Boys lacrosse lose in playoffs
The boy’s lacrosse team was eliminated by Jesuit High School in the first round of districts April 15 at Alumni Field.
“We didn’t lose to a public school all year, and we just came up against some people that match our talent,” head coach Todd Francis said. “We just didn’t step up at times we had to, but I think we outplayed our ability very often.”
As the first quarter came to an end, the boys were trailing 2-0 until senior George Tompson scored on a fast break rip into the back of the net, putting them on the board.
“Scoring the goal in the playoff games was one of the coolest moments of the season because of how much the game mattered to us,” Tompson said.
At the beginning of the second quarter, sophomore Christian Murphy did a roll dodge around his defender and scored on a bounce shot, tying the game at 2-2. Jesuit went on to score three goals in a row until freshman Anthony Longo disrupted their run by scoring on a low corner. With the score at 5-3, Jesuit scored two more times.
Before Jesuit could go on another run, freshman Johnathan Kerr scored, followed by a goal from Mercer signee Drew Mayts to the top right shelf.
“It was a great feeling to help my team out at a time when we needed some momentum,” Mayts said. “I feel like this season was one that has ups and downs, but I am proud of us for never giving up.”
With the score at 7-5 Jesuit began to run down the clock and then scored three goals as time expired making the final 10-5.
“I really wanted to see how we could respond to what [Jesuit] did to us last time,” Francis said. “We had a great last week in practice, a great game last game, and we knew what we were coming into. We had to execute, and they just executed better than we did.”
The boys went 10-6 this season and went 3-0 in the district. The team was led by their seven seniors, two of whom are moving on to play collegiate lacrosse at Mercer and Garden City College respectively.
“As a whole this was my favorite season I’ve coached here at Plant High School,” Francis said. “The senior class is amazing. I think they did everything that we asked them to do.”