Campbell Powers Leads Highland Park Past St. Mark's

By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor

Highland Park senior face-off middie Campbell Powers provided his team something that couldn’t be tabulated on a stat sheet in the Fighting Scots’ showdown with St. Mark’s on Thursday night: Emotional leadership.

Just one day after speaking at his father’s funeral, Powers won all four face-offs he took and picked up a team-high six ground balls to lead No. 1 Highland Park to a 7-3 victory over No. 3 St. Mark’s in a Texas High School Lacrosse League North District Division I game.

“Actions speak louder than words, and he exemplified strength in the way he honored his father tonight,” Highland Park head coach Derek Thomson said.

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Early Saturday morning, Alan Powers, 58, died of a heart attack in his sleep, Thomson said. The funeral was Wednesday, and despite being in mourning, Campbell Powers took the field and earned the respect of an entire community.

“Our kids played their butts off for Campbell,” Thomson said. “I’m incredibly proud of the way he played. He won a lot of face-offs and picked up a lot of ground balls. His dad would have been proud of him tonight.”

Said St. Mark’s head coach Hayward Lee: “I have a ton of respect for Campbell Powers and the toughness he showed playing after the loss of his dad.”

Senior middie Chase Prospere scored a game-high three goals, senior middie James Mills added a pair and senior attackman Cody Crews and junior middie Carson Fronterhouse each scored once to round out the offense for Highland Park (10-1), which avenged its only loss of the season and won its ninth straight game.

Defensively, senior goalie Jordan Lee saved nine shots.

In defeat, senior attackman Jeff Perkins scored twice, and junior attackman Daniel Trevino had a goal and an assist for the Lions (8-2), who lost their second straight.

“I give all the credit to Highland Park,” Lee said. “They played an extremely athletic, great game. Those guys showed why they’re a championship team. From our end, we can’t make as many fundamental ball-handling mistakes against a team of that caliber.”

The game was tied, 1-1, at the end of the first quarter, Highland Park led 2-1 at halftime and the Fighting Scots took a 5-2 lead into the final 12 minutes.

St. Mark’s pulled one back to close within 5-3 early in the fourth quarter, but Mills answered to restore Highland Park’s three-goal lead. Prospere scored his third of the night with 3:22 remaining to give Highland Park its final margin of victory.

“It was a great team win,” Thomson said. “I think we showed a lot of heart. We just came out of a difficult stretch of games in which we learned a lot about ourselves, and I think it showed tonight.”