By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — Despite coming up just short, the Salamanca boys lacrosse team put up a strong fight in its season-opener against Akron.
The Warriors wasted no time challenging themselves, squaring off against the team that ended their season last year in the Tigers. Unfortunately for the hosts, the affair ended with the same result as their previous campaign’s finale, this time losing by a narrow 13-12 margin.
“It was a good test right off the bat,” Salamanca assistant coach Larry Wheeler said. “They’ve only had eight days of practice, we’ve only had eight days of practice. But our boys play a lot of ball outside of this stage, so I was expecting a good game. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. But I’m glad that we got to see what they had right off the bat and we’ll just make our corrections as we go.”
Salamanca and Akron traded blows in the first quarter, but the latter would not have to wait long for the goals to start rolling in. Due to some early-season injuries, the Salamanca defense was, admitted by Wheeler, pieced together as opposed to the solid unit he anticipates having once they are at full strength. So, with that going against them, along with some ill-advised penalties that were handed to the Warriors, the Tigers unloaded seven goals in the second quarter.
“We’re dealing with a few injuries, and they’re just mild injuries, so we’ll have them next week, but yeah we had to do a little bit of shuffling to kind of make our starting defense right now,” Wheeler said. “Now we know what we need to work on.”
But while Salamanca may have had its difficulties on the defensive end, when it was able to bring possession into its attacking third, it was able to sustain pressure on the Akron goal. In doing so, the Warriors’ offense came at a relatively consistent rate, scoring at least three times in each quarter.
And down four entering the fourth quarter of play, the Salamanca offense was as lively as ever, with its defense also stepping up in the closing moments of the game, with goalkeeper Brock Johnson making a handful of crucial saves that kept the hosts in contention.
Goals from Maddox Isaac, Wylon Dowdy — who each recorded hat tricks on the day — and Avery Brown brought the Warriors within one, but time was on the Tiger’s side and the comeback was put just out of reach after some costly turnovers.
“Our boys have a lot of heart, lacrosse is an emotional game and sometimes you’re going to get those penalties, and non-releasable penalties are always going to be tough to battle back from,” Wheeler said. “Going six-on-four and having a deficit after that, that was the turning point in the game. But the boys, they came back, netted a bunch of goals pretty quickly in a short amount of time, and made a game of it. We just couldn’t finish it.”
Salamanca’s Xavier Peters (7) brings the ball upfield against Akron. Peters scored twice in the Warriors’ loss to the Tigers. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
It wasn’t the result that Salamanca was hoping for to start its campaign, but according to Wheeler there is plenty to be excited for in the weeks to come.
Most importantly, leadership.
Six seniors graduated from the program last year, opening a vacuum in the leadership positions. A vacuum that was easily filled by the likes of Salamanca’s fourth-quarter goalscorers Isaac, Dowdy and Brown.
“Our leaders right now came off a state championship run for football, and they’re thirsty for it,” Wheeler said of the ambition his team leaders have shown. “We’re in the hunt. We’re not too worried (about this result), we had a good showing in our first game.
“Maddox and Avery, they’re both capable of taking that leadership role to the next level. When the boys were kind of down at halftime, Avery and Maddox brought everybody up and talked everybody back to that level.”
The other aspect of the team that Wheeler is most excited about is its depth. While there are some injuries preventing that depth from being shown right away, the well of talent that Wheeler and his coaching staff have to choose from runs deep.
“This year, we’re actually pretty deep,” Wheeler said. “We had a few kids out with slight injuries that we didn’t want to risk pushing too hard (because) we want to look at the whole season, not just one game at a time. We just have to get everybody healthy and just keep going. We have a lot of talent.”
Wheeler and the Warriors will be hoping for quick recoveries from those who have been bit by the injury bug so as to show off the full might of their depth in the games to come.
Next up for Salamanca is a home matchup with Depew on March 28 at 5:30 p.m.
