Tecumseh boys lacrosse making late season turnaround

TECUMSEH — Tecumseh first year boys lacrosse head coach Bogie Trout liked what he saw out of his team Monday as it beat Ypsilanti Lincoln 18-5.

The 18 goals were a season-high for Tecumseh and the team had four different goal scorers net hat tricks, one from each class.

What might have made Trout most excited, however, is what he saw at halftime.

"Watching the youth at halftime today, it's cool to see all the little kids playing," Trout said. "It's exciting. I was talking to the two coaches, there are 12 or 13 eighth graders, which is a pretty big class. It's exciting to know there are kids still interested in lacrosse."

Tecumseh, for years, has had a strong lacrosse program. The team won at state title 2002, a regional title in 2018, 18 Southeastern Conference titles and has advanced many student-athletes to play at the college level.

So when the team began the season 0-4, it came as quite the shock.

"I feel if we played our two opponents we started with it would be a completely different ball game," Trout said. "I'm proud of this team. They've been sponges with the new offense we've put in and the defense they've absorbed it."

A big factor in the slow start was how young the team is.

Tecumseh features nine freshman, four sophomores, six juniors and only three seniors.

"It's just youth getting used to it at the varsity level," Trout said. "There are a lot of freshman that are playing and who are starters and the jump from eighth grade to varsity lacrosse is a big step."

Since the 0-4 start, Tecumseh is 5-4 and has won three of the last five, including back-to-back wins.

"(The biggest strides) has been our stick skills and just coming together as a family," Trout said. "There were a lot of new faces and everyone was kind of feeling each other out. Now we're becoming more and more like family."

Tecumseh's go-to goal scorer this season has been junior Trace Tidswell. But as the team has begun to rack up more wins, more scorers have emerged.

Sophomore Brennan Cornack had seven goals in Monday's win against the Railsplitters while Tidswell had five, senior Josh Swallow had three and freshman Cooper Barkway had three as well.

"(Tidswell and Cornack) are willing to take the weight," Trout said. "Cornack is come on of late, helping out Trace not having to carry the full load. We've seen them kind of feed off each other and assist one another and senior Josh Swallow has been getting quite a few assists as well, which has been awesome."

Tecumseh has yet to put in a full game according to Trout. But it's getting close.

Tecumseh has three more games as it takes on Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central at 6 p.m. Wednesday at home. Then it plays at 6 p.m. Friday when it hosts Saline before taking on Toledo City at 6:30 p.m. Monday at home again.

"I told them they probably played three and quarters worth (Monday)," Trout said. "We have another opponent Wednesday and hopefully we can get four quarters."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh boys lacrosse growing as season coming to a close