What's happening in central Ohio boys lacrosse? Here are 5 midseason storylines
The top three teams in LaxNumbers.com’s boys lacrosse state rankings are from central Ohio, and so far there has been something of a round robin between them.
No. 1 Olentangy Liberty started 7-0, including a 16-11 win over second-ranked and defending Division I state champion Dublin Jerome in early April, but fell to third-ranked Upper Arlington 16-10 on Wednesday. UA and Jerome do not play in the regular season, but a second state final meeting in three seasons is possible because they are in different regions.
Liberty, and many other teams, will have something to say about that over the next month.
Here are five storylines at the midpoint of the regular season:
1. Bexley program continues growth
With only one senior on the roster in defenseman Henry Houndroulis, the Lions’ continued ascension as a program has been highlighted, so far, by a 5-4 win over crosstown rival St. Charles on April 10.
It featured the stout defense and balanced scoring that has paced Bexley (8-1), which is seeking its second winning season since 2011 and has exceeded last year’s win total by one. Five players scored one goal each against St. Charles, which outshot Bexley 40-12.
The Lions, who start Hondroulis, five juniors and five sophomores, have allowed more than six goals only once, a 12-2 loss to Watterson on March 26.
Juniors Henry Pitts and Wyatt Simons and sophomore Kaleb Krasnow have paced an offense that averages 12.6 goals.
“Those guys have played a lot of minutes,” coach Mike Bassani said. “They got a lot of time last year and the juniors did the year before just because we had to. They were talented, but they were young. They’re getting physically mature, mentally mature and it shows.”
2. ‘Lacrosse junkies’ power Delaware Hayes rebound
Pacers coach Anthony Sanfillipo disavowed his own role in the team’s turnaround from three consecutive losing seasons, one that finds Delaware (8-4) within a win of last year’s total.
Instead, he pointed to three-year starting seniors Connor Dutton and Nate Richardson, an influx of strong freshmen and a rigorous offseason routine.
“We have a really good senior class, a large senior class that has done a lot of work to set the standard,” Sanfillipo said. “It’s the boys and what they did in the offseason. It set the tone that we were going to turn some things around this year.
“They’re lacrosse junkies. They always have a stick in their hands.”
Three freshmen start in defender Xander Donaldson, long-stick midfielder Kelton Pulfer and attacker Brenden Vantilburg. Two more, midfielders Graham Hursey and Owen Willis, rotate in.
Delaware’s last winning season was 2019 (13-7), the year before Sanfillipo took over at his alma mater.
3. Upper Arlington overcoming injuries
Down as many as nine players at various points this season, all of whom play occasionally or exclusively in the midfield, the Golden Bears (8-2) still find themselves in good position entering a stretch of four games before the end of next week.
With Jack Caine as the only attacker to stay in his natural position, Ohio State signee Tommy Janowicz and Yale-bound Quinn Crotty have moved to midfielder and sometimes taken on defensive roles. Connor McClellan anchors the defense, with Joe Matre assuming a larger offensive role.
Matre scored the game-winning goal in the final seconds of a season-opening win over 2023 state runner-up Cincinnati St. Xavier.
All are seniors with the exception of Caine, who is a junior.
“We’ll know a lot more about ourselves,” coach Kyle Olson said of a span preceded by an 18-8 loss Sunday at Notre Dame to Culver (Indiana) Military Academy Prep and Wednesday’s win at Liberty. “We’re starting to get healthy. We talk all the time about ‘no excuses.’ If someone goes down, your job changes.”
4. Experienced St. Charles meeting goals
The Cardinals (8-3) already have exceeded their win total from a season ago with 15 returning letterwinners and eight freshmen on varsity.
St. Charles returned three of its top four scorers from last year’s 7-13 team in starting attackers Ethan Berndt, Sean Moore and Landon Weihl, along with starting defensemen Andrew Ferris and Luke Gibbons and faceoff specialist Jackson Hobbs.
All are seniors except Berndt and Gibbons, who are juniors.
Freshman Luke Bennison is a starting defenseman.
“(The freshmen) have been playing a lot,” coach Kyle Andrews said. “It’s interesting. You put your schedule together and you never quite know what teams will look like. We like how it’s going, but we have a lot of things to improve on.”
5. Worthington Kilbourne’s Tyack adds to balanced attack
Wolves coach Brian Miller called Sunday’s 16-5 win over Thomas Worthington “a coming-out party” for junior attacker Thomas Tyack, considering he scored a career-high five goals.
All were assisted by Cole Fisher, who last year as a sophomore set the program record for points in a season (137). Another junior, goalie Preston Hawkins, draws some spotlight for already having committed to Penn State.
“Thomas is one of our tenured players and we talked all (last) week about how we saw (Sunday) as a game for him to break out of his shell,” Miller said. “He owned the opportunity. We’re super happy for him. He’s worked really hard and hadn’t seen the success yet. He got it.”
Kilbourne (5-5), whose schedule has included UA, Watterson and three out-of-state teams, faces its latest test Saturday at Jerome.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 midseason storylines in central Ohio high school boys lacrosse
