Marysville’s Lincoln Engle (left) tries to get past Gahanna Lincoln’s Bobby Grilli during the first half of action. The Monarch notched two goals during the team’s loss to the Lions.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
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Marysville’s boys lacrosse team suffered an 18-6 loss to Gahanna on Thursday.
“We’ve had an up season for sure and there are a lot of things that are better,” senior Julian Kennedy said, adding the program is still young compared to its conference counterparts.
“But there is so much that needs to be worked on and many missing pieces,” he said.
Prior to the first face-off, the program paid tribute to LeRoy Engle, who was a fixture in local youth sports for a number of years.
Engle died in 2022 at the age of 46. To honor him, the Monarchs awarded tribute awards in his name.
“I had LeRoy with me since I was probably like four years old,” Kennedy said “I was in the youth football program in middle school and he was already around it.
“I’ve grown up and learned under him for a long time,” he said.
Kennedy said he and the rest of his teammates learned a great deal from Engle.
“LeRoy was really good at keeping us together and making us care about what was going on,” he said.
Recipients of the LeRoy Engle Tribute Award for this year are Kennedy (varsity), Maddox Barker (junior varsity) and Nate Robinson (middle school).
“It feels great to be put in those shoes,” Kennedy said about receiving the award. “I wish we had a different result for him, but at least we went out and did what we could.”
The visiting Lions secured a 3-0 lead midway through the first period.
Around the eight-minute mark, Lincoln Engle scored the first goal for the Monarchs with an assist from Ben Durey.
The Lions notched another trio of goals before MHS’ Jamey Best found an opening for a score to make it a 6-2 contest.
The Lions continued to press the attack in the second period.
They added another four goals from Jack Pabst (two), Kaleb Baylor and Eric Shockney.
Best then delivered an assist to Durey with 4:23 left in the first half, putting the Monarchs’ deficit at 10-3.
Durey followed with another score, closing the gap to 10-4 with around two minutes left in the half.
Gahanna scored two more goals to lead 12-4 at halftime.
The Lions remained consistent in the third quarter, adding another four goals from Tyler Broshar (three) and Brayden Cohee.
Both squads found each other’s cage equally during the final stretch.
Marysville’s last two goals came from Engle and Durey.
The Monarchs fell to 5-10 overall with a 1-5 conference record.
The team will host its final regular-season game today (7 p.m.) against Hilliard Bradley.
With the postseason just around the corner, the Monarchs are hopeful for a good matchup in the opening round.
“I think we have teams that are right on par with us for a play-in,” Kennedy said. “We just have to come out and really focus on that.”