By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor
Senior attackman Will Boeing and senior middie Mac Kelly are not among the five Highland Park players just named U.S. Lacrosse High School All-Americans for the 2010 season.
But when the West’s top-ranked team was trailing late in the third quarter during Sunday afternoon’s Texas High School Lacrosse League Division I state championship game, someone had to do something to turn it around. And Boeing and Kelly made the most of their opportunities.
Boeing sparked a game-changing three-goal run with two goals and an assist in the final 83 seconds of the third quarter, and Kelly added a critical insurance goal early in the fourth, to lead No. 1 Highland Park to a 6-4 victory over No. 4 St. Mark’s at Highlander Stadium in Dallas.
DIVISION II: COPPELL WINS SECOND STRAIGHT TITLE
DIVISION III: KELLER WINS FIRST TITLE
GIRLS DIVISION I: No. 9 ST. JOHN'S UPSETS No. 4 CY-FAIR
GIRLS DIVISION II: COPPELL WINS FIRST TITLE
With the victory, Highland Park (16-2) won its third consecutive state championship and fifth state title in the last seven years. The Fighting Scots have taken home the trophy in 2010, 2009, 2008, 2005 and 2004.
“We’ve built this program on speed, athleticism and most importantly character,” Highland Park head coach Derek Thomson said. “This senior class has as much of these characteristics of any class I have ever had. They will be truly missed.”
St. Mark’s led 3-2 when Boeing scored off a feed from senior middie James Mills with 1:23 to play in the third quarter to spark a three-goal run. Just 51 seconds later, Boeing set up All-American senior middie Campbell Powers for the go-ahead goal to put the Fighting Scots ahead, 4-3.
And Boeing hadn’t even had his finest moment.
With 14 seconds remaining in the quarter, Boeing wrapped around from behind the cage with a defender draped all over him, leaped in the air and fired home a shot over the stick of charging St. Mark’s senior goalie David Christoff. That gave Highland Park a 5-3 lead.
“They’re a good team, and they’re going to make runs,” St. Mark’s head coach Hayward Lee said. “We had held things together pretty well, and sometimes a few errors here and there are going to be the difference between two competitive teams.”
St. Mark’s pulled a goal back and closed within 5-4 when Princeton-bound senior Fred Addy scored a two-man-up goal with a shot from 12 yards with 10:03 remaining in regulation. However, Highland Park answered 41 seconds later when Kelly, a rarely used player who had one goal the entire season coming into the contest, scored to restore the Fighting Scots’ two-goal lead.
“We have five All-Americans, yet today the unsung heroes were Will Boeing and Mac Kelly,” Thomson said. “I think that’s a great statement to the kids in our program. We always preach that when your number is called, you need to step up. And these two kids did that today.”
Boeing’s three points on two goals and one assist was the game’s benchmark, and for it he was named offensive most valuable player. Duke-bound senior defenseman Chris Hipps, an All-American, took home defensive MVP honors, and senior goalie Jordan Lee was named Player of the Game for his 13 saves.
Powers finished with a goal and an assist, and Kelly, junior attackman Campbell Puckett and senior attackman Cody Crews all scored once to round out the Highland Park offense.
In defeat, Addy and junior attackman Daniel Trevino each scored twice, and senior attackman Charles Branch and sophomore middie Will Perkins each had an assist for St. Mark’s, which finished the season 17-3 and lost to Highland Park for the second time.
“I am so proud of our effort,” Lee said. “Our kids really left it all on the field today. We did many of the things that we knew we had to do. We gave ourselves an excellent opportunity to win. In the end, Highland Park made a few more plays than we did, and that was the difference in the game.”
Highland Park entered the state championship game having scored a 38 combined goals in its semifinal victory over Dallas Jesuit and its quarterfinal victory over St. John’s. But the offense, which has even had its way this season in victories over East Coast schools Loomis Chaffee (Conn.) and Lawrenceville (N.J.), struggled for much of the opening 35 minutes.
The game was tied, 1-1, at the end of the first quarter and 2-2 at halftime, and St. Mark’s took a 3-2 lead when Addy scored on a bounce-shot from about 15 yards with 7:17 to play in the third quarter. The Lions maintained their precarious edge for nearly six minutes, but that’s when Boeing and the Fighting Scots used their 69-second burst to turn it all around.
“I thought St. Mark’s did a great job all day taking us out of our comfort zone and what we like to do on offense,” Thomson said. “That three-goal run was the key to the game.”