HAGERSTOWN, Md. – They came to play lacrosse.
And they did. But for Boonsboro and South Hagerstown, this matchup was more about on-the-job training.
Two of the younger teams in Washington County hooked up in competition – after all, they did keep score – but Thursday’s game at School Stadium became an IQ test of sorts.
In the end, Boonsboro’s boys “outsmarted” South 15-11 in a game that came complete with building blocks. In a sense, it was like driver’s ed.
“We’re a young team, and we knew that going into it. We’re learning as we go, and there’s a lot of fundamental stuff that we’re picking up,” Boonsboro coach Jeremy Cortright said. “The guys are getting better and they’re doing a lot of good stuff. And we’re really proud of them, but we just got to work things out.
“It’s the rough edges. You got to work out.”
The Warriors “roughed it” by taking early 4-0 and 6-1 leads in the first quarter. Boonsboro kept South at arm’s length the rest of way, never allowing the lead to shrink below two goals.
Actually, the Rebels – who are enjoying their winningest season as a varsity team – outscored the Warriors 10-9 in the last 37:20 of the game.
“We remain proud of these kids in their fight. And the growth that they’re making now, that will pay dividends in the future,” said South coach Tim Rockwood.
“We’re young and the bulk of our team is juniors, which is young for varsity. But, the bulk of our team is also juniors who’ve only played (lacrosse for) three years or less. So, tonight was a really good learning night and they competed their butts off, so we’re really happy.”
Jayden Paugh scored three of his four goals for the game in the first quarter as Boonsboro took on South goalkeeper Israel Andino Guardado head on. Two of those scored came as the Warriors built a 4-0 lead in the first 7 ½ minutes.
Collin Shaffer started the scoring with an underhand shot off a pass from Paugh and Liam Maguire scored the third goal off a rebound off Guardado.
South’s Wyatt Roberts got South on the board with 4:36 remaining in the quarter on a shot just to the right of the goal.
Connor Permenter scored on a straight-on bounced shot, and Paugh picked up his third goal of the quarter with 1:21 left in the period. South’s Jason Ahinze scored eight seconds later to make it 6-2 after one quarter.
Then, the educational portion of the evening began. Both Boonsboro and South got hands-on lessons.
For the Rebel, it became time to plug up the defense.
“We did a couple things from a scheme perspective and we kind of fixed the scheme we were playing in already,” Rockwood said. “There’s adjustments that can be made, but we actually still made that same mistake a couple more times … sliding to the wrong spot on the defense, which is just something that comes with inexperience.”
But when it worked, South got Boonsboro away from shooting straight on at the goal, holding Boonsboro to just two goals in the second quarter, coming from Maguire and Permenter. The Rebels scrapped for three goals – from Roberts, Jack Burns and Nygil Jefferies – to make it 8-5 at the half.
Boonsboro countered by trying to control the pace of the game.
“Defensively, we kind of started slowing down and taking a little bit for granted, thinking our offense was going do the work for us,” Cortright said. “We tried to change that and correct that, but, again, it’s about learning the game. We’re trying to teach the guys how to play defense well.
“We tried to slow the game down and control offensive possession, because rushing is something we’re compelled to do. So, we try to understand that it’s a 6- minute game. We play our best game when we control it. If we get into a foot race, it’s not our best game because we get tired fast. We have a very young in small squad this year. You don’t want to be in a foot race for the team when you only have six, seven subs.”
The slower pace seemed to help both teams as they plotted for shots. Jefferies scored twice, sandwiching Paugh’s fourth goal as South closed to within 9-7 at the 6:44 mark of the third quarter.
The Warrior picked up some breathing room, scoring as Permenter and Maguire each scored in final five minutes of the period to give Boonsboro an 11-7 lead.
Boonsboro scored three of the first four goals of the fourth quarter, starting when Shaffer fired a low shot to give Boonsboro a 12-7 lead with 7:31 remaining.
After Burns scored to bring South back to within four goals, Shaffer scored twice in a 34-second span to push the Warriors lead out to 14-8.
The Rebels started a furious comeback as Roberts scored three straight goals in a matter of 87 seconds to tighten the score to 14-11 with 2:32 remaining.
It remained that way until Trey Thingelstad tipped in the finals goal with :00.1 to complete the four-goal victory.
Shaffer joined Paugh on Boonsboro’s four-goal club, while McGuire and Permenter added three scores each. Paugh also had two assists.
Roberts led all scorers with five goals, while Jefferies had three and Burns added two.
The scores count, but the goals seemed incidental in this matchup.
Both coaches agreed their teams still have much to learn and this game helped.
“South’s doing well. I think the world of their coaching staff and what (Rockwood’s) done here,” Cortright said. “This is a good learning opportunity for us. This whole season, to me, is a learning opportunity for the whole team.
“I’m going to call this a good game for us. Theres some things we definitely need to fix that I, as a perfectionist, want to fix. But, you know, it’s not built in a day, so we’ll get there.”
