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A New Rivalry And The Hardest Loss

flour bluff lacrosse club texas lacrosse lax

Editor’s Note:  Josh “Chewy” Acut is back with another story from the never-ending sage that is GTL: Grow Texas Lacrosse.  If you don’t know who he is by now, you’ve been missing out big time!

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So this weekend, the Flour Bluff Lacrosse Club had it’s first double header of the season.  We had a rematch with St. Anthony’s and a game versus Roosevelt, both of San Antonio.

The game versus St. Anthony’s has given birth to a rivalry, Private School versus Public School, the Bro’s from the Coast versus Lax in the City… and not only did we lose to them early in the season, but after my last LacrosseAllstars.com post, one of their players  decided to comment on how they “destroyed us” in the first meeting (11-5)…  The Bluff squad did see this post, but waited till the game to express their feelings.

From the get go the trash talk was apparent on both sides, and yes the spirit of competition does leave room for a little verbal exchange, but there was a point where both myself and the St. Anthony’s coach had to verbally reprimand our own players.  Mind you, their coach is like the Grizzly Adams of lacrosse coaches, HA!  The game was VERY physical, and
it became a typical Texas Lacrosse game with a number of football like hits on both sides.  The game was very sloppy on both sides, but in the end we lost 8-1.  But even though the teams came together to shake hands you could cut the tension with a dull spoon.  So the series is now 0-2, St. Anthony’s over the Bluff…

I cannot wait to see what happens when the New Kids on the Block… aren’t the new kids anymore.  I asked the kids if there was a rivalry and the response from them all was “Hellz  Yeah!”, and with that said… “To next year’s games!”

The second game of the day was versus Roosevelt, coached by Blake Radetzky.  Blake is truly one of Flour Bluff’s biggest supporters, and over the past season has become one of my closest friends in the fraternity of lacrosse coaches.  This, in my opinion, was the one game this season that I truly knew we could win.  Not because the Roosevelt squad was not good, but because they a very young program.  The game started off great, probably the best 1st half that we had ever played.

I gotta give mad props to Aaron P!!!  He is the smallest guy on our team, and he won’t deny it, but when it was him versus a much bigger attacker, he didn’t move, stood his ground , and took the hit.  Yes, he was bowled over, but he was able to slow the attacker down long enough for our resident enforcer, Nate G., to come cleanly check the attacker and cause him to lose the ball.  At the end of the half the score was 3-2 Flour Bluff!!!!  The half time talk was short and brief, but the message was clear: protect the ball, control the clock, and no matter what… do not get down if they score.

The 2nd half started off good… but then it happened.  The straw that broke the camel’s back, or the goal that broke our spirits…the Roosevelt’s shooter was #3.  Kid was good, real good.  Took his time, let our D chase him till they got anxious, and the rest was history.  He tied it up pretty quick.  Our D finally was able to contain him, but the extra man that we had to put on him left one of theirs open, and he was able to capitalize on that.  Right then you could see how tired our guys were.

Ironman lacrosse and a double header was not a good mix.  In the end, we lost 4-7… but unlike the losses that we have had throughout the season, this one took its toll.  I saw the emotion in the eyes of our players.  This wasn’t just a loss… this was THE loss.  The game that got away from them, the game they knew they could win.  Some were too tired to let the emotion surface, while others openly showed their frustrations.  I too had to walk away and compose myself.  Seeing them hurt this bad even took its toll on me.  They deserved this win,… They needed this win…

Afterwards, one of the players dad’s said it best, “It was 12 players versus 20…”

Overall, it was a good but hard weekend.  I can say that I feel that there will be a Year Two, and that is not just because I want it, but because you can see it in the kids’ eyes also.  One more game left in the season.  The countdown to 4/20 starts now as the Flour Bluff Lacrosse Club gets ready to face TMI out of San Antonio.  This is the last game of the year.  The end of Year One.

The stage is set for a David VS Goliath lacrosse match.  The game starts at 5:30 on Wednesday April 20… the sun will set after the last whistle is blown, and I have told a couple of the players this, “Play hard, leave it all on the field, let’s go!!!”

12 Players Strong.