Chris Gotschall sent Glenelg with a full head of steam for the state playoffs Tuesday evening. He had four goals and three assists, leading the Gladiators to the Howard County championship over Marriotts Ridge. The unbeaten Gladiators begin their quest for a second straight state championship next week in the Class 2A/1A West Regionals.
After breezing through their conference schedule undefeated, Glenelg High’s boys’ lacrosse team stepped on their home turf Tuesday evening for the Howard County championship game with a sense of unfinished business. And like the regular season, Gladiators left no doubt they’re the best team.
Led by Chris Gotschall’s four goal, three assist performance and stout defense, Glenelg overwhelmed Marriotts Ridge, 14-6. The Gladiators wanted to put an exclamation mark on their county campaign.
“Every game we go into, we think we’re going to win,” said Gotschall. “Knowing we are going to win gives us the confidence we need.”
It’s hard not be confident considering the Gladiators, ranked tenth in the DigitalSports’ Top 20, outscored conference opponents by a whopping 106 to 30 margin.
In addition to Gotschall’s seven points, the Gladiators (13-0) also got three goals from Ryan Dougherty and Mike Silas. Tyler Burford and Josh Braun completed Glenelg’s scoring with two goals a piece.
“We knew we wanted to do this from the start and we made sure we finished it today,” said Dougherty. “We hadn’t played them in the regular season, but we just knew we had to come out and play as hard as we could and get goals.”
Dougherty and the Gladiators did just that, as the attackman scored two of Glenelg’s three goals in the opening ninety seconds.
“We’ve been preaching the last several weeks that we have to come out fired up and we got to come out fast,” said Glenelg coach Josh Hatmaker. “When we do that and take care of the ball we are very, very, tough to stop.”
After letting in the first three shots he saw, Marriotts Ridge goalie Dan Schonfeld settled down to make seven saves for the remainder of the quarter while only giving up one goal to Gotschall to keep the score close at 4-1.
After another early goal by Dougherty made the score 5-1, it appeared that the Gladiators were going to cruise yet again against a conference foe. But after the Mustangs’ Joon Son evaded Glenelg defender Kyle Hofstetter for an emphatic goal, it appeared Marriotts Ridge (11-3) was gaining some momentum.
It didn’t last. The Gladiators responded with goals from Gotschall, Burford, and Silas, extending their advantage to 8-2. Marriotts Ridge got a last-minute second quarter goal from Son and third quarter score from Chris Fischer, cutting the margin in half.
But as it did all game, Glenelg’s offense responded with two unanswered goals while goalie John Selfridge and the Gladiators’ defense blanked the Mustangs for the remainder of the quarter.
“We always talk about some kind of change in the game. When you have a change, whether it goes negative or positive, you have to able to respond,” said Hatmaker. “So if we get a goal scored on us, that’s fine, we’ll go down and score a goal too.”
The Gladiators’ high-octane offense provided more of the same fireworks in the fourth quarter as Silas and Braun scored early to push the advantage to 12-4. Following two straight Marriotts Ridge goals, Gotschall and Dougherty secured the title for Glenelg with three minutes remaining as they connected with each other for the third time, this time with Gotschall finding the net for his fourth goal.
“Me and Ryan have been playing together for probably 12 years or so now,” said Gotschall. “We seem to play our best when it really is important so we’re going to keep trying to play our hardest every game and hopefully we can keep winning.”
As the players hoisted the Howard County championship trophy high above their heads, Hatmaker and the Gladiators don’t feel it’s the last piece of hardware they’ll acquire. Glenelg, which won the Class 3A/2A state title last season, will be No. 1 seed in the 2A/1A West Region playoffs.
“All year long is a learning experience. The playoffs are when you wrap everything up and you have to pull a little bit from each game,” said Hatmaker, whose team will play either Liberty or Brunswick in next week’s quarterfinal round. “I don’t see any let up in these kids. They play hard, they practice hard and they battle all the time.”
Howard County Boys' Lacrosse Championship
Glenelg 14, Marriotts Ridge 6Goals: MR – Lim 1, Son 2, Fischer 2, Williams 1. G – Dougherty 3, Burford 2, Gotschall 4, Silas 3, Braun 2.
Assists: MR– Williams 2. G – Gotschall 3, Wynne 2, Braun 1, Dubois 1, Dougherty 1.
Saves: MR – Schonfeld 15. G – Selfridge 8.
Half: Glenelg 8, Marriotts Ridge 3.