A Nation Ford Falcons boys’ lacrosse player made history and the team got a hard-fought win to end their month of February
Nation Ford improved to 2-0 on the season with an 11-9 win over the Cuthbertson Cavaliers on Thursday, Feb. 27, but had to hold off a second half rally to do it.
“We came out flat after halftime,” said Nation Ford head coach Cory Turner. “Both teams had too many penalties. It is early and a lot things will settle down. It takes about four to eight games to get in the groove.”
All-State senior Josh Ameo made history in the game as he became the boy’s career goal leader.
Nation Ford didn’t waste any time scoring as Ameo scored two minutes into the first quarter. Holden Kestnbaum scored two minutes after that for the Falcons, and then Quinn Tauzin added Nation Ford’s third goal a minute later to put the Falcons up early.
Cuthbertson made an attack on offense, but came away empty handed after a quick possession.
After getting the ball back, Ameo scored his second goal of the game with about four minutes left in the opening period to put them up 4-0.
Cuthbertson scored 93 seconds into the second quarter to get on the board. The second quarter turned into more of a defensive effort by the teams for most of the period.
Ameo broke that drought with another goal to secure a hat trick. Tauzin then scored his second goal 13 seconds later. Less than a minute later, Ameo set a new career goal record for the school with his fourth goal of the game and his 213th career goal.
Ameo wasn’t done in the first half as he scored goal number five in the game with 28 seconds left in the half to put the Falcons up 8-1 before the half.
Cuthbertson opened the second half with some renewed vigor scoring 12 seconds into play.
Trevor Keaton got in on the scoring for the Falcons at 9:25 in the third quarter. However, the Cavs scored two more goals before the end of the third quarter to cut the Nation Ford lead to five.
The fourth quarter was a defensive struggle early on as goals were hard to come by. One aspect that helped Nation Ford for most of the game were face-offs won by Griffin McNaughton giving them possession to start.
Cuthbertson scored with about eight minutes remaining, and Nation Ford’s Chase Murray came back 90 seconds later to help get the goal back for the Falcons. The two goals then opened the flood gate as the teams started trading goals. The Cavs would score and Kestnbaum got his second goal for Nation Ford down the stretch.
Cuthbertson would find another gear in the final period mostly with the help of turnovers by the Falcons. The Cavs scored three goals during the final six minutes and pulled within two goals of Nation Ford. The Falcons went on to regain possession and passed the ball around holding it and milking the final minutes off the clock to hold on for the win.
Feb. 27 Roundup
The Nation Ford girls’ soccer team opened the Viking Cup at Spring Valley with a 3-0 win over River Bluff.
The Nation Ford boys’ soccer team won 6-0 in their opener of the Capital City Cup in the Columbia area to improve to 4-1 on the season.
The Fort Mill girls’ soccer team lost its opener at the Viking Cup at Spring Valley 1-0 to Chapin.
The Fort Mill girls’ lacrosse team dropped to 0-2 on the season with a 14-6 loss to Myers Park.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
