Canon-McMillan Boys Lacrosse Team Stomps Hillers

By Gary Beam

Two area high schools, steeped in historic athletic rivalry, met for a show down at Big Mac Stadium Monday night and from the opening face-off it appeared to be headed for an old-fashioned shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.

But when the smoke had cleared and the evening had ended, it was clear that the Canon-McMillan Big Macs held the most ammunition as they defeated the Trinity Hillers 15-3 in boy’s lacrosse action.

The teams exchanged a volley of goals less than 50 seconds into the game and what looked like a possibly interesting contest soon turned into an ambush as the Big Macs scored 11 of the next 12 goals and went on to an easy victory.

The Canon-Mac onslaught was led by Ben Ward who amassed 17 shots and scored on all six of his shots on goal while assisting on three others. Nick Carr added four goals with Richie Leeds tallying another pair. The remaining goals were scored by Connor Niemeyer, Josh Minor and Matt Smutney.

The win raises Canon-Mac’s record to 8-3. Canon-McMillan has averaged nearly
15 goals in each of eight victories but has only been able to muster up an average of three in its trio of defeats.

Sophomores Carr and Ward lead the Big Macs in season goals with 36 and 29, respectively. Isaac Miles leads all freshmen with nine goals and defensively, sophomores Jordan Pantely, Jonathan Balog and Alex Paulina have accumulated 21, 20 and 18 turnovers, respectively.

Junior Evan Crompton leads the team in winning face-off percentage at 70 percent (75 of the 107 taken) in the seven games in which he has played. Goalie Will Graziani has turned in one shutout and with a season’s 4.9 goals-against average in his 11 starts.

The Big Macs travel tonight—Wednesday—to face the Moon Tigers before returning home Friday night to face the Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights.