By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
There were threatening rain clouds on the horizon on May 17 when the Fluco boys lacrosse team hosted the Black Knights from Charlottesville. The rain held off until early Saturday morning, allowing the Flucos to easily win their first-round match-up in the regional play-offs. The Fluco lacrosse program has experienced some growing pains in the past, but this squad is clearly fully grown. Coming into the game with an 8-5 record, the Flucos were heavy favorites, as they had beaten the Black Knights twice in the regular season.
Two and a half minutes into the first period the Flucos jumped in front as sophomore attacker Cooper Tapscott scored from in close. A minute and a half later, senior attacker Conner Jeffries took a well-placed pass in front of the net and fired it home for a 2-0 lead. Jeffries added two more first period scores. He made it 3-0 with a strong run from mid-field to shoot from in close. The fourth goal for the Flucos came when Conners fired a hard and accurate long shot past the Black Knights goalie.
The first quarter ended with the Flucos up 4-0. In lacrosse, a four goal lead is not secure. Teams often come from four goals back to take over the lead. That was clearly not going to happen here. In the second quarter, the Flucos continued to dominate. Their defense was outstanding. As Coach Don Wyant described his plan, the defense was packed deep to prevent Charlottesville from utilizing the passing lanes. Starting defenders, sophomore Henry Jefferies, and seniors Cameron Fisher and Aiden Ray, helped stand-out sophomore goalie Colton Ball to shut out the Black Knights in the first half. Wyant described Ball as one of the top goalies in the region. Ball made several nice saves in the half and showed good accuracy on long passes to mid-field.
The Fluco offense continued to control the play in the second quarter. Tapscott scored two more goals and senior Cole Weisenburger scored the Flucos’ seventh goal just before time expired in the half. Jefferies made it 8-0 early in the third quarter with his fourth goal. He scored on a clever move, faking a shot and ducking past the defender he fooled for a close in score. The Black Knights finally broke into the scoring column with a single goal late in the third period. Two late third period goals by Fluco sophomore Maddox Beaulieu gave The Flucos a 13-1 lead going in the fourth quarter which resulted in a running clock as a form of the mercy rule. The Black Knights managed three essentially meaningless goals to one for the Flucos in the final period for the final score of 14-4.
Wyant was pleased with his team’s play noting that the plan was to score early and build a lead, and that is how the game went. The Fluco lacrosse team now moves on to the second round of Class 3 Region C regional play, opponent and location still to be determined, but probably on the road. The Fluco girls lacrosse team also won its opening round game in Regional play, topping the Fighting Hornets from Orange County 16-9 in a game played before the boys contest.
