By Andy States
SMAC Content Manager
For the last four years, the Leonardtown Raiders have reigned supreme over the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference boys lacrosse landscape. The Huntingtown Hurricanes could not wait for the chance to knock their conference rival off its perch, and that opportunity came in the teams' season opener at Leonardtown on Saturday.
And with players new to the Hurricanes, in senior attackman Peter Athens and freshman goalie Erik Hyland, playing a significant role, the visiting Hurricanes opened the season by knocking off the four-time defending SMAC champs 10-6.
"This has been billed by everybody as the biggest game of the season," Huntingtown coach Rodger Ganley said. "We still have to play them again. I don't know if it's the biggest game of the season, but it's the biggest opener that we've had for sure."
Athens, who played as a freshman and sophomore at Northern, scored four goals to lead all scorers, while freshman Hyland did his part to keep the Hurricanes in front for the majority of the game.
"I was kind of nervous," said Hyland of his varsity debut, though he has played lacrosse for much of his life. "I knew we had to win the game, so I had to step up and be the goalie."
Leonardtown (0-1) took the lead just minutes into the game on Nick Finagin's goal. But a pair later in the opening quarter by Ryan Johnston put Huntingtown (1-0) in front. The Hurricanes never trailed again.
Athens scored his first two goals in the second period to open up what had been a one-goal game into a 5-2 lead. The senior added his third late in the third quarter to open the lead up to 7-5 after the Raiders had closed to within a goal. That tally was the start of a four-goal run for the visitors that essentially sealed the game and brought an end to Leonardtown's dominance over the conference.
"It was definitely big," Athens said of the win. "I used to play at Northern and I never beat Leonardtown, so it was definitely real big."
Igor Laray led Leonardtown with three goals, while Nolan Stewart added a pair to go along with Finagin's early score. But after graduating much of last year's squad, the team's youth showed on Saturday, according to Coach Bart Rodgers.
"We didn't match their intensity," he said. "They outplayed us the whole day. We have a lot of young kids that made a lot of dumb mistakes that led to probably five or six of their goals.
"They have to learn from the mistakes and get better. But you've got to match the intensity of the other team."
Supplementing Athens' offense, the Hurricanes received two goals each from Johnston and Mike James. Culver Bradbury and Alex Hutchison each added a goal. Ganley hopes the season-opening win is a sign of things to come after an uneven preseason.
"After our first two weekends of scrimmages I wasn't too sure where we were going to be," he said. "It's great for these guys because they wanted it so bad. They knew they kind of got one taken away from them in the second game [against Leonardtown] last year.
"We waited since last May to get back on their field and play them."
Huntingtown 10, Leonardtown 6
H 2 4 1 3
L 1 3 1 1
Goals: Huntingtown (Athens 4, James 2, Johnston 2, Bradbury, Hutchison); Leonardtown (Laray 3, Stewart 2, Finagin)
astates@digitalsports.com