Jacovino nets hat trick to lead Allegany boys into state semifinals

CUMBERLAND — Allegany coach Blake Geatz knew a fast start against a team making a long bus trip was crucial.That's exactly what Geatz got as sophomore Luca Jacovino scored the first of his three goals 63 seconds into Saturday's game to lead No. 1 Allegany to a 5-0 rout of No. 8 Crisfield in a Class 1A state quarterfinal at Greenway Avenue Stadium.The Campers (15-2) will play in the state semifinals on Saturday at a time and location to be determined.They will find out their opponent Monday night as Harford Tech and the International High School at Largo will battle it out in another quarterfinal."They earned it," Geatz said. "But it's not the ultimate goal. So now we just look forward to the next day on Monday and look to have our best five days of practice and prepare for whoever our opponent is on Saturday."Allegany was the dominant team from start to finish. Ryan Mitchell set up Jacovino's first goal after he drove towards the box and passed it left to Jacovino for the finish."I just came in with energy and did what I practiced," Jacovino said."You know a team's coming from five-plus hours away," Geatz said. "You know that they're coming in as underdogs. You know they're coming into an environment which they're not used to. They're used to that beach weather, so we preach 'You gotta hit quick.'"Historically with these state quarterfinal games, we put ourselves in a good situation to get these home games, hitting people quick can spell success in it. Today was no different."After the first goal, the Campers kept firing shots at the Crabbers' goal, but they couldn't add to their lead for the next 23 minutes.That changed at the 15:42 mark when Colton McDonald fired a long pass to senior captain Noah Simmons on the left wing and found the back of the net.Simmons and Jacovino were involved in the Campers' third goal about seven minutes later. Simmons fired a cross right to Jacovino for his second goal of the game at the 7:36 mark.With 46 seconds left in the half, freshman Max D'Atri delivered a cross to his right and senior captain Cole Ricker finished it to make it 4-0."It's definitely what puts the dagger in the coffin," Simmons said. "Because without that it can give a team hope that you're playing against, and we don't want that. We want to shut them down in the first half."I'm coming off an injury. So coming in, helping the boys get the energy back up and wake up and finish the job feels good."Jacovino completed the hat trick less than six minutes into the second half. Jacovino received a pass from Samuel Panetta and calmly placed into the back of the net to give the Campers a 5-0 lead.Jacovino is coming off a two-goal performance in Wednesday's 4-1 win over city rival Fort Hill in the West Region I title game."He's on fire right now," Geatz said. "He looked great against Fort Hill. He looked great against Crisfield today. He can't miss, and we hope he carries that into the next game and hopefully the next two games."Allegany outshot Crisfield 18-1. The Campers also finished with six corner kicks while the Crabbers didn't get any.Campers goalie Eston Powell had to make just one save in the first half.Powell's counterpart, Carter Marsh, recorded 11 saves for the Crabbers."They weren't put under a whole of pressure," Geatz said about his defense. "But even when they were, they kept themselves calm and composed. The defense distributed well for us. I thought a lot of our defense was successful today because we played good offense from our defense."Saturday will be Allegany's sixth appearance in the state semifinals. The Campers have advanced out of the semifinals just once in 2023.Liberty and Brunswick will square off in the other semifinal game.Liberty is the two-time defending state champion, while Brunswick was the runner-up in both years.Liberty knocked Allegany out of the state semifinals in a 2-1 overtime win last season.