Finishing flourish can't quite drag Granville lacrosse across the line
GRANVILLE ― It was a lacrosse scoring frenzy the likes of which the fans in Walter J. Hodges Stadium had no doubt never seen.
Unfortunately for Granville, it came too late, if only by a little.
Trailing visiting Columbus St. Charles 10-1 entering the fourth period Tuesday, the Blue Aces erupted for an amazing nine goals, including three in the final 41 seconds, only to barely run out of time in a season-opening 11-10 loss.
Junior attack Elliott Rhoton scored five of his six goals down the stretch, including one with 41 seconds left to make it 11-8. Junior Hart Miller's second goal of the fourth with 22 seconds remaining sliced it to 11-9, and when sophomore Beckett Long rocketed home a shot with 11 seconds left, it was suddenly 11-10. Granville then won the midfield faceoff and Miller got off another shot on goal, only to see it glance away.
"Every season, in the second half of games, we come back," coach Bob Higginbotham said. "Unfortunately, it took losing a game to see what we're capable of."
"We started out a little slow. We had a mental barrier that we had to overcome," said senior Matt Chaykowski, one of several Blue Aces with extensive experience from last year's 12-win season. "We were able to figure it out as the game went on."
For the first 38 minutes, the Cardinals (1-1), coming off an 8-7 overtime loss to Thomas Worthington, left nothing to chance. Rhoton scored less than a minute into the game as Granville led 1-0. But the Blue Aces didn't score again for 37 minutes.
Meanwhile, Evan Johnson scored three goals, while Ethan Berndt, Ty Hamrick and Landon Weihl added two apiece as St. Charles dominated possession, limited Granville's chances and opened its 10-1 lead. Then, with 9:58 left in the game, the light finally came on for the Blue Aces.
That's when Rhoton started his flurry, then added two more goals just 16 seconds apart as it became 10-4 with 7:00 to play. Berndt scored what turned out to be the winning goal with 5:39 left, making it 11-4, but Granville was far from finished. Junior Colt Shaw found the back of the net at 5:08, Miller at 2:11 and Rhoton with 1:24 before the last-minute binge.
"It was our first game of the season, and we came out a little scared," Rhoton said. "We came out slow, but then we really came together. We called a timeout and got really pumped up. We started winning faceoffs, and that got us more possessions."
Said Higginbotham: "Elliott is one of my three attack men back for their third year playing together. Matt (Chaykowski) is our senior workhorse. He contributed to every single one of those goals. He had an injury and is working his way back. He throws it on his shoulder, takes it and goes, and I've seen our younger guys take on that same attitude."
After seeing their season opener at Marysville canceled on Saturday, the Blue Aces hoped to build upon their strong finish and get off to a better start Wednesday at Licking Valley. They'll host Westerville South next Tuesday before making up the Marysville game Wednesday. Another challenging schedule sees them play Columbus Academy, Bishop Watterson and DeSales in consecutive games. St. Charles was only the start.
"St. Charles is a great team and very well coached," Higginbotham said. "Coach (Kyle) Andrews does a heck of a job with that program."
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Finishing flourish can't quite drag Granville lacrosse across the line
