Expectations were reserved about future possibilities when the spring season began and for the first time each Hanover County high school fielded a lacrosse team. But last Thursday night that all changed and the county got a taste of a sport that appears to be on a rapid pace to rival football in fan attendance.

  The 600 fans that made their way to Hanover’s football stadium came to see the county’s first lacrosse battle under the lights. What they got was an intense battle to the wire as Atlee (9-2) jumped out to a 7-1 lead only to watch the host Hawks (6-10) scramble back, nearly sending the game into overtime before falling 9-8.

  The game atmosphere rivaled the best county football matchups as the student sections for each school was packed providing a noisy and rowdy climate which added to the excitement.

  “It was great,” said Atlee head coach John Kuchta. “Being from Connecticut, our state championships when we were up there, we played for 1500 people, then you come down here and you’ve got a good crowd going. I’m hoping it grows and grows and grows and just gets bigger and bigger each year and I guess this is a start.”

  Hanover head coach Don Kalinowski agreed. “I love the crowd, it was phenomenal,” he said. “It was great hearing them get into it, counting down the clock and our crowd with us believing that we could come back tie it or win it.”
  With lacrosse being relatively new to the county, both teams still compete on the club level. The Raiders were the longer established squad, but the Hawks were loaded with athletic talent from their football team to balance the matchup.

  Hanover got on the board early when midfielder Nic White scored with 8:19 left in the first period, but from there on the first half was dominated by Atlee.

  A little over a minute passed before the Raiders’ Tye Burris knotted the game 1-1, taking advantage of Hanover playing a man down due to a penalty.

  Twenty-one seconds later, it was Atlee attackman Ryne West adding to the lead on a shot from the left corner.

  The Raiders continued their onslaught in the second period. Midfielder Adam Brackley scored out front then Joe Purvis found the net on consecutive attacks. Sam Holmes pushed the margin to 6-1 on a crossover with less than four minutes remaining in the half.

  Meanwhile goalie Fitz Rogers (9 saves) closed down the net for Atlee.

  Atlee then opened the second with a bouncer from Dan Pruvis which widened the margin to 7-1.

  Hanover came into the contest playing without second leading scorer Casey Cook, and Kalinowski made lineup adjustments to compensate, which may have backfired.

  “We took our starting long stick and we put him in at a middie and we paid the price,” he said. “We were without a defensive presence. We missed some slides and they scored some goals where the goalie (Todd Edstrom) had to go one on one against them… We had a lot of penalties in that first half and you can’t play a man down as much as we did without letting some goals go in.”

  Kalinowski also indicated that big game jitters may have played a role early on as Hanover repeatedly lost control of the ball. “Making that pass that you shouldn’t make to a person who’s not as open as they are,” he said. “We walked over some ground balls. That’s a jittery thing too. If you don’t get all the way down you’ll walk right over it. We did not control the ball, we put ourselves in a position where we’d make a great defensive stop, we’re back on defense again. Eventually it’s going to wear you down.”

  Therefore Kalinowski made the decision that even without Cook on the field, he would go back to his original field designations after the break.

  Though trailing by a substantial margin, Kalinowski had no doubts his squad would bounce back. “If there’s one thing about the character of this team, we’ve seen it throughout the year, these kids are fighters,” he said. “We do not have to give that, don’t give up speech. All we need to do is tell them what we need to do.”

  It was Deane Cheatham, just as he had done throughout his football career, who took control on his home field turf. Cheatham answered Purvis goal with a crossover score of his own 27 seconds later. Twenty-two second passed before Hanover struck again, this time from Zack Attkisson on the right.

  Cheatham then trimmed Atlee’s lead to 7-4, striking from 30-feet out on the right side and the crowd became even more enthusiastic.

  Kuchta was not surprised by the Hawks’ rally. “This was on Hanover’s field and they wanted it,” he said. “They came out in the second half and they wanted it a little bit more.”

  The Raiders stopped the bleeding with a goal from Holmes but it was Cheatham again to the rescue, turning an Atlee lost ball into a breakaway score with :14 seconds remaining in the third, pulling Hanover back within three, 8-5.

  In the fourth it was Hanover’s Shreve Rohle scoring from the right with 6:47 to play. Two minutes later teammate Coleman Wright went low to find net on a grounder and pull the Hawks within one, 8-7.

  With a one point lead Atlee looked to run some clock, but Joe Purvis found an opening on a crossover with 1:39 to play to push the Raiders ahead 9-7.

  “It was kind of buying us a little bit of time on that one,” Kuchta said. “What we thought was, if we got one and then got the ball back, there would be opportunity to just kind of run the ball out in our box.”

  Hanover did not throw in the towel as Jacob Forkey scored with :44 second remaining but could the Hawks could not get the ball back on the faceoff of the final possession and the Raiders escaped with the win.

  Edstrom finished the game with 10 saves for the Hawks.

  Despite suffering the loss, Kalinowski, who has a vested interest in the growth of lacrosse, was glad Hanover came back and gave the fans something to cheer about. “I will not lie. I was thinking about that,” he said. “I never thought about giving a show, but I wanted the team to give a good show and as you know you couldn’t be more proud of the way we played that second half. I was glad the crowd did not leave and they got to see that.”

Atlee…........................... 2 4 2 1 — 9
Hanover…..................... 1 0 4 3 — 8
A: J. Purvis 3, Holmes 2, Burris, West, Brackley, D. Purvis H: Cheatham 3, Attkisson, Forkey, White, Wright, Rohle
Assists: Alston (A) 3, J. Purvis (A) 2, Burris (A), West (A); Cheatham (H) 3, Rohle (H)
Saves: Rogers (A) 9; Edstrom (H) 10
Records: Atlee 9-2; Hanover 6-10