The senior quartet of (from left to right) David Cutair, Tom Clements, Mike Higgins and David Borcik have been responsible for getting Franklin off to a 3-0 start in boys' lacrosse. The Indians routed Old Mill, 11-1, in a non-league contest in Reisterstown Wednesday afternoon.
Old Mill's Thomas Sillaman (left) looks to slow down Franklin's Harris Hoffberg. The Patriots weren't successful cooling down Franklin, which has outscored its first three opponents, 45-3.
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Now comes the hard part for Franklin High’s boys’ lacrosse
team. After three impressive non-league victories, capped Wednesday afternoon with
an 11-1 rout of Old Mill, the Indians aren’t taking any for granted with
Baltimore County league play on the horizon.
The Reisterstown school has back-to-back games with
Parkville (Friday evening) and Saturday at Perry Hall before a daunting three-game
stretch with perennial county powers Dulaney, Towson and Hereford. The Indians head
in with a full-head of stream, outscoring Mount Hebron, Calvert and Old Mill by
a combined 45-3.
Senior midfielder David Borcik scored five goals Wednesday
for Franklin, and Mike Higgins added three. Sophomore attack Hunter Nowicki had
a goal and an assist, and Kevin Hollander and Matt Polashuk each tallied a
goal. Senior midfielder Jay Clark had the only goal for Old Mill (2-3).
“I thought we played okay,” said Franklin coach Scot
Laudeman. “We can certainly play better than that, I would like to see us play better,
but a win is a win.”
“From first faceoff to right from the whistle, we brought it
down and just want to get the lead quickly,” said Higgins, a senior midfielder
and tri-captain. “We wanted to keep the ball moving and finding the back of the
net.”
The Indians aren’t surprised by their quick start with Borcik,
who will play for Salisbury State University next season and Higgins back at
midfield with David Cutair, Jamie Kane, Sam Hans and Tom Clements on
defense. After going 6-7 last spring,
Franklin is halfway to matching, and possibly, surpassing that total.
“We knew we have a big group of seniors this year,” said
Higgins, one of 17 seniors. “We want to start strong off and we’re trying to
take it all the way.”
“We’ve stepped up it,” said Clements. “We just want to keep
that up the rest of the season. The numbers speak for themselves.”
After drilling Mount Hebron (15-0) and Calvert (19-2),
Franklin jumped on Old Mill at Frank McWilliams Stadium Wednesday, scoring the
first five goals before Clark got the Patriots’ lone tally with 3 minutes, 29
seconds remaining in the first half. Borcik scored four goals in the second
half as Franklin outshot the Patriots, 42-31.
Old Mill coach Steve Spence was pleased with team’s
defensive showing, but discouraged by his offense. The Patriots are a work in
progress after graduating 15 starters last season.
“We’re happy with our defense, our offense is not doing what
we’re asking them to do at all,” said Spence. “They’re not working hard enough.
It’s frustrating. “
Laudeman said he wants his offensive unit to be “less chaotic,”
but admits it’s the way the Indians play. They realized they’re going to have to
raise their level with a difficult three-game stretch starting next week with Dulaney.
“We always got them in a row and it always a tough week of
lacrosse,” said Cutair. “We got to pick it up and play our best.”
“I think this year is our chance to come up big. I would
like to see three wins,” said Clements. “We feel like we got a good squad, and
we’re not going to let down for any team.”
Franklin 11, Old Mill 1
Goals: Old Mill-Clark; Franklin-Borcik 5, Higgins 3, Nowicki,
Hollander, Polashuk. Assists: Franklin-Nowicki. Saves: Old Mill-Anderson 22;
Franklin-Clements 14.
Franklin 5 6-11
Old Mill 1 0- 1