Jonathan Alder’s Caleb Wiltshire (45) circles around an opposing defender during the first half of action. The freshman mildfielder notched three goals against the Little Muskies.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
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Jonathan Alder’s boys lacrosse squad had no trouble defeating New Concord John Glenn, 21-6, in its first playoff game.
Friday was a rematch from earlier in the season. The seventh-seeded Pioneers already claimed a 22-15 victory over the tenth-seeded Little Muskies a month ago.
“We worked them hard all week and knew John Glenn was going to come in and fight,” JA head coach Rob Davis said. “They’re very scrappy and some of their kids can really play… they can make you work a lot on defense.”
Despite understanding their opponent, the Scarlet and Black sought to make a statement in the first matchup of the postseason.
“I am just super happy to get our first home playoff win,” senior Jack Kennedy said. “It means a lot to come out here and end my high school career on this field with a win.”
The match was a lopsided affair with Maddox Kingry taking credit for most of the team’s goals. He tallied five scores.
“As a freshman, he just plays at a higher level,” Davis said about Kingry along with the other freshmen who scored against the Little Muskies.
JA started strong, notching two goals from Kennedy and Kaiden Snyder in the opening minutes of the first quarter.
The Pioneers kept possession on John Glenn’s end of the field and scored the next five goals.
Those came from Kingry (two), Kennedy and Snyder (two).
Kingry, Kennedy (two) and Snyder also tallied assists in the timeframe.
At the 1:01 minute mark of the first period, John Glenn’s Clay Hanna got his team on the board with a goal. At that point, Alder led 7-1.
Caleb Wiltshire and Brody Hill notched two goals for JA during the opening minutes of the second quarter.
John Glenn’s Max Morrow responded with another goal at the 7:08 mark, making the score 9-2.
“We told the kids this week ‘we want you out on their hands’,” Davis said about the defensive game plan. “We saw that on many occasions where they doubled whoever had the ball.”
JA’s Kingry (two), Emmerich Mast, Kennedy and Mason Curtis padded the Pioneer lead before another score from John Glenn’s Hanna.
The Pioneers led 14-3 at halftime.
Morrow opened the second half of play with a Little Muskies goal.
Alder, though, stayed aggressive by scoring the next four goals from Wyatt Clemons (two), Snyder and Wiltshire.
During the final stretch, the Pioneers outscored the Little Muskies 3-2 with goals from Wiltshire, Kennedy and Kingry.
John Glenn’s goals came from Cannon Fox and Nic Xanders.
JA’s face-off crew tallied 18 wins, compared to John Glenn’s eight.
Inside the cage, JA’s Eli Nicol collected nine saves, while facing 19 shots.
Gavin Murphy came in late in the game and notched two goals.
The playoffs are giving the Pioneers a sense of déjà vu. They will face off against second-seeded St. Francis DeSales Wednesday at the Stallions’ home field.
“I think the biggest thing we are going to address is offensive possessions because they are going to be hard to come by,” Davis said. “Our guys are going to have to be ready to handle pressure.”
The Pioneers fell to the Stallions 17-2 in April.
“I think we are looking to use the momentum of a good team win to a work on that the next few days,” Kennedy said about how practice is going to be before the next playoff game. “I think we have a good chance of keeping it close.”