The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets boys’ lacrosse team won a low scoring match to advance to the 5A Division II state championship.
Fort Mill beat the Riverside Warriors 9-3 to win the Upper State championship at Bob Jones Stadium.
“This is a special group of kids,” said Fort Mill head coach Alex Tindall. “We were here last year and remember that. We came back and battled. Our defense has carried us all year. The job isn’t finished. We have one more to go.”
The Jackets, which improved to 15-3 on the season, will face Lucy Beckham High School, also 15-3, which won 20-6 over Chapin in the Lower State Championship on Friday, May 8 at Irmo High School.
“They are a good team,” Tindall said. “But we are a good team too. And in sports, that is the beauty of it. At the end of the day, any team can win and that is our expectation. That is our goal and we have to do everything we can to get it.”
Fort Mill was able to score first with Charlie McGuire scoring to put the Jackets up 1-0 about five minutes into play.
Riverside took back-to-back timeouts to try and penetrate the Jackets defense and get their offense going. Fort Mill controlled the match for most of the opening period, but couldn’t find another goal.
The Jackets opened the second quarter controlling the ball and getting shots off without the success they were expecting. Fort Mill’s patience paid off as Cam Wilcox finally was able to breakthrough with 7:22 left in the first half to put the Jackets ahead 2-0.
A key for the Jackets in the first was maintaining possession, which allowed them to work the clock and set up McGuire’s second goal of the half with about 4:30 left in the first half.
Right before the half, Cobb Lieske scored for the Jackets with five seconds left sending Fort Mill to the locker room up 4-0.
Defensively Fort Mill was able to stand strong in the net through much of the third-quarter before Riverside finally got on the board at roughly 6:40. The Jackets did not control possession as much in the third quarter while Riverside maintained their aggressiveness on offense. The Warriors were able to cut Fort Mill’s lead in half two minutes later to make it 4-2.
The Jackets bounced back and was able to get a much-needed goal at 2:45 from the stick of Maddox Baucom. Wilcox came back about 80 later to score his second goal of the match and give Fort Mill some space.
Moses Bowser opened the fourth quarter for the Jackets scoring about a minute into play.
Riverside added a goal soon afterwards, but the Jackets started to hold the ball more as the fourth quarter persisted.
Wilcox collected a hat trick with his third goal with 2:53 remaining in the match. Keegan Heisler added Fort Mill’s ninth goal of the match with 53 seconds remaining in regulation.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
