JACK OF ALL TRADES: Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse player Jack Konopka controls the ball against Hightstown in the Mercer County Tournament championship game last Thursday. Senior star Konopka contributed an assist and good work on face-offs to help the Panthers prevail 9-3 and win their third straight county crown. Earlier in the week, Konopka tallied three goals and two assists to help PDS pull away to a 14-4 win over Robbinsville in the MCT semifinals. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Last spring, Nick Day starred as a face-off man extraordinaire for the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse team.

With Day having graduated and now playing at Bowdoin, senior Jack Konopka stepped into the face-off role this year.

“For me, most of the year, I have been a scrappy guy who tries to create a 50/50 ground ball for our wings to win it,” said Konopka.

Last week, Konopka’s scrappy work in the face-off helped second-seeded PDS seize control against third-seeded Robbinsville in semifinals of the Mercer County Tournament.

“It was really nice to get a couple of face-off wins and just go from there,” said Konopka, reflecting ion a game which saw the Panthers build a 6-1 lead by intermission.

In addition to coming up with four ground balls against the Ravens, Konopka chipped in three goals and two assists to help PDS pull away to a 14-4 win in the May 8 contest.

“Today I was feeling myself, I am feeling really sharp myself,” said Konopka, who is called “Jungle” by his teammates.

With the Panthers having defeated Robbinsville 11-4 in a regular season meeting in late April, Konopka saw the effort last week as proof that PDS was peaking at the right time.

“I think we are in good shape right now, we are firing on all cylinders,” said Konopka. “Our team just looks sharp. The mindset was definitely to not underestimate them, but we had been there before.”

Two days later, the Panthers looked sharp at both ends of the field, defeating top-seeded Hightstown 9-3 in the title game to earn their third straight county crown and send Konopka and his classmates out on a high note.

“For my senior year, it is going to be great just having the opportunity to try and get one more,” said Konopka. “We are brothers, that is all I have to say, we just love each other.”