just great to see all the alumni back here and we put all that hard work into fruition.”

To pull out the win, it received an incredible offensive performance from Clifford, a senior who joined the team prior to his junior year but did not get to play until this year. Clifford was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for his seven-goal effort, which included three of the team’s first four goals to build a 4-0 advantage in the second quarter.

It took a 6-2 lead into halftime, and extended it to 7-2 thanks to Parker Cummins’ goal early in the third. But Hunterdon Central refused to go away quietly, and inched its way back into the game on two goals from Will Fitzpatrick and one from Dylan Johnson, to bring it to within 8-5 going into the fourth.

Pope John came up with a big response though, as David Jagiello and Clifford brought the lead back to five, before Clifford capped his scoring with his seventh of the game with 2:09 left to seal the victory.

Clifford used a variety of moves throughout the game, and shot from many different angles to keep Hunterdon Central’s always-stalwart defense off-balance.

“It’s all about scout film. They see that I can shoot it from ten, so you have to put a wrinkle in there,” Clifford said. ”You’re just not going to get open shots in a championship game like this, like you’ve been getting all year. You have to get a little bit creative with some different stuff, and most times it will land if the defense hasn’t seen it before.”

Pope John coach Chris Hoffmann added, “Seeing the way that Jack responded to adversity is unmatched. This kid always wants competition. That’s what he does in practice. Seeing the way that he pushes other guys, and now that brings them under his wing. You have a leader like that playing at a high level, now all of the sudden it’s going to ask a lot from our defense to now play at a high level.”

While Clifford led the way offensively- along with Connor Herraiz, Parker Cummins, Gage Fowler, and David Jagiello- it also received a big-time performance in goal from Gabriel Cummins, who turned away 15 Hunterdon Central shots, including a couple in the early minutes when the game was still scoreless.

“Being a goalie, making the first couple of saves is crucial,” Cummins said. “Once you get into a rhythm, you just start seeing it, and the game just flows nicely. You feel invincible sometimes.”

Pope John became just the second Sussex County team to win this tournament, after Sparta’s title in 2016. It was able to do so in front of what was essentially a home crowd, with Sparta High School being just down the road from Pope John.

“When you look at the past, and you see all of the Hunterdon Centrals, and you sprinkle in North Hunterdon and Sparta, we knew this was our time,” Hoffmann said. “We knew the writing was on the wall. We knew the championship game would be at Sparta, so it was a little extra motivation for us to have a short drive as opposed to having to drive down to Hunterdon Central every year. This is our area and we wanted to represent our county, and represent our school.”

Hoffmann added, “Now all of the sudden everyone knows we’re not only capable of playing a big team like Hunterdon Central, but also being victorious. We’re not just competitive anymore. Now we can step over the line and prove we can win big games like this.”

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