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TEX BOYS: Strake Jesuit Edges Kingwood in OT Thriller, 8-7
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Strake Jesuit senior attackman Chris Duin gave his head coach the best birthday present anyone could ask for: A thrilling win over his brother.
Duin scored the game-winning goal with 30 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Crusaders to an 8-7 victory over Kingwood in a Texas High School Lacrosse League South District Division I game.
Duin scored a transition goal off a rebound immediately after Kingwood junior goalie Pat McClernon had made a save from point-blank range. The ball ricocheted directly off McClernon and into the stick of Duin, who made no mistake on head coach Mike Block’s special day.
Kingwood’s head coach Randy Block is Mike Block’s younger brother.
“To win a game against my brother on my birthday, it’s a hell of a day,” Mike Block said.
Senior middie-attackman Joey Wippold scored a game-high four goals, Duin’s clincher was his second and senior middie Patrick O’Meara had a goal and an assist for Strake Jesuit (2-0), which won its second straight to start the season. Senior middie-attackman Drew McKay also had a goal to round out the scoring for the Crusaders.
In defeat, junior attackmen Josh Henderson and Ryan DeLange each finished with three points on two goals and an assist for Kingwood (0-1), which dropped its season opener.
Defensively, McClernon saved 13 shots, including seven in the fourth quarter.
“Their goalie was unbelievable,” Mike Block said. “I don’t even know what to say about him.”
In a back-and-forth game, it was 2-2 at the end of the first quarter, Strake Jesuit led 5-3 at halftime and Kingwood led 6-5 going into the fourth quarter. After Strake Jesuit tied it in the fourth, Wippold gave the Crusaders a 7-6 lead when he scored with 3:07 remaining in regulation.
Kingwood drew even and forced overtime on a goal by DeLange with 1:30 remaining, and the teams then played 3:30 minutes of scoreless lacrosse in the extra period before Duin won it for Strake Jesuit, a final result Mike Block said his team was fortunate to get.
“They easily outplayed us tonight, even though we came out on top on the scoreboard,” he said of a game that will only count toward overall records but will not count for the district standings.
“Our defense played real well. We didn’t play very well or smart on offense. Our settled offense was horrendous, which gave them a lot of transition opportunities, and our defense stood their ground.”
Team Change
Yes it was a great game between two teams but have you every heard of graduation? Most of the time seniors are the more experienced players on the team so in turn when they graduate, there may be new players that have to be comfortable in their new starting roles so dont act like Strake has fallen off. The Block brothers are great coaches and there is no suprise that both teams came to play knowing how much it meant to their coach to beat their brother. Strake has a great group of seniors and will get rollin.
Wow!!!
Close one for a team in the state semis vs a team with a 3-7 record last year!!!
Re: Wow!
I'm more surprised that Kingwood was 3-7 last year. I saw them come from behind to beat Bowie. They had one senior who was NCAA quality, but the rest of the team was tiny, like freshmen. Bowie out-ran and out-muscled them, but Kingwood won on passing and ground balls. It was like they got a lot better during the game. If I recall, the goalie was hot in that game, too.