This past Friday night, the Whitefield varsity lacrosse team won their third straight championship, taking the Gannon Cupm, a competition between other 1A teams across the state. The WolfPack earned their way to the championship game with a first round win Tuesday night , 13-4, over Mt. Paran.
For the championship, Whitefield faced tournament host, Fellowship Christian Academy. The Fellowship Paladins had home field advantage and an All-State FOGO (face-off specialist), which kept the match close and the intensity high for the entire game. The Paladins won 19 of 23 face-offs which strongly contributed to their very high 39 shots at goalies Wills McCutcheon (9th) and Bradley Washington (10th) and kept the WolfPack off-balance for much of the game.
The Pack jumped to a first quarter 5-2 lead, but the teams played evenly for the next two quarters with each team scoring three goals per quarter. The WolfPack exerted their will in the ultimate quarter, though, scoring four goals while allowing none from the Paladins. Coach Hunter received a necessary gatorade bath, and the players, coaches, parents and fans, lingered on the field post-game celebrating and taking pictures with the Gannon Cup. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and iMessage, received unusually high traffic for a short period from that part of Roswell.
The tale of the numbers included an offensive attack led by four goals each from David Ballew (12th) and William Charles (11th), two each by Marcus Jones (12th) and Jonathan Wood (10th), and one each from Mitchell Ryan (10th), Jack Fitzgerald (10th) and Thomas Joiner (9th). Team play on offense was exemplified by the high assist count led by Jonathan with three, Sky DuPree (12th), David, and William with two each, and Mitchell and Carter Dixon (10th) with one each.
The defense showed their mettle by scooping 39 groundballs led again by Sky with 10, William with five, David and Carter with four each, Marcus, Jack, Thomas and Joseph Schwartz (9th) with three each, Jonathan with two, and Carson Brown (10th) and Brenner McCutcheon (10th) with one each.
Please give a big congratulations to all of the varsity lacrosse players and to the coaches for a great season. A special congratulations to graduating seniors David Ballew, Sky DuPree, Michael Hebert, and Marcus Jones, who did a great job leading such a young team this year. May each of you be a light for the Lord in the places that you go next.