Sports Illustrated1 recently featured lacrosse as the fastest growing sport in America. It is also Clarkston’s fastest growing sport ? this year an unprecedented 80 boys tried out for the Varsity and JV teams.
A Junior Varsity ‘B? team, primarily composed of freshman, was added to feed the passion these boys feel about their sport. For the first time ever, there is a middle school lacrosse program in Clarkston.
Significantly, this is the first year state playoffs were sanctioned by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) .
Longtime CHS football Head Coach Kurt Richardson is the faculty sponsor for the lacrosse teams and this year, for the first time, Clarkston played all their home games at the CHS football stadium or the CMS soccer stadium. Players have earned their Varsity letter for participating in lacrosse for the past few years.
Second year Head Coach Ken Martin said, ‘On paper, this is the best team to ever play for Clarkston.?
On May 25, the Clarkston team completed a successful regular season (8-5) with a 14-3 drubbing of Royal Oak Kimball. Next up is the Division 1 playoffs, where Clarkston will travel away to take on 10th ranked Novi on May 31 (the results were too late to appear in this edition of The Clarkston News).
Jack Shader, who was instrumental in starting the lacrosse program at Clarkston five years ago, is continually trying to improve the program. This year he recruited Assistant Coach Drew Walkotten who played lacrosse at Birmingham Seaholm and for three seasons at Oakland University. Drew played for what is arguably the best public school team in Michigan. Birmingham is the only public school to ever win the state championship. Drew is a defensive specialist and set up the defensive schemes that helped Clarkston give up only 6.6 goals a game.
The Clarkston team was led by a group of 12 seniors (see Senior Profiles) including five that played lacrosse for four years: midfielders Dan Walsh, Brad Welbourn, & Drew Spencer; attackman Aaron Ehrmann; and defenseman Tom Garavaglia.
This year featured home and away wins against Brighton, Romeo and Grand Blanc and wins on the road at Royal Oak Kimball and L’Anse Cruese North.
Losing a talented group of seniors will be tough for next year’s squad, but they retain a talented nucleus including the top two goal scorers, juniors Brent Fisher (25 goals) at attack and Matt Ullrich (18 goals) at midfielder.
Junior Steve Johns played every game in goal and improved steadily throughout the season. He saved 138 shots on goal in 13 games. Returning defenders with plenty of valuable game experience this year were Colin Dabrowski, Brennan Haasse and Ian Schnorak.
Returning letterman on attack will be Justin Blouin, Dave Lawrence, Mike Sasse, Brett Shader and Anthony Swartz.
Returning midfielders include: Scott Cooley, Marcus Craft, David Isaac, Jordan Jennings and Jimmy Tanner.
A talented JV squad that went 10-2 will bring several playmakers and defenders to fill-in for the departing seniors.
As a parent, a fan and the team’s official statistician, a position that I created and filled, this season has been exciting as I’ve watched the team’s steady improvement. We invite all to come out next spring at the newly renovated CHS football stadium and become a fan of lacrosse.
-Courtesy Robert C. Ullrich
[Robert C. Ullrich has been a resident of Clarkston since moving from New York in 1991. A father of 3 Clarkston school age children, his son Matthew plays for the CHS Varsity lacrosse team and his son Daniel plays for the JV B team..]