Milestones were reached and history was made as the Nation Ford Falcons boys’ lacrosse team edged Fort Mill to remain perfect in Region 3-5A.
Nation Ford edged the Jackets 15-13 and improved to 4-0 in the region and 8-3 overall. The Falcons have two region games left and can lock up the region title with a win over Clover Saturday.
The win over Fort Mill clinched a season sweep for Nation Ford over the Jackets for the first time ever.
“Two wins is big for us,” said Nation Ford head coach Cory Turner. “They fought hard.”
Nation Ford led the entire game as Ty Keaton opened the game up with back-to-back goals breaking the school record with his 123rd career goal. Keaton ended the game with four goals, but didn’t lead the team. That distinction belonged to Tyler Ajemian, who scored five goals in the game.
Fort Mill, which is now 4-6 overall and 2-2 in the region, came back with their first goal about five minutes into the game to cut the Falcons lead. Nation Ford held a 4-2 lead after the first quarter as Fort Mill battled them toughly for much of the first half.
In the second quarter, Fort Mill scored three of the first four goals to tie the match at 5-5 with Mac Reilly, scoring two of those three goals. Reilly led the Jackets with five goals in the game for Fort Mill.
The Falcons held a slim 6-5 lead at the half and never was able to really open the game up until the fourth quarter, where both teams traded goals often. Fort Mill pulled within one on two occasions in the third quarter, but was not able to tie the match again.
Nation Ford again carried a slim 9-8 lead into the fourth quarter and then was able to start pulling away. Although the game had a playoff atmosphere, Turner said for the Falcons, every game moving forward needs to have that feeling.
“We are taking everything now like it is a playoff game,” he said. “A loss puts us where we don’t want to be.”
In the fourth quarter, Owen Ameo quickly got a hat trick for Nation Ford scoring three goals in 12 minutes. Fort Mill pushed the pace in the quarter as they went from trailing 13-9 to pull within one with three consecutive goals. Ameo and Keaton got their final goals of the game to keep the Falcons ahead as the Jackets couldn’t get over the hump they needed to do to win.
Others scoring goals for Nation Ford were Ryan Walczak (2) and Tyler DeMarco and those scoring for Fort Mill were Evan Chapman (2), Danny Anderson (2), Peyton Farley (2), and Camden Marks.
The Falcons play at Clover Saturday next according to their schedule and Fort Mill plays Oceanside Academy today.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
