Patrick Henry head lacrosse coach Josh Wilkinson offered a quick comment to any receptive ears along the sideline in last Thursday nights matchup between his Patriots and fellow-heavyweight, the Salem Spartans.
“That didn’t take long,” Wilkinson quipped matter-of-factly.
The fiery coach had just watched Salem win the opening faceoff, race virtually untouched down the field and score eight seconds in.
When the Spartans added two more scores to take a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter, Wilkinson had seen enough before calling a timeout to summon his troups to a sideline huddle in order to discuss what could be best described as the finer points of the game.
Patrick Henry went into recovery mode and quickly heeded the words from Wilkinson, as PH rallied for the hard-fought 12-9 win at Merrill Gainer Field.
The Patriots dug out of the 3-goal deficit by netting the next three scores, and when Thomas Vance found the net from straight-out with 6:34 left in the second quarter, PH took its first lead of the game 4-3.
Salem answered with two goals, the first after a Patriot penalty gave the Spartans a man-advantage, sending Salem to the break with a 5-4 lead.
Salem opened the second half with two goals to open a 7-4 lead, but PH responded
with a decisive recovery this time, scoring four straight goals to go up 8-7. The Patriots tacked on another four scores down the stretch while holding Salem to a pair in securring the win.
“It was a great win,” Wilkinson noted in an interview Saturday. “We graduated a lot of players last year, so we’re a young team. We scored seven goals in the fourth quarter. It’s a sign we keep getting better.”
Sam Boxley led the Patrick Henry attack with six goals, while Vance added a pair. Will Adams, Joe Clifton, Christian Blackwell and Blake Anderson rounded out the Patriot scoring wih one goal apiece.
PH netminder Hunter Godsey had 13 saves in goal against the potent Salem attack.
Senior attacker Connor Sampson and freshman Joe Robertson each scored twice for Salem, which lost for only the second time this season. Patrick Henry improved to 5-3 with the win.
by Bill Turner
