Lax Lowdown: The art of the ground ball -- and a look at some of the area's best at this craft

May 19—If it were a job listing, it would read something like this:

WANTED: GROUND BALL SPECIALIST. Looking for boys lacrosse players adept at the art of scooping up loose balls to give our club possession. Must be fearless, hungry, unselfish and possess a team-first attitude. Ability to get low to the ground a major plus. Prior experience not necessary, but highly recommended. Apply to your local high school varsity coach ASAP if interested.

It certainly is not as glamorous as scoring, dodging around a hulking defenseman, or making a 10-bell save. But scooping ground balls is vital to success on the lacrosse field — and the North Shore is fortunate to have a handful of players who emerge victorious in such battles far more often than they come up empty-sticked.

"Great ground ball guys have to have to have good instincts, strength and speed, and above all else an 'I want it more' attitude," Danvers head coach Wes Chittick said. "It's very similar to rebounding in basketball or loose pucks in hockey. There's certainly a skill and physicality component, but desire can overcome deficiencies in those areas."

Successfully winning ground balls time and time again is not a Wall Street, pinstriped suit-and-briefcase type job. It's more of a hard hat, lunch pail, going to work in a dirty T-shirt and jeans vocation.

"To me, ground balls is a blue collar job," said Glenn Foster, a blue collar guy who has coached a blue collar team at Ipswich High since 1984. "There's no award for it; no names in the paper. You've gotta fight, dig in, and refuse to let the other guy have it."

"They require having toughness, technique and timing," Masconomet coach Chris Roach added. "The toughness to box someone out or take a couple of hard checks. The technique to get over the ball with your back hand low to scoop through. The timing to get underneath the ba.ll on a bounce, and knowing when to flash your stick to avoid checks."

It's about leverage, skill and instinct, attacking the ball at the proper angle, outworking your foe and protecting your stick once you have the ball. It's brute force, intelligence, being anticipatory and desire combined into one.

"Some guys just have a knack for finding the ball on the ground," said longtime Marblehead coach John Wilkens, who knew a thing or two about collecting ground balls when he was playing at Johns Hopkins from 1986-89. "It's something that comes from within. You have to want to get down there and pick up that rock."

'His eyes light up'

Coaches repeatedly have their teams work on ground ball skills in practice.

"We do lots of ground ball reps and emphasize 'first time ground balls': picking it up on your first attempt before everyone else gets there. The guys who lead our team are excellent at it," said Eagles head coach John Pynchon, a ground ball guy himself during his days at Providence College. "There is obviously natural ability — they're all great athletes — but they also understand the game and anticipate when the ball is down and the best route/plan to pick it up.

"Jake Vana is a good example of this," Pynchon said of the Prep's sophomore middie. "We've started using him more and more on faceoff wings because he's so good with his body position. He gets himself in good position to pick the ball up every time, which helps him win 50/50 balls. He's excelled at it, made some big plays in games doing it, and earned more reps because of that."

Another player who flourishes in this role is Essex Tech junior midfielder P.J. Norton.

"P.J.'s not a big offensive guy, but he's a Hoover when it comes to picking up ground balls," Essex Tech coach Sean Parsons said. "His boxing-out technique is on point, and his physical stature allows him to get low and not pushed off the ball. He has a knack for being in the right spot to pick up the ball and gain possession.

"Guys like P.J. are tough to find," added Parsons. "Most kids get discouraged when they aren't producing offensively or they just 'blend' in, but P.J. thrives on playing middie D. You can see his eyes light up when the ball goes on the ground."

Some of the best players at this craft happen to be FOGOs. They're the players who take faceoffs, scoop the ball up to gain possession, and feed a teammate before running off the field to be replaced by an offensive middie (FOGO = face off/get off). Other times, they'll win the ground ball and motor downfield to dish off to a teammate or, if the lane is clear, fire a shot of their own.

Some of the best at this are St. John's Prep's Chris Esposito, junior Baxter Jennings of Marblehead, Will Mitchell of Masconomet, and Colin McLoy of Pingree.

Following a long line of successful FOGOs for the Eagles, Esposito is quick both with his stick and off the draw. Jennings gained valuable experience in the job last season as a sophomore and has only gotten better this spring. McLoy, in the mold of the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron, is elite on the draw.

A football and basketball player, Mitchell uses his 6-foot-plus frame to box other players out, positions himself over the ball and keeps both hands on his stick while getting low to gain possession. He's been wildly successful at it; heading into Wednesday night's home game against Danvers, he had been credited with an eye-popping 112 GBs.

"You can't be a great faceoff man without being a strong ground ball player," Pingree head coach Kevin Tersolo noted.

Multiple options

Like Grateful Dead jams that differ by era and whoever is playing the keys (1969 with Pigpen, 1977 with Keith Godchaux, 1989 with Brent Mydland) but are all sublime, lacrosse players can come into the job with various nuances, but still have similar success.

Pingree has several guys with high-end GB skills: Cody Plaza is a hockey player used to grinding it out along the boards and has no fear of contact; Jamie Book takes pride in winning ground balls and pushing transition.

Sophomore middie, Bodie Cannta, said Highlanders head coach Kevin Tersolo, "just plays tough regardless if it's for a GB or dodging. It's just his makeup."

The same holds true in Danvers, where top-notch junior LSM Jaxson Vogel (a team-high 55), sophomore defensive mid Brady Plaza, and junior attackman and the team's leading scorer, Colby Dunham, all have the gift of scooping ground balls.

Connor Cronin is a high scoring (60 points) middie for Marblehead who is proficient at earning GBs. So is his teammate, defenseman and team captain Sam Annese.

St. John's has not only Esposito and Vana, but Jimmy Ayers (averaging 2.4 GB's a game), Tommy Sarni (2.3), Jackson Delaney (2.2), Connor Kelly (2.0) and, returning to the lineup soon from injury, outstanding defenseman Tim Haarmann (2.8).

There is no age requirement to being a good ground ball guy. In Salem, freshman Miguel Arcila is the Witches top guy, always finding a way to box out and scoop through the ball with both hands, ensuring he'll come out of almost any scrum with the ball in his stick.

Desired defendersNimble-fingered defensemen who can repeatedly pick up ground balls in their end of the field and help transition it upfield to their offensive teammates — and even join the fray themselves — are invaluable, capable of changing the flow of a game on their own.

Beverly has two such players in senior captain and LSM Jaxon Thomas and budding sophomore standout Brad Griffin.

Thomas, who will get some consideration for the Northeastern Conference's Player of the Year, has 73 ground balls and is the leading scorer among all long poles on the North Shore with six goals, 12 assists and 18 points. Griffin is close behind in ground balls (71) and is tied for third among scoring locally with 1-7-8 totals.

"Nobody has an LSM like Jason who can de-twig guys like it's nothing," said Panthers head coach Matt Riordan, referring to a stick check that forces an opponent to drop his own stick. "It's such a huge momentum changer. Jaxon does it at least five times a game."

Swampscott head coach Geoff Beckett acknowledges he's got a special talent in defender Harrison Kinne.

"Harrison has been a GB magnet," said Kinne. "What makes him great is using his hockey skills to get the ball into space where only he can scoop it. He's also very skilled at scooping and creating transition."

Kinne has netted eight goals and picked up four assists all in fast-break situations created by ground balls or outlets from saved shots. He's also stepped in when the Big Blue have had trouble winning faceoffs and been able to turn things around.

"When we were down at the half at Masco," said Beckett, "he stepped in and won the opening faceoff of the half and scored. He then won the next one for a possession, which also lead to a score. We didn't win that game, but Harrison certainly sparked the team creating a lot of momentum."

Tristen Dillon of Masconomet is a long stick middie and defenseman who is athletic and has excellent stick skills. He thinks nothing of running full speed after loose balls, particularly off the faceoff wing, said Roach, then scoops the ball and runs into space with his head up, looking to make a play. That mindset has earned him 42 GBs so far.

You can put Peabody captain Scott Turner into this same category; same with Tanner teammate Trotman Smith. Hamilton-Wenham also has players who fit the bill here, such as Peter Gourdeau and T.J. Brown.

Over at Bishop Fenwick, Max Vieria has morphed into a strong LSM who can also win those ground battles. He's had two excellent mentors in the art of scooping ground balls: Crusader captains Nick Wesley and Kevin Wood are both elite, especially when the ball is on the turf in their end of the field.

As with any learned skill, there are pratfalls that must be avoided by all but the most adroit scoopers. Trying to grab a ground ball one-handed, for instance, leaves one vulnerable to having his stick checked and the ball to come tumbling out.

Foster harkens back almost 30 years to the one player he allowed to grab ground balls in this fashion, Marc Greenleaf. "Marc was big and strong; he also played football and hockey, and he was good at it, so I let him (scoop one-handed)," he remembered. "But again, (he was) another blue collar kid, willing to do the dirty work.

"The closest I have to that this year is (junior captain) Henry Wright. I'd use the same adjectives to describe him."

Contact Phil Stacey

@PhilStacey_SN

Contact Phil Stacey

@PhilStacey_SN