Canon-McMillan Lacrosse Team Trounces Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights

By Gary Beam

The Canon McMillan Big Macs turned what a game that was tied at the half into a rout Friday night, defeating the Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights 16-7 at Canon-McMillan Memorial Stadium.

Ben Ward propelled the home team into the lead, scoring two goals within 31 seconds before the game was two-and-a-half minutes old—but if the Big Macs thought the contest was going to be easy, Wheeling gave them reason to believe differently as they responded with three unanswered goals to take a 3-
2 lead early in the second quarter.

After exchanging goals, Connor Niemeyer and Josh Minor, a sophomore, put the Big Macs back into the lead, only to see Wheeling score with fewer than 30 seconds remaining in the half sending the teams to the break tied at 5.

Despite the Knights tenacity, the Big Macs dominated the second half, outscoring the visitors 11-2 and comfortably tying down their 10th victory of the season against only three losses.

Minor paced Canon-Mac with six goals and Ward netted three of his own. In addition, two goals each by Niemeyer, Zach Moore and Nick Carr along with a lone tally from Isaac Miles finished out the scoring for the evening. Goalie Will Graziani came up big with 11 saves and Alex Paulina led the defense with four
forced turnovers.

The Big Macs travel to Knoch High School Monday before returning home for Senior Night on Wednesday, May 1 against Baldwin.