MAC KENNEDY ON MIAA A LACROSSE: 'IT'S BEEN A DOGFIGHT FOR GENERATIONS'

by Lem Satterfield

(See video interviews below)

It's no secret that the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's A Conference is widely considered the nation's deepest, and most difficult for high school boys' lacrosse.

And Mac Kennedy, a Boys Latin administrator who has spent nearly two decades researching Baltimore's favorite game, spent some time with DigitalSports shedding some light on why he believes that is the case.

Kennedy mentions a few of the lacrosse traditions' family histories, such as the Wittelsbergers, the Radebaughs and the Stanwicks.

He discussed the emergeance of Calvert Hall, which meets defending champ Loyola on Tuesday, onto the local scene under former University of Maryland coach, Dick Edell -- most notably with a notorious 2-1 victory over Gilman in "The Stall Game" of 1971.

There is also the fact that Gilman assistant, Owen Daly, whose Greyhounds face his alma mater, McDonogh on Tuesday, earned the C. Markland Kelly Award as a McDonogh senior in 1999.

That's the year Daly, as a midfielder, guided the Eagles over the Greyhounds for the MIAA A Conference title. Daly, however, is a legacy at Gilman, where his grandfather, Owen Jr., and his father, Owen III, played lacrosse.

Kennedy also takes a look at Friday's Boys Latin's game against Gilman, the only program in the MIAA's A Conference against which the Lakers have a losing record.

"This is rivalry week really, and we're what -- a third or fourth week into the season. We already have Loyola-Calvert Hall vying, and then of course Gilman-McDonogh. And then on Friday, you have Gilman-B.L.," Kennedy said.

"Three gigantic games, three gigantic rivalries," Kennedy said. "Once again, it's the MIAA. The kids at these schools all know each other, and these kids play rec league together."

By the time the players get to high school, Kennedy said, "You know their game, they know your game."


A sampling of Mac Kennedy's historical perspective on three of this week's MIAA A Conference games:

No. 10 Boys' Latin (9-3) at No. 1 Gilman (10-0)

Mac's facts: Gilman leads series, begun in 1931, by 50-42, including a record of 4-0 opposite Boys' Latin in championship games. In 1978, Gilman stymied Boys' Latin, 11-10, in OT.

The Lakers won their first-ever game, 6-1, in 1931, the year before both programs joined the now defunct Maryland Scholastic Association.

In 1947, the Greyhounds defeated the Lakers, 7-6, for the title -- Gilman’s first -- by scoring five goals in the game's final five minutes after trailing, 6-2.

In 1955, the Lakers, coached by Okey O’Connor, played a zone and stifled the Greyhounds in an 11-10 victory. Mickey Webster scored four times and assisted on two other goals to secure the win.

Over the course of three straight years through the 1980s, the Lakers defeated the Greyhounds by a goal. Those years were 1981, ’82 and 83 -- the last two seasons being in overtime.

In their last title-game meetings, Gilman won, 11-6, and, 10-8, respectively, in 1995 and 2000.

Gilman has won 14 titles, and Boys' Latin, nine.

 

No. 1 Gilman (10-0) at No. 6 McDonogh (9-2)

Mac's facts: Only championship game between these two teams was in 1999, when McDonogh won, led by C. Markland Kelly Award winner, Owen Daly IV.

Owen IV will be on the sidelines as an assistant at Gilman, where his father, Owen III, and grandfather, Owen II, went to school.

Also, Kim Swerdloff of McDonogh's Class of 1973 won the Kelley Award, and his brother, Jon, attended Gilman and was a great player in the middle 1970s.

"Intense school rivalry. Anything can happen when tese two meet. This rivalry probably goes back into the 1930s. McDonogh had a long lull where they didn't really do much. But I remember my senior year in 1976, Gilman was dynamite, B.L. was good, St. Paul's was good, and McDonogh was winless," Kennedy recalled.

"All Gilman had to do was win the last game of the season against winless McDonogh to win the title," Kennedy said. "There were no playoffs this year, it was whoever had the best record. If Gilman had lost that game, it would have been a three-way tie. No way to end the season. McDonogh gave the Greyhounds a tough battle losing only 11-8."

No. 2 Calvert Hall (10-0) at No. 4 Loyola (6-2)

Mac's facts: Five "A" Conference titles for the Cardinals; 10 "A" Conference titles for the Dons; have met three times in championship games in 1980, '87 and 1989 -- all of which were won by Loyola.

"Maybe the biggest of all this week's rivalries overall. Many of the players on both teams played with each other at Catholic grade schools," Kennedy said.