Colin Doyle (two goals, seven assists), Blaine Manning (four plus four) and Josh Sanderson (three plus four) boosted their bid to finish 1-2-3 in the NLL scoring race as the Toronto Rock roared back from a 13-6 deficit with nine minutes to play to edge the reeling Philadelphia Wings 14-13, almost making it look easy in the process.

In thirteen years of intense lacrosse watching, I have never seen a comeback that even remotely equals this one. A game that was drab, dull and forgettable well into the fourth quarter will now live in the memory forever.

Philly let it be known early they were tired of being pushed around by Toronto, which had already defeated the Wings twice in the previous week. Marc Morley opened the scoring a minute in, beating Rock goalie Bob Watson on an opportunistic bouncer out front. Dan Finck doubled the lead two minutes later, capping a well-executed three-man counterbreak on the penalty kill.

A minute after that, Tom Marechek -- who received a nice ovation from 16,989 lacrosse fans when his imminent retirement was announced before the game -- added to his legend with a one-handed, cross-body scoring strike under heavy pressure from the Rock defence.

Toronto shook off this early onslaught, however, knotting the game at 3-3 by the 8:14 mark. The goals came from Nick Trudeau (a tasty backhander off his own rebound), Manning (no-pass hesitation shot on the power play) and Doyle (thirty-foot, man-up diagonal rip).

But the quarter would belong to the Wings. Some very nice power-play passing found the extremely underrated Dan Marohl alone in front to restore the lead, and a good scoring run to the post from Jeff Ratcliffe closed out the opening frame.

5-3 Wings after one.

The visitors continued to find twine in the second quarter, while the Rock continued to sputter. Andrew Burkholder batted one in for the Wings off the floor of the crease, but Josh Sanderson reclaimed that one, beating Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk from the high slot at 7:18.

All Wings after that, though. Marohl ripped one home from just inside the restraining line at 7:58, and Marechek capped the quarter with a wonderful bit of cheek, forcing Watson to try to clear the zone with a behind-the-back pass, which he then intercepted and buried in the Toronto net. Good metaphor for the whole game up to that point, really.

8-4 Cheesesteak Chompers at the half.

Rock coach Terry Sanderson decided to sit Watson at halftime, sending out veteran backup backstop Phil Wetherup to face the fired-up Wings. That was just fine with Marechek, who froze him with a good fake before running in to score at 3:15.

But the Rock came back with a few brief minutes of honest commitment and hustle. Manning scored shorthanded on a spinaround while being flattened, and Doyle bagged his 100th point of the season when he reached high above his own head to snag and slam home a loose ball on the Philly porch.

But then Philadelphia took control -- seemingly for good. Two more goals (Burkholder at the post, Morley capping a four-way pass play) closed out the third quarter at 11-6, Wings.

Another pair (Morley just barely sneaks one in at the corner for his hat trick, Marecheck twists around his defender and scores on the run) made it 13-6 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.

Game over. An awful loss for the Rock.

Understandable, perhaps, what with clinching everything in the world the night before against the same team, and having to fly out and do it all over again the following afternoon.

Still, you can't imagine Rock coach Terry Sanderson will consider this a good omen for the playoff run to follow...

What? Excuse me? They did WHAT?

We return you now to the game, which... well, you tell me.

Goal #1 - Manning, slot bomb, 6:16, 13-7.

Goal #2 - Manning, thirty-foot screen rip, 6:44, 13-8.

Goal #3 - Doyle, on the run, right off the draw, 6:53, 13-9.

At first, it looked like Manning, Doyle and Sanderson were padding their stats. Now, I've seen teams do that in blowout wins countless times. But what kind of weird, jacked up lacrosse team goes looking to pad its stats in a blowout loss? Well, again, you tell me.

Goal #4 - Aaron Wilson, streaking down the middle, 7:50, 13-10.

Goal #5 - Josh Sanderson, a backhand flip with his back to goal, 9:22, 13-11.

Goal #6 - Jimmy Quinlan (why not?), a thirty-five foot slot rip, 9:59, 13-12.

Philadelphia coach Lindsay Sanderson then yanked Eliuk, sending Nick Schroeder in to stem the avalanche. On press row, the newspaper guys, who usually hate it when a one-sided contest turns around late because they have to rewrite their stories on the fly under intense deadline pressure, are actually smiling.

Goal #7 - Chris Driscoll, a long, loping scoring run set up nicely by a Sandy Chapman pump pass, 11:07, 13-13.

At no point, during any of this, did the Wings mount any serious resistance. The Rock looked like they were running through their pre-game warmup out there.

Goal #8 - Josh Sanderson, tip-toeing the crease for what seemed like forever, pumping home a splendid pass from Driscoll, 13:28, 14-13 Rock!

The newspaper guys are whooping, laughing, pounding each other on the back, having more fun in nine minutes than I've seen them have in the last six seasons.

Incredibly, there are still 92 seconds left. The Rock grab the ball, kill the hell out of the clock, and run out 14-13 winners.

NOTES:

What to say? It's a disaster for Philly, but it has no effect on their place in the standings, or on the fact they have three high picks in what is about to be a truly loaded amateur draft.

It's an incredible high for the Rock -- and their fans. A truly awful effort, capped by nine minutes of utter domination. There aren't a lot of 8-0 runs in this league. And to pull one off down seven, late, when you've been playing all day like you're still on the airplane?

Unbelievable.

Oh, and the editor wants me to tell you that, before the game, the NLL awarded the 2006 All Star Game to Toronto. East meets West at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday, 26 February 2006, the first time for an eastern locale since some 'burg called Uncasville hosted in 2002.

For now, onward!

Ben Knight is lacrosse and soccer columnist for Sportsnet.ca.