Boys' lacrosse dazzles in playoff opener

BLAZER STADIUM -- The Blair boys' varsity lacrosse team (8-5) scored early and often as they defeated the Kennedy Cavaliers (0-13) by a final score of 19-2. The Blazers took the lead less than three minutes into the game on a goal from midfielder Michael Reilly and they didn't look back.

The team got out to a 3-1 lead in the middle of the first quarter, and wouldn't need to score any more goals as the defense kept a clean sheet in the second half. But it wasn't just the defense that came to play for the Blazers. The offense, led by junior Eyal Li and senior Nate Goodin, managed to put 16 more goals past a weak Cavalier defense. Four Blazers had multi goal games. Li and Gooden each tallied five and Reilly added four of his own. Seniors Zach Scarano and Nick Porter also got on the board, along with Junior Yonis Blanco.

Despite the lopsided score, the game was not perfect for the Blazers. Head coach Christopher Brown acknowledged the less than perfect effort against a relatively weak opponent. "We knew they were going to be a weak team coming into it," he said, "but I really wanted to try and crisp up our offense, crisp up our defense, and do some things to get ready for Springbrook… I really wanted to get better today, and I kind of feel like we stayed the same."

One of the main aspects that lessened the lust of the victory over Kennedy was the amount of penalties against the Blazers. Throughout the course of the game, Blair was flagged for slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct among others. The most frequent offender was Goodin. He was sent to the box over three times in the game. Brown commented on the penalties saying that the team could improve its sportsmanship. "We've talked a lot about that. It's something that we're really working on, but we're not quite there yet. One thing we're going to take out of this season... is to be gentlemen."

After the dominating victory, the team can now turn its eyes toward getting even with Springbrook. Earlier in the year the Blue Devils defeated the Blazers in overtime thriller which cost Blair its first ever boys' lacrosse division championship. Brown and the rest of the coaching staff plans to stress one on one defense as the key to victory on Saturday. "One on one defense was atrocious today… we just got to work on moving our feet a little bit better keeping our stick on their bottom hand."