Middletown boys click, blow out Catoctin en route to regional final
MIDDLETOWN — Early in Friday’s Class 1A West boys lacrosse regional semifinal, Middletown’s Trey Wilkes held the ball with a Catoctin defender draped on top of him.
Wilkes had little room to maneuver and spent several seconds trying to get around his man. Once he got to his strong side, Wilkes saw a little space and dodged to his right through it, gaining a step.
That enabled Wilkes to find teammate Myles Sontz in the middle, who batted the ball into the net for a goal.
The Knights had several plays like that on a wet and dreary Friday, using their dodging and cutting skills to put together their most complete performance of the season, a 19-5 home win over the Cougars. In doing so, Middletown won a second-round playoff game for the first time in six years and advanced to Monday’s regional final at Smithsburg.
“Our offense is a lot of dodging, and the cut is open, so we actually went on that, and we did good with that,” Sontz said.
It’s an example of the Knights’ continued improvement as a young squad, with nearly all of their offensive production coming from underclassmen.
That type of efficient and smart play hasn’t been a given throughout the season, as both Sontz and Wilkes said the team would sometimes be too stagnant and struggle to generate chances as a result.
“Our other games, we just hadn’t been able to get it around all the way, catch and throw,” Sontz said. “But this game, something clicked in our head and we were able to get it around, pass quick, our feet were moving, no one was standing still.”
That’s the type of growth Middletown coach JM Sienkowski wanted to see from this group, and Friday’s victory was perhaps the best example of it.
“We’re starting to learn from our problems we had in the regular season to overcome those,” he said. “We haven’t done it all year. We’ve played two or three here and there, but this game, we played four full quarters and came out with the win very easily.”
Those underclassmen led the way like they have all season.
Sophomore Ryan McLister racked up a whopping 12 points on two goals and 10 assists. He primarily fed his fellow sophomore Sontz, who scored five times to tie his season high in scoring as he completes his return from a back injury.
Wilkes, a freshman who was pulled up to the varsity team midway through the season, had a hat trick plus an assist, as did junior Jackson Bennett and senior Griffin Sheridan.
“See your defender’s head turn, that’s your go. You go, get the ball and shoot,” Wilkes said of his offensive approach.
Connor Herman, Caleb McHugh, Landon Hofgesang and Jackson Cavanaugh each scored once for the Knights (9-5). Brayden Soe won 12 faceoffs and had an assist. Goalie Calvin Smith made six saves.
Catoctin’s Ashton Merritt and Ethan Williams each had a pair of goals. Vince Reaver III also scored.
But the Cougars (6-6) were outpaced by Middletown off the opening faceoff and couldn’t recover.
“Four quarters. That’s all we need,” Sontz said. “Four quarters of what we just played like, and we’re good.”
