Boys Lacrosse - Faceoff Fogo's Father Impressed by Son's Dominance

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Calvert Hall's midfielder Joe Impallaria III couldn't have picked a more appropriate time to have his best game of the season than in Tuesday's 16-5, Maryland Interscholasti Athletic Associaton A Conference quarterfinal victory over visiting Archbishop Spalding. <br>And under the circumstances, the junior faceoff specialist also could not have been more motivated.<br>"My father just got back from Iraq, and that was the biggest surprise of my life," Impallaria said of his father, Joe Impallaria Jr., who watched the game's action from the stands.<br>"He has been over there for a year, and he just got back, and it was the biggest surprise," said the younger Impallaria. "He just walked into the house, and it was right after practice. And I had no idea he was coming . I was extremely surprised and very glad to see him."<br>On a sunny Tuesday afternoon at Calvert Hall's stadium, the younger Impallaria treated his father to a dominant midfield display in helping the second-ranked Cardinals to improve to 16-2 entering Friday's MIAA A Conference semifinal at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium opposite the third-ranked, defending champion Loyola Dons (11-4).<br>The Dons edged the Cardinals, 11-10, on April 15, but were beaten, 12-9, by Archbishop Spalding on Friday.<br>Impallaria won 16 of the 18 faceoffs he was involved in, and keyed an overall advantage of 20-4 for the Cardinals.<br>Paced by Impallaria, who, at one point, won eight consecutive draws from the end of the first quarter to midway through the second quarter, the Cardinals led, 5-0, after the first quarter, and, 10-2, by halftime.<br>Joe Impallaria Jr. also got to watch the Cardinals' Patrick Fanshaw score a season-high seven goals, Jason McFadden to score once with four assists, and Sean Maguire, three times with one assist.<br>"Well, [Joe] had a great game today. I just got back from Iraq last night, at 7:30. I wanted to make sure that I could maybe see him play in the championship game. That's important to me, and it's important to him," said Joe Impallaria Jr., wearing a comouflage uniform as well as a Calvert Hall baseball cap.<br>"It's just a real honor to see young men come together and do so good. The MIAA is the greatest conference," said Joe Impallaria Jr. "It's great to be able to come back," said the elder Impallaria, "beautiful weather, beautiful day, everything's green -- and see a great, American tradition, and a great Baltimore tradition, and to see a great game of lacrosse here today."<br>Joe Jr. said he followed his son's progress, as well as that of his Cardinals' teammates, on "the MIAA's website."<br>"I went on the MIAA website every week and watched and saw what Calvert Hall and the other teams were doing in the conference," Impallaria said. "DigitalSports.com, I guess it is."<br>Considered a "FOGO" midfielder, Joe Impallaria III's job is to execute his faceoffs and sprint off to the sidelines.<br>There were times, however, when the son was tempted to try and please his father by rearing back and shooting in an attempt to score a goal.<br>"It was very tempting," said Joe Impallria III. "I really wanted to do something for my dad, but it was for the team, and we played exceptionally well."

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