(June 25, 2012)… Johnny Powless has a knack for playing his best lacrosse in big games. That was evident in the 2012 NLL Playoffs and was again on display Sunday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.

Powless scored a season-high five goals and added three assists as the Six Nations Arrows defeated the Whitby Warriors 13-7 last night. The victory kept the second-place Arrows within striking distance of the Warriors for first overall in the Ontario Junior “A” circuit.

The Arrows jumped out in front with a dominating first period, outscoring Whitby 7-1. Powless led the way with two goals as Six Nations used a balanced attack which included goals from six different players. Randy Staats (1+1) and Brendan Bomberry (0+2) each chipped in two of their four points during the opening frame.

As expected, Whitby answered in the second with a 3-0 run to start the period, cutting the deficit to 7-4. Yet, Bomberry struck at 11:22 from Powless and Staats to end the Warriors’ rally. After Whitby’s Curtis Knight cut the Arrows’ lead back down to three, Powless took over by scoring three of the game’s next four goals. He beat Whitby goalie Alexis Buque at 13:54 and less than two minutes later, he struck again to give Six Nations a 10-5 lead.

For good measure, he scored again just following a Whitby goal to stake the Arrows to an 11-6 advantage in the third. Seth Oakes and Shayne Adams both scored in the final period to each finish with two-goal efforts. Warren Hill was solid in goal making 29 saves.

With the victory, Six Nations avenged its 11-7 loss to Whitby Saturday night and split the season series. More importantly, the Arrows (14-3) are now just two points behind the Warriors (15-3) for the top spot with an 8:00 p.m. contest against the Burlington Chiefs tonight. After today’s game, both clubs will have two games left in the regular season. If they finish tied at the end of 20 games, the Arrows would win the regular season title on goal differential.