Notebook: Hilliard Davidson Wildcats boys lacrosse squad makes history

In his second season, coach Dave Ames took the Hilliard Davidson boys lacrosse team to new heights.

Ames guided the Wildcats to their first Division I, Region 3 final, which they lost to top-seeded Upper Arlington 17-4 on May 27. Davidson was the second seed.

“One of the goals that we had this year was try to get further than we ever had before and we accomplished that goal,” Ames said. “Everybody’s goal at the beginning of the year is to try and win a state championship, but we also want to set levels of goals for the season.

“This senior class will go out accomplishing something that’s never happened before and we can hang our hat and hold our heads high on that.”

Davidson also lost 17-4 to UA on May 9 on its way to tying Olentangy Liberty and Olentangy Orange for second (3-2) in the OCC-Central Division behind the Golden Bears (5-0).

“We’re making progress,” Ames said. “Last year we were 8-12 and this year we’re 16-6. We doubled our wins and halved our losses. That’s a strong step forward.”

Senior attacker Kaden Ames, the coach’s son, was named first-team all-region and second-team all-league. He had 51 goals and 30 assists while playing 15 games.

“It was the connections we had as a team,” he said. “With all teams, there’s certain people that hang out with each other. But for this team, there were still pockets of people who hung out with each other, but everyone got along with each other and everyone loved each other. It was a true family mentality when we were on the field and we all played for each other.”

Sophomore midfielder/faceoff specialist Caden Wilson was first-team all-region and second-team all-league, and senior goalie Kaiden Roche was first-team all-region. Wilson won 69.6 percent of his faceoffs and led the team in ground balls with 155.

Junior defender Dom Tsourkas was second-team all-region and all-league, and freshman defender Kaden Davis was second-team all-region. Sophomores Joey Clifford (defender) and Adam Van Voorhis (midfielder) were second-team all-league and honorable mention all-region, and senior attacker Josh Lovely was honorable mention all-league.

Lovely had 53 goals and 32 assists, Van Voorhis had 41 goals and 22 assists and senior attacker Fisher Son had 32 goals and 19 assists.

“Being one of the senior captains on the first team ever to make it to a regional final, it’s one of those things that’s really special, especially for the seniors who lost our sophomore year (to the COVID-19 pandemic),” said Kaden Ames, who will play at Elmhurst University in Illinois. “It will be nice to put our names in the books at Davidson.”

•After a 2-2 start, the Darby girls lacrosse team won 11 of 12 and finished 15-5 overall, one win from tying the program record set last year.

The Panthers, who lost 13 players off their 2021 squad, ended up 4-1 in the OCC-Cardinal, one game behind Thomas Worthington (5-0).

“I really enjoyed this season as a whole,” coach Kaleb Secor said. “When lost everybody we lost last year, in those first five games, we were going to find out who we were. Then, the way we finished the season, getting two playoff wins and getting to the regional semifinal for the first time, that’s the legacy this team leaves.”

Darby has several key players eligible to return, including junior midfielder Abberly Dela Rosa, who was first-team all-region and OCC-Cardinal Player of the Year. She led the Panthers with 77 goals and 22 assists.

Junior Karissa Allbright (attacker) and senior Olivia Miller (defender) also were first-team all-region, senior Carley House (attacker) and sophomore Mya Duncan (goalie) were second-team all-region and junior Ashley Powers (attacker) and senior Ashley Bowers (defender) were honorable mention.

Allbright (55 goals, 14 assists), House (48 goals, 17 assists), Bowers and Miller were first-team all-league, Duncan was second-team all-league and sophomore Mylee Cain (midfielder) was honorable mention.

“We’re lucky enough to bring back a couple of our top goal scorers (in Dela Rosa and Allbright),” Secor said. “We’ve got big shoes to fill, but we’ve got to step up and keep going. That’s what the story was from last year to this year and now this year to next. We’ll have new faces on defense, but they’ll have to step up and figure it out just the same way.”

–Michael Rich

•Davidson baseball coach Justin Swallie guided his team to a 15-12 season that included finishing third (9-6) in the OCC-Central behind champion Liberty (11-4).

“They have some fight in them, they battle and they compete all the way to the end,” Swallie said. “They did that all year. When you think about the division that we play in, you have to in order to be competitive. I’m proud as heck of them.”

Senior Brady Boltinghouse (1B/P) was first-team all-league and honorable mention all-district. He led the Wildcats in RBI (16) and doubles (6) and scored 13 runs. He also was 5-1 and had a 3.02 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 35 walks in 41 2/3 innings.

Junior Cole Carter (INF/OF) batted .323 with 25 runs and 10 RBI and was first-team all-league. Senior Blake Pettit (INF/C) scored 14 runs and had 11 RBI and was second-team all-league.

Junior Colin Neimeister (1B/OF/P) was 2-2 and had a 3.17 ERA with 39 strikeouts and 32 walks in 42 innings. He was second-team all-league.

Sophomore Patrick Sherman (C) batted .317 and was special mention all-league, and junior Will Rupert (OF) batted .292 and was honorable mention all-league.

“We want things trending in the right direction when our seniors leave. Leave it better than where you found it, and they did,” Swallie said. “It’s been an absolute pleasure coaching those seven guys.”

–Frank DiRenna

•The Darby boys lacrosse team was young with a senior class of four players, including one who was a first-year player in midfielder Dmitri Williams.

But the Panthers exceeded the expectations of first-year coach Ryan Boyle.

“This team (had) a bunch of freshmen and sophomores playing and some of them at other schools would be j.v. guys getting their confidence up, learning and easing into it,” Boyle said. “At the varsity level, we finished 12-8 and I couldn’t have predicted that at the beginning of the year.”

Williams showed up to practice at the beginning of the season and impressed. He ended up with 13 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers.

“We saw him a run a little bit,” Boyle said. “He was a soccer player before and played some hockey. We learned pretty quickly that he was going to be the fastest kid on any field that we played on. So, we put a pole in his hands and he gave us a little more flexibility on defense having him play long-stick middy. Dmitri was huge. He never became a superstar in terms of stick skills, but the kid just went on the field and worked his butt off for us.”

Senior midfielders Miguel Sayers and Max Movshin were second-team all-region. Sayers (55 goals, 12 assists, 31 ground balls) was second-team all-league and Movshin (24 ground balls, .681 faceoff percentage) was honorable mention.

Senior Nate Ruland (attacker) had 26 goals and 28 ground balls, sophomore Mac Link (midfielder) had 37 goals and 21 assists and freshman Landon Whalen (midfielder) had 22 goals and 18 assists.

On defense, sophomores Logan Kline (47 ground balls, caused 34 turnovers), Wesley Reichman (31 ground balls, 28 caused turnovers) and Will Hoschak (152 saves in goal) led the way.

“I think this summer if we get guys doing speed training and an offseason lifting program going, that’s going to be the most important thing,” Boyle said. “A lot of kids are playing club ball. (It’s) awesome we have so many guys keeping a stick in their hands in the offseason.”

–Michael Rich

•Darby boys volleyball coach Evan Bell equated his team’s 10-16 season to a roller-coaster ride.

The Panthers had some tough stretches, losing six matches in a row early in the year. But they had some good moments, too, winning four of six late in the season before falling to Thomas 25-22, 25-17, 25-18 in a Division I, East Region semifinal May 25.

“We had a lot of ups and downs,” Bell said. “That’s expected with a relatively young team. We probably should have had more consistency. But we thought we had it pretty well-timed where we were at our highest at the right time going into the tournament.”

The Panthers had five sophomores – Mason Heit (setter), Parker Schwandt (opposite hitter), Carter Pierce (middle hitter), Aidan Kolb (libero) and Laz Duncan (outside hitter) – in the lineup at times late in the season.

Senior Chase Ellis (middle hitter) was second-team all-region, and Kolb and senior Josh Hutchinson (outside hitter) were honorable mention.

Ellis was first-team all-league, Hutchinson and Kolb were second-team all-league, Heit was special mention and junior Devin Neville (outside hitter) was honorable mention.

“That gives me optimism knowing that we have some youth in key spots,” Bell said. “We’re going to miss our big hitters (Ellis and Hutchinson). But we feel like we have some guys behind them that can fill their spots. Our sophomore class is really, really strong.”

–Michael Rich

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DAVIDSON BASEBALL 

•Record: 15-12 overall 

•OCC-Central standings: Olentangy Liberty (11-4), Olentangy Orange (10-5), Davidson (9-6), Upper Arlington (7-8), Bradley (4-10-1), Dublin Coffman (3-11-1) 

•Seniors lost: Brady Boltinghouse, Kaden Bowman, Connor Hodge, Conner Manos, Tommy May, Blake Pettit and Nicolas Vertikoff 

•Key returnees: Cole Carter, Colin Neimeister, Will Rupert and Patrick Sherman 

•Postseason: Def. Worthington Kilbourne 7-2; lost to Grove City 7-3 in Division I district semifinal

DARBY BOYS LACROSSE

•Record: 12-8 overall 

•OCC-Cardinal standings: Dublin Jerome (5-0), Thomas Worthington (4-1), Darby, Olentangy Berlin and Olentangy (all 2-3), Marysville (0-5)

•Seniors lost: Max Movshin, Nate Ruland, Miguel Sayers and Dmitri Williams

•Key returnees: Will Brennan, Will Hoschak, Grant House, Nick King, Logan Kline, Ben Krumpke, Mac Link, Adam Martin, Wesley Reichman and Landon Whalen

•Postseason: Def. Beavercreek 16-10; lost to UA 19-4 in Division I, Region 3 quarterfinal

DAVIDSON BOYS LACROSSE 

•Record: 16-6 overall 

•OCC-Central standings: UA (5-0), Davidson (3-2), Liberty (3-2), Orange (3-2), Coffman (1-4), Bradley (0-5)  

•Seniors lost: Kaden Ames, Quinton Frazier, A.J. Landoll, Josh Lovely, Kaiden Roche and Mason Song 

•Key returnees: Joey Clifford, Kaden Davis, Noah Dodgion, Cade Galko, Dom Tsourkas and Adam Van Voorhis 

•Postseason: Def. Westerville North 14-4; def. St. Charles 12-9; def. Thomas 11-6; lost to UA 17-4 in Division I, Region 3 final

DARBY GIRLS LACROSSE

•Record: 15-5 overall 

•OCC-Cardinal standings: Thomas (5-0), Darby (4-1), Olentangy (3-2), Jerome (2-3), Berlin (1-4), Marysville (0-5)

•Seniors lost: Becca Aronshteyn, Ashley Bowers, Alexa Clark, Alexis Finnegan, Sophia Fratturelli, Carley House, Olivia Miller and Maddie Radich

•Key returnees: Karissa Allbright, Abberly Dela Rosa, Mya Duncan and Ashley Powers

•Postseason: Def. Pickerington Central 14-12; def. Beavercreek 12-8; lost to UA 20-4 in Division I, Region 3 semifinal

DARBY BOYS VOLLEYBALL

•Record: 10-16 overall 

•OCC-Cardinal standings: Thomas (11-1), Darby, Jerome and Kilbourne (all 7-5), Berlin (6-6), Olentangy (4-8), Scioto (0-12)

•Seniors lost: Chase Ellis, Jared Hopkins, Josh Hutchinson, Jake Mamula, Joseph Naumchik and Brylan Poole

•Key returnees: Mason Heit, Aidan Kolb, Devin Neville and Parker Schwandt

•Postseason: Def. Pickerington North 25-17, 25-8, 25-21; lost to Thomas 25-22, 25-17, 25-18 in Division I, East Region semifinal

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Hilliard Davidson boys lacrosse squad makes history