The Nation Ford Falcons routed the Byrnes Rebels to open the 5A boys’ lacrosse playoffs.
Nation Ford came into the game as the heavy favorite as defending state champion and played like it winning 17-4. They will play in the second round at home on Saturday against JL Mann.
Nation Ford scored 33 seconds into the game with a goal from Aiden Wiltkopf and from there the rout was on.
“We played well,” said Nation Ford head coach Cory Turner. “We got a little complacent in the second half. The name of the game now is winning and moving on.”
Josh Ameo, who led with seven goals, scored three minutes later and Trevor Keaton added a goal with 7:44 left in the first quarter.
Ameo added another goal and Hunter Nickola add a goal with 10 seconds left remaining as Nation Ford went up 5-0 after the opening quarter. Nickola would add two more to get a hat trick.
Byrnes would score their first goal of the game at the 9:39 mark of the second quarter.
However, Nation Ford kept their foot on the gas after the small setback. Ameo scored his third goal of the game with 6:41 in the second quarter.
Will Alvarado added a goal two minutes later for the Falcons, before Byrnes would crack the scoreboard again with two minutes left in the first half.
Nation Ford carried a 9-2 lead to the third quarter. Keaton added his second goal of the game a little over a minute into play in the second half.
Byrnes would add their third goal, but Ameo took matters into his own hands coming back with three consecutive goals for the Falcons to really put the game out of reach.
Keaton got a hat trick with his third goal of the game with 20 seconds left in the third quarter to put Nation Ford up 14-3 heading to the final period.
The Falcons’ Jacob Sanford opened the fourth quarter with a goal two minutes into the period to start the running clock. Ameo would pick up his seventh goal of the game and Dylan Ross would add another goal seconds later as that closed out the game for the Falcons.
The win improved Nation Ford to 11-6 overall on the season.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
