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Eisenhower High School
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Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs. Lake Orion High School
5.0 years ago
| John Bertich
Eagles Lose: 2 - 16
Senior Kyle Loken controlled the ball nearly 10 yards away from the cage and waited for his moment.
He put a few moves on his defender and beat Eisenhower senior goalie Mark Denha to give Lake Orion a 1-0 lead just 81 seconds into the game.
It was all over after that, as the Dragons (18-2) cruised a 16-2 victory over the Eagles (10-9) on Tuesday at Swinehart Field to secure the MHSAA Division 1 regional championship. It’s Lake Orion’s first regional title in program history.
“These guys have put a lot of work into it,” said Lake Orion coach Ron Hebert. “It’s a long time coming, and we earned it. We’re looking to make some memories and do something we didn’t think we could do.
“We knew we could do this much.”
With the title game victory, Lake Orion advances to play in the state quarterfinals Friday against Hartland.
“We were fortunate to be here and took advantage of it,” Hebert said. “Now, we have to move on and play better, play great. I dread it and relish it at the same time.”
After the Dragons’ opening goal, Eisenhower got one back off the stick of junior midfielder Matthew Bean with 4:10 left in the quarter, but Loken struck yet again to put his squad ahead, 2-1.
Loken finished with seven goals.
“Our team has so many threats and shooters, so that helped me out,” Loken said. “It got me open. There was a lot of good ball movement.”
Senior midfielder Dakota Zehler earned himself a steal and score with just 2.4 seconds left in the first for a 3-1 lead.
Lake Orion controlled the offensive possession for a majority of the first 12 minutes, and Hebert’s group continued to do so throughout the contest. Just 44 seconds into the second quarter, the Dragons made it 4-1 on a shot into the net from senior attacker Sam Parillo.
Moments later, sophomore defender Jagger Sines scored for a 5-1 edge with 10:18 left until halftime. Lake Orion went ahead 7-1 on goals from junior midfielder Joe Cady and senior attacker Nicolo Ruffini at the 5:54 and 4:29 mark, respectively.
To end the first half, senior midfielder Max Tuohy swiped the ball from an Eisenhower defenseman with numbers in transition. He drew the lone remaining defender to him before dumping the ball to Loken for his third goal of the contest, giving the Dragons an 8-1 lead.
Loken, as it became expected of him Tuesday night, opened the third quarter with a goal. Eisenhower junior attacker Evan Gregorich scored past Lake Orion senior goalie Jack MacLeod with 6:13 remaining in the third, but it was nowhere near enough to give the Eagles a comeback opportunity.
“I can’t be prouder of them,” said Eisenhower coach Andrew Ferrari. “Our seniors put it on the line. It’s a tough loss, and you hate seeing the trophy go away on your home field.”
The hole was too deep, and it only grew as Loken, a Grand Valley State lacrosse signee, found the back of the net 38 seconds later for a 10-2 edge. The senior midfielder scored again with 4:39 left in the third on a goal where he set himself up by using a spin move to toss his defender off his back.
Lake Orion scored five goals in the fourth quarter, including one that was occurred eight seconds in from Cady. Loken, Zehler, junior attacker Hunter McCarty and senior midfielder Nolan Alexander also scored in the 12-minute frame to cap off a 16-2 annihilation and a trip to the state quarterfinals.
“It means a lot,” Loken said. “We’ve been working for this ever since I got in high school. It’s been one of our goals. This is huge.”
Lake Orion earned a 19-1 victory over Utica in the regional quarterfinals, 17-4 win over L’Anse Creuse North in the semifinals and, now, a 14-goal defeat of Eisenhower to advance in the playoffs. The Dragons outscored opponents 52-7 in those three games.
“The history of it shows we were the better team,” Hebert said. “We had bigger, faster and better players. We are going to keep going up a level, but we were confident we could get it going.”
Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs. Lake Orion High School
5.0 years ago
| John Bertich
Eagles Lose: 2 - 16
Senior Kyle Loken controlled the ball nearly 10 yards away from the cage and waited for his moment.
He put a few moves on his defender and beat Eisenhower senior goalie Mark Denha to give Lake Orion a 1-0 lead just 81 seconds into the game.
It was all over after that, as the Dragons (18-2) cruised a 16-2 victory over the Eagles (10-9) on Tuesday at Swinehart Field to secure the MHSAA Division 1 regional championship. It’s Lake Orion’s first regional title in program history.
“These guys have put a lot of work into it,” said Lake Orion coach Ron Hebert. “It’s a long time coming, and we earned it. We’re looking to make some memories and do something we didn’t think we could do.
“We knew we could do this much.”
With the title game victory, Lake Orion advances to play in the state quarterfinals Friday against Hartland.
“We were fortunate to be here and took advantage of it,” Hebert said. “Now, we have to move on and play better, play great. I dread it and relish it at the same time.”
After the Dragons’ opening goal, Eisenhower got one back off the stick of junior midfielder Matthew Bean with 4:10 left in the quarter, but Loken struck yet again to put his squad ahead, 2-1.
Loken finished with seven goals.
“Our team has so many threats and shooters, so that helped me out,” Loken said. “It got me open. There was a lot of good ball movement.”
Senior midfielder Dakota Zehler earned himself a steal and score with just 2.4 seconds left in the first for a 3-1 lead.
Lake Orion controlled the offensive possession for a majority of the first 12 minutes, and Hebert’s group continued to do so throughout the contest. Just 44 seconds into the second quarter, the Dragons made it 4-1 on a shot into the net from senior attacker Sam Parillo.
Moments later, sophomore defender Jagger Sines scored for a 5-1 edge with 10:18 left until halftime. Lake Orion went ahead 7-1 on goals from junior midfielder Joe Cady and senior attacker Nicolo Ruffini at the 5:54 and 4:29 mark, respectively.
To end the first half, senior midfielder Max Tuohy swiped the ball from an Eisenhower defenseman with numbers in transition. He drew the lone remaining defender to him before dumping the ball to Loken for his third goal of the contest, giving the Dragons an 8-1 lead.
Loken, as it became expected of him Tuesday night, opened the third quarter with a goal. Eisenhower junior attacker Evan Gregorich scored past Lake Orion senior goalie Jack MacLeod with 6:13 remaining in the third, but it was nowhere near enough to give the Eagles a comeback opportunity.
“I can’t be prouder of them,” said Eisenhower coach Andrew Ferrari. “Our seniors put it on the line. It’s a tough loss, and you hate seeing the trophy go away on your home field.”
The hole was too deep, and it only grew as Loken, a Grand Valley State lacrosse signee, found the back of the net 38 seconds later for a 10-2 edge. The senior midfielder scored again with 4:39 left in the third on a goal where he set himself up by using a spin move to toss his defender off his back.
Lake Orion scored five goals in the fourth quarter, including one that was occurred eight seconds in from Cady. Loken, Zehler, junior attacker Hunter McCarty and senior midfielder Nolan Alexander also scored in the 12-minute frame to cap off a 16-2 annihilation and a trip to the state quarterfinals.
“It means a lot,” Loken said. “We’ve been working for this ever since I got in high school. It’s been one of our goals. This is huge.”
Lake Orion earned a 19-1 victory over Utica in the regional quarterfinals, 17-4 win over L’Anse Creuse North in the semifinals and, now, a 14-goal defeat of Eisenhower to advance in the playoffs. The Dragons outscored opponents 52-7 in those three games.
“The history of it shows we were the better team,” Hebert said. “We had bigger, faster and better players. We are going to keep going up a level, but we were confident we could get it going.”
Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs. Anchor Bay High School
5.0 years ago
| Andrew Ferrari
Eagles Win: 8 - 4
Five unanswered goals and swarming defense were the difference maker as the sun began to set over Swinehart Field in Utica.
Eisenhower was the team with all the heroics, while Anchor Bay squandered what could have been a low-scoring victory.
The Eagles (10-8) pulled off an 8-4 win over the Tars (9-7) in a Division I regional semifinal, thus advancing in the playoffs. Junior midfielder Matthew Bean scored four of his team’s final six goals.
“We were motivated to work harder and wake up,” Bean said. “Coming into this game, I think some of our guys thought this was going to be an easy win, but it wasn’t. They are a great team, and we had to make some adjustments.”
As a reward for snatching a victory, Eisenhower gets to play Lake Orion, a team that’s 17-2 overall, in the regional championship at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Dragons defeated L’Anse Creuse North, 17-4, to advance.Eisenhower coach Andrew Ferrari said he knows Lake Orion is the favorite but plans to stick with his own game plan rather than conforming to what the Dragons throw at him.
“We need to play our game,” Ferrari said. “They are going to expand their game and do something we aren’t ready for. We have to understand where we are at and bring what we can to the table.
“Don’t try to play the Lake Orion game; play the Ike game.”
Back on May 7, Eisenhower pulled off a commanding 14-2 win over Anchor Bay. This time around, things were different. Both teams went back-and-forth down the field and players traded blows to gain an edge. More importantly, the contest was shockingly close.
“They came in off an upset of a number two seed, so they were feeling good,” Ferrari said of Anchor Bay. “They played a phenomenal game, disrupted us where we were comfortable, caused us to overthink and adjusted. We made mistakes and got a little bit lazy.”
Eisenhower junior attacker Evan Gregorich, as he has so often, burned Anchor Bay goalie Jake Allen after five minutes for a 1-0 lead. About 30 seconds later, a response was made by Anchor Bay
Junior midfielder Matthew Usery punished the back of the cage to tie the game with 6:35 left in the first quarter. Fellow junior midfielder Evan Cloninger scored against Eisenhower goalie Mark Denha with less than two minutes left in the frame to take a 2-1 margin over the Eagles.
Eisenhower junior midfielder Antonio Sumner and Bean scored the only goals in the second frame to take a 3-2 lead into halftime.
Following a second-quarter drought, Anchor Bay struck on a sharply snapped goal from junior attacker Chris Domanski to knot the game, 3-3, just 66 seconds into the second half.
Anchor Bay senior defender Stephen Domanski made a massive hit and was penalized for it. However, the body check seemed to motivate Eisenhower sophomore midfielder Nicholas Price, who began pushing and shoving multiple members of the Tars team.
The altercation had to be broken up with 7:11 left in the third quarter.
“You never want to see that,” Ferrari said. “You want to keep things clean, but I love getting physical. A couple of big body checks on both sides. There wasn’t a problem with most of the calls. I think it was a physical game, and each team took advantage of that. It’s how it should be.”
Domanski struck gold for the second straight time on a goal he should’ve had a few times. He missed from about 10 yards out, but Denha let the ball free from his reach when attempting to corral it. Domanski shot again but missed. On the third and final try, he scored to give Anchor Bay a 4-3 edge with 2:35 left in the third.
The Tars had the lead for all of 56 seconds, as Bean scored on a wrap-around shot. Carson Riggs put Eisenhower ahead, 5-4, as time expired in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Bean scored two goals and junior attacker Brandon McLane added another to hand the Tars a four-goal defeat. Ferrari said it was a dream come true to watch his squad turn it up a notch down the stretch.
Bean agreed.
“It’s about not just taking the first shot but taking the smartest shot,” the junior said. “We had to keep our eyes down the field. Fast movements lead to goals.”
Eisenhower had to earn the win without one of its top players in junior attacker Vaughn Shewell, who sustained a right foot injury in the team’s regional quarterfinal game against Dakota.
The extent of the injury was unknown.
“It’s not broken,” Ferrari said. “It could magically heal, or it could be three months. We really missed him today.”
Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs. Dakota High School
5.0 years ago
| John Bertich
Eagles Win: 10 - 8
Back on April 13, Eisenhower handed Dakota its second of three total losses this season. The Eagles made sure it happened again, but this time on the road and in the first round MHSAA Division I regionals.
Led by goals from eight different players, Eisenhower secured a 10-8 victory over the Cougars (13-4) at Dakota High School on Friday to advance in the playoffs. Dakota’s season, however, is over.
When Dakota coach Mike Benavides approached Eisenhower coach Andrew Ferrari after the contest, he said, “Best of luck in the postseason.”
Even though the teams are bitter rivals on the field, there is a level of respect between the programs.
“The respect is crazy,” Ferrari said. “They are a young lacrosse team, so for them to play a game like they did today, it’s phenomenal. Last game was totally different, and they made great adjustments.”
The Eagles (9-8) will take Anchor Bay, a 10-9 winner of Port Huron United on Saturday. The regional semifinal starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
“We kept our eyes up and played a team game, which will ultimately lead to more victories,” Ferrari said. “We have the opportunity from here on out to play at home. We get to play at our field, and it’s big.”
Dakota sophomore Anthony Tocco set the tone early at the 10:49 mark on a steal-and-score from 10 yards away, beating Eisenhower senior goalie Mark Denha to the top-right shelf of the cage.
Eisenhower junior Shewell Vaughn responded with 7:50 left in the first quarter by pouring in a goal of his own off an assist from junior Evan Gregorich to knot the game, 1-1. Junior Antonio Sumner and Gregorich scored back-to-back goals against Dakota goalie Bryce Wawrzyniak about three minutes later for a 3-1 edge.
Throughout the first half, the Eagles used tenacious defense and took advantage of a majority of their forced turnovers to get out in front.
Junior Matthew Bean put Eisenhower ahead, 4-1, on a slow rolling backhand underneath the legs of the keeper with 2:12 to play in the first frame. Dakota junior Nolan Benoit found the back of the net just a few moments before the conclusion of the quarter, cutting the Cougars deficit to two.
Benoit scored his second of the game to open the second quarter, but Eisenhower junior Brandon McLane answered 22 seconds later to put the Eagles ahead, 5-3.
Eisenhower got two goals from Seth Bradcas and Gregorich before Dakota sophomore Brandon Hoerauf scored the final goal of the first half with 3:02 to play, but Eisenhower controlled a 7-4 lead.
“It’s a team effort, so my goals are the team’s goals,” Gregorich said of his performance. “I may have put the ball in the net, but I couldn’t have got it done without my teammates.”
The second half was dead quiet until the 4:21 mark when Hoerauf cut Dakota’s deficit to 7-5, but Eisenhower returned the favor 30 seconds later on a goal by senior defenseman Ricky Rios. Down by three, Benoit tallied his third goal of the contest after a tough battle in the crease.
Benoit’s goal trimmed the Cougars’ deficit to 8-6, but sophomore attacker Gage Gjorgjeski made it a three-score lead once again as time about to expire in the third quarter.
Tocco scored for Dakota with 3:51 left in the game, but it was too little, too late.
Eisenhower’s Bean and Dakota’s Robbie Dameron traded goals in the final three minutes, but the Eagles closed out the final minute strong on defense to secure a 10-8 win.
“It was intense,” Gregorich said. “I wouldn’t say we were worried, but we knew we had to come in here and play hard. They are a good team.”
Vaughn, one of Eisenhower’s top players, injured his leg early in the second quarter after setting up McLane’s goal. He was carried off the field by Ferrari. The extent of his injury is unknown, Ferrari said.
“He’s one of our best left-handed players,” Ferrari said. “He’s a big part of the team’s morale and gets guys going. It’s a big loss. We hope he comes back.”
The regional championship game is May 28.