'We fought tooth and nail': Lakeland boys lacrosse makes history with first regional win
It was a back-and-forth day for the Lakeland boys lacrosse program.
In Saturday's Class 2A regional quarterfinals in Naples, the Dreadnaughts trailed twice by two goals to Gulf Coast. From the second deficit, seniors Landry Mooney and Luke Mowrer tied the game with under two minutes left. And in overtime, senior Collis Rhodes scored the goal to make it 11-10 for fifth-seeded Lakeland to clinch the first regional-round victory in program history.
The rule in overtime is sudden death. So the minute Rhodes scored the entire Lakeland contingent was in disbelief. It was an epiphany for the entire program.
“We fought tooth and nail, especially going down to programs like … Gulf Coast who's been playing forever and all these other programs where they’ve had youth (teams), they’ve had JV. To just be in the state tournament to finally get over that hump to win was an excellent accomplishment,” Lakeland coach Zach Brownlee said.
An accomplishment in of itself is to start up a culture that everyone can get behind and achieve the steps needed to keep moving forward in a positive direction.
Brownlee established a hardnosed culture that plays fast and tough and, as a result, the team often displays that they are the most athletic competitors on the field.
“Our culture is we don’t care who you are. We’re going to play you for four quarters and we’re going to play you tough, so if you can’t match our toughness, we’re going to take advantage of that and that’s been the case all year,” Brownlee said.
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Leading the way for the 16-4 Dreadnaughts, ranked the No. 15 team overall in Class 2A, is senior Yasiel Sihombing, who averages 3.6 goals per game. His tag-team scoring partner is Mowrer, who averages 3.3. Helping this dynamic scoring duo is Mooney, Rhodes, senior Ben Madden and senior Sam Blackwell; Rhodes also does a great job of guarding the competition’s top player.
On the defensive side is senior Omari Mixon, junior Ian Hobson and sophomore Ziggy Riley. Mixon is the enforcer, while Hobson is the quarterback on defense thanks to his craftiness, toughness and his mental fortitude to guide strategies on defense, as he sees plays that Brownlee can’t even see on the sidelines.
And always impacting every game is senior goalie Eli Peck, who has more than 100 saves on the year ― again.
This group was able to impose their athleticism on a group that traditionally wins their district and competes in state.
Up next for Lakeland is Plant (16-3) in Tampa on Wednesday. The Panthers are ranked No. 6 in the state and are the top seed in the regional.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: FHSAA boys lacrosse: Lakeland makes history with regional win
