Before I talk about the last two games, I want to inform you that Dutchtown received some new sublimated goodness in the mail on Friday. Our Spring Gear order finally came in, and not a moment too soon. We received these shorts and shooter, thanks to the help of Scott Gollnick with OT Sports.
Warm ups never looked so good. We know that 412 doesn’t care for argyle, but we enjoy the pattern. It’s not everyday that we see the New England Yacht Club Prep School pattern in our neck of the woods, so we decided that we could make it look good.
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Jesuit
Jesuit is the biggest game of the season. They’re the top ranked team, and they have some players that are flat out incredible. I’ve been particularly impressed with their attackmen Bryan Kitto and Mac Bulloch, as well as their goalie Stephen Baay (pronounced like “buy”).
There’s a reason they’re undefeated in Louisiana, and have made two Championship appearances in a row. They’re just that good.
But they’re in our house, and we’ve gotten a lot better over the past 12 months.
[fvplayer src=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=ekG9UX0rTvg?fs=1″ splash=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ekG9UX0rTvg/hqdefault.jpg” caption=”Jesuit at Dutchtown Lacrosse Pregame warmup”]
We had played Jesuit two times last season, the resulting score combined was 38-1 Jesuit. This year, we were determined to change that dynamic, and I think we did.
It didn’t start out great. In the first 8 minutes of gameplay, Jesuit led 5-0. I called a time out to calm everyone down, and that turned out to be a great decision. For the rest of the game, Dutchtown outscored Jesuit 5-3. Our players pulled out all the stops. I saw behind the back passes under pressure that led to fast breaks, and a rusty gate from our long pole Brandt Latino that resulted in a yard sale (trying to get the game film of that).
All in all, stellar play from both teams resulted in a very exciting game, but we came up a little short.
Final: Loss, 8-5
Impressions: If there is such a thing as a good loss, this is it. Jesuit, by all possible computer outcomes, was predicted to steam roll us. But we knew that wouldn’t be the case, especially with as fantastic as we’ve been playing lately. So proud of the Dutchtown team for giving them one hell of a fight
Next: There is no longer a possible scenario for Dutchtown to make the playoffs, but we still have Ocean Springs two days later. Should Ocean Springs beat us, they would be in the playoffs.
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Ocean Springs
Dutchtown vs Ocean Springs has become a violent rivalry of sorts. These two teams flat out play physical, and it becomes a competition of who has more testosterone.
Again, the game is in our house, and we’re up to the challenge. The first quarter was a pretty close match, and then we slowly pulled away. We had some great play from Attackman Dalton Bailey, who tallied 5 goals and 1 assist on the day, as well as a couple of our newer middies, Shawn Roberts and Stephen Podorsky who tallied 2 Goals each.
We endured through the physicality, and enjoyed plenty of man-up time thanks to the opponents’ unsportsmanlike penalties and ejections.
Final: Win, 14-6
Season Impressions: My God we have improved. This year we scored 107 goals, and had 94 goals scored against. Last year we had 51 goals, and allowed 108 goals. This year, we scored an average of 9.73 goals per game, and allowed 8.55 goals per game, which is a net positive of 1.18. Last year we were net negative 6.33.
I don’t care how you slice it – that’s remarkable improvement.
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Helicopter Ride
I now understand why they’re cracking down on shots to the head.
One of the Dutchtown players suffered a neck injury during the Ocean Springs JV game, when one of the starting Varsity Ocean Springs players wiped out our guy. He was struggling to move his neck, so I wasn’t going to mess with that. Luckily, we had a parent in the medical field who new how to examine the player, and knew what to do.
Turns out he’s ok. Just a strained muscle in his neck, and he’ll be as good as new in a couple weeks. While he was on the ground, he stayed calm and collected. He kept saying that he was pissed because he knew this meant he couldn’t finish the game/season. What a warrior.
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Playoffs and Camp Season
Hooray for more coverage of the sport in Lousiana. I’ll be showing you something very special in a couple weeks. But until then, it’s playoffs and camp season. We’re expecting to cover the Dartmouth camp and the Navy camp, both of which are coming to Louisiana.
We’re also going to be commenting on the All State and All District selections, which will be taking place in a couple weeks. The All Star game is played before the Championship game, which is scheduled for May 1st in Lafayette, Louisiana. If you can swing it, you should attend!
