Apr 24, 2008
Boys lacrosse
Bocklet breaks two scoring records
as Indians roll to three more wins
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John Jay senior attackman Chris Bocklet is glad that it is all over and that he and his teammates can now move on.
With a goal midway through the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Fox Lane, the 167th of Bocklet’s high school career, the senior became John Jay’s all-time leading goal scorer.
That was for openers. In the third quarter, when his pass was converted into a goal by senior Harrison Jones, the assist gave Bocklet 268 career points and the top spot on the school’s all-time scoring list.
Bocklet finished the afternoon with three goals and two assists, as the Indians romped to an 18-3 win over the Foxes at home.
“This really feels good,” Bocklet said after the game. “It’s a nice thing to have. I’ve worked hard over the years and I have had a lot of great teammates that have helped me accomplish this. It is nice to have it.”
After John Jay’s 12-7 win over Duxbury, Mass., on Monday, Bocklet career marks stand at 167 goals and 269 points.
The previous career goal-scoring mark of 166 had stood for 12 years, having been set in 1996 by Ryan Kamerdin. The career points record of 267 had stood for 20 years, having been set by 1988 graduate Marty Kelly.
Bocklet, who leads the Indians with 25 goals and 17 assists after eight games, still has an outside chance at the all-time assists record of 134, held by Kelly. Bocklet currently has 102 career assists, with 10 regular-season games left, plus the post-season.
John Jay, which also defeated Lakeland/Panas last week, 12-6, improved its record to 6-2 with the three wins.
But the spotlight belonged to Bocklet, who has followed in the footsteps of his two older brothers, both All-Americans at John Jay, in securing a place in John Jay lacrosse history.
His brother Mike, also an attackman, graduated in 2003 and played four years at Fairfield University, while Matt, a defenseman, graduated in 2004 and is currently playing for Johns Hopkins University, having helped the Blue Jays win the national title last year.
“They (Mike and Matt) have done so much for me,” said Chris. “They pushed me to get better, they taught me the game and they have helped me a lot. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to so this.”
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He continued, “It’s good to get it out of the way. When I saw it in the paper, I thought that they had jinxed me. But now that’s its over, we took care of this and now we have to take care of another sectional championship.”
Almost overlooked in the hoopla surrounding Bocklet’s record was the seven-point day put together by Jones, who finished with four goals and three assists.
Senior Kevin Drew matched Bocklet’s five-point afternoon with three goals and two assists.
Junior Andrew Masterson came off the bench late in the second half and put up three goals and an assist in the fourth quarter.
John Jay, which has now won 44th straight games against a Section I opponent, led 7-2 at halftime, but overwhelmed the Foxes over the final two periods.
“This was good for us because we wanted to get a lot of our backups in, because they have been working really hard since day one and this was a game where we were able to empty our bench and do something with those back ups,” said head coach Nick Savastano. “A kid like Masterson, this is his first year on varsity, had three goals and that was nice to see because those kids come out and work as hard as anyone else each and every day.”
Bocklet’s record-setting goal came with 5:36 remaining in the first half and gave the Indians a 6-1 advantage.
Jones had the ball behind the cage and found an open Bocklet on the crease for the dunk past Fox Lane goalie Luke Robinson.
Bocklet became the all-time career points leader at the Cross River school when he whipped a pass from the right side to Jones in the crease for a goal that gave the Indians a 12-3 lead with 5:27 left in the third quarter.
“This program goes back to 1979 and has had some great players came through it,” said Savastano of Bocklet’s achievement. “There have been so many players that have been so great here and Chris has done it not even halfway through his senior season, which is pretty incredible.”
The coach continued, “The great thing about Chris, though, is the character that he has, the sportsmanship that he has. After he broke the record and the backups went in, he was standing there on the sidelines and cheering those guys on. That shows his character.”
John Jay has seen a Bocklet in uniform for the past decade.
“They mean so much to this program,” said Savastano. “They have all been ‘go-to’ guys, they all are great character guys and their knowledge of the game is great. They have it all and they come from a great family. We’re excited to have coached all of them and when it’s all said and done, we’re really going to miss the Bocklets.”
Although this game ended with the clock running and a 15-goal difference, Fox Lane made it a contest through the first two quarters.
John Jay senior Billy LaPerch opened the scoring just 1:53 into the game, and Jones made it 2-0 midway through the first quarter. Freshman Mike Daniello converted a pass by senior Tyler Granelli with 50 seconds left to give John Jay a 3-1 lead after one quarter.
A botched clearing attempt by the Foxes led to a goal by Jones off of a feed by Bocklet only 1:24 into the second quarter.
The Indians broke the game open with a three-goal run in a span of 1:18 midway through the period. Drew scooped up a ground ball deep in John Jay’s end of the field, raced end-to-end and beat Robinson from 10 yards out to give the home team a 5-1 edge with 6:08 left in the half. Only 32 seconds later, Bocklet scored his record-setting goal; then, with 4:50 remaining, Jones took a pass from LaPerch in transition and made it 7-1.
The floodgates opened after the break, as the Indians popped in seven third-quarter goals to extend their lead to 14-3.
Drew, Daniello and Bocklet scored in the first 1:14 of the second half to give John Jay a 10-2 lead, and the Indians ended the quarter with four straight goals, by Drew, Jones, senior Brian Murphy and Bocklet.
Masterson had a hand in all four John Jay fourth-quarter tallies with a trio of goals and an assist on a goal by junior Tom Cylenica.
Daniello finished with two goals for the Indians, while LaPerch had a goal and an assist. Granelli had a pair of assists, and Murphy and Cylenica each had a goal. Junior Will Stewart, senior Colin Teague and junior David Rofofsky each had an assist.
Chris Latino made five saves in goal in three quarters of play. Sophomore Robert Maher and senior Dylan Lalone split the final period, with each keeper recording one save.
The loss dropped Fox Lane to 1-6 on the year.
Two days later, the Indians got two goals and an assist apiece from LaPerch and Drew and downed Duxbury, 12-7, in a game played at Quinnipiac College in Hamden, Conn.
Duxbury, which suffered its first loss after four wins, came into the game ranked 15th by Inside Lacrosse.
John Jay led 5-3 at the half, then took control of the game by scoring five goals in a third quarter that ended with the Indians holding a 10-4 advantage.
Daniello and Stewart scored two goals each, with single tallies from Jones, Harrison Silver, Lucas Durst and Mike Malara. Granelli had three assists, while Bocklet had a pair of helpers.
Latino made 10 saves.
The Indians had opened the week by trouncing Lakeland-Panas, 12-6, in Shrub Oak on April 17. The Indians led just 4-3 at halftime, but broke the game open with a five-goal spurt in the third period that ended with John Jay leading 9-4.
Bocklet had five goals and an assist to pace the Indians, while LaPerch scored three times and Stewart twice. Granelli had a goal and a pair of assists, while Drew added a goal and an assist. Daniello and Malara had assists for John Jay, which got 13 saves in goal from Latino.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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