- Athletics
NOLENSVILLE, TN -- As McCallie lacrosse coach Eamon Thornton prepared to address his team a final time early Friday evening on the sidelines of Nolensville High School’s athletic field, the scoreboard a 100 yards away foreshadowed his words. Montgomery Bell Academy 13, McCallie 8, it read at the close of the two storied schools’ TSSAA Division II-AA lacrosse final, the first-ever lacrosse final sanctioned by TSSAA.
“I look around you and I see guys with their arms around each other, I see guys with tears in their eyes, that’s what matters,” Thornton began. “I’ve had this experience. But this pain is because you really cared about something. You put so much into this. You’ve worked so hard for so long for this. I thought we were very prepared today. They were more prepared than we were.”
It seemed that way, though not at the beginning. McCallie junior Henry Boyd scored the first of his three goals on the day with just one minute and 23 seconds gone in the game, and it appeared the Blue Tornado was off and running to its 10th overall lacrosse state title.
But the next time McCallie scored, MBA had four goals. At halftime, the Big Red led 5-3. By the end of the third quarter, that lead had swelled to 9-4, then 13-5 at one point in the fourth.
To the Blue Tornado’s credit, they scored the last three points, but by then the outcome was pretty much determined.
“We missed some opportunities early,” said Boyd afterward, who was supported in scoring by Henry Toole, Ryan Stanford, Mac Stratton, Xander Griffin and Tyler Gay with one goal each.“They came out stronger than us. They had a lot of quick offense.”
While Thornton was understandably disappointed with the result, he was proud of the effort both Friday night and throughout the season that ends with 13 wins and seven losses.
“We showed a lot of resilience all year,” he said. “We had a lot of new faces at the start of the year and we came together really well. We’ve got a lot of key players coming back. If we put in the work, and I know we will, we have a chance to get back here next year (title game) for the fifth year in a row.
As Boyd looked around at his teammates, particularly the underclassman who must replace 13 seniors, he said, “We’ve got the camaraderie. We’ve got the talent. We can win it next year.”
- lacrosse