Following a 19-4 victory over Warren De La Salle in the State quarterfinals, the boys varsity lacrosse team took on Orchard Lake St Mary’s in the State semifinal, a team the Rangers defeated 16-2 less than a month ago. Thanks to a phenomenal start on offense, the Rangers repeated their domination from the previous matchup and jumped out to a quick, massive advantage in a 21-5 win.

If you looked at the team’s incredible record and dominating wins, you would think that, for the most part, the coaching staff would be ecstatic over the play from the team. However, the thing that has been holding the boys back a bit throughout the season is slow starts on offense. Saying that, this game against OLSM was the exact opposite as FHC jumped out to their biggest and quickest lead all year in the first half.

In the first quarter, the Rangers scored 10 straight goals to start off the game. Goals were coming from all sorts of sources, with seniors Luke Majick, Tate Hallock, Evan Metaj, junior Jackson Clay, and sophomore Carson Deines all scoring at least 2 goals and recording at least 2 assists. For the sixth straight time, Jackson scored 6 goals in a game, and he added to that with 3 assists.

Throughout the second half, the lead grew to even more, and the defense kept the Eaglets scoreless. Senior Logan Wedder made it very difficult for OLSM, winning faceoff after faceoff to create extra possessions for FHC. Junior Chris Junkunc kept the first-half shutout intact by playing stellar defense in the midfield against the Eaglets’ best player.

The Rangers scored 7 goals in the second quarter, and at the end of the half, FHC took a 17-0 lead to the locker room. Carson and Luke were all over the OLSM net in the half, scoring 4 goals apiece in the game while also adding 3 and 2 assists each, respectively. Evan and Tate each scored 2 goals to help out as well, while also adding 3 assists and 2 assists.

In the second half, the game slowed down due to the blowout and playing time rotation. Younger guys, including many JV pull-ups, were on the field for a majority of the half. Sophomore defenseman Sawyer Bosch even scored while playing as a defender, giving him his first varsity goal. While they did give up 5 goals in the final 24 minutes, they also scored 4 goals to bring the final score to 21-5.

After this win, the Rangers move on to 21-1 in the season. The boys advance to the State championship against Forest Hills Eastern, which will take place on Saturday, June 8th at 4:30 at Howell Parker Middle School. The Hawks are a familiar opponent to the Rangers as the two teams faced off in mid-April, with the Rangers taking that game 17-4. However, FHE is coming off of a huge win over East Grand Rapids in the State semifinals, and the Hawks are heating up at just the right time.