The Salem High boys came up two scores shy of their goal of winning a second straight lacrosse state championship Saturday. The Spartans dropped a 10-8 decision to arch-rival E.C. Glass at Heritage High School in Leesburg.
“Very tough loss,” said Salem coach George Revercomb. “Credit to Glass, they are well coached and made a bunch of smart winning plays and capitalized on our mistakes. I thought we generated some pretty good looks, but their goalie made some great plays on the ball. We struggled on ground ball opportunities, and it just wasn’t our day.”
Salem started strong, taking a 3-1 lead after the first quarter. However, Glass put three unanswered goals in the cage in the second period to take a 4-3 lead at the half.
“We came out strong in the first quarter, but faltered in the middle two quarters,” said Revercomb. “We closed strong but it wasn’t enough.”
Glass outscored Salem 4-2 in the third period to take an 8-5 lead into the fourth quarter, and went up 9-5 early in the fourth. However, Salem fired back with goals by Josiah King, Robert Marble and Holden Custer to pull to within one with six and a half minutes still remaining. That was as close as they would get, with Glass adding an insurance goal in the final minutes.
Custer finished with three goals to lead the Spartans while Parker Dallas had two goals and an assist. Marble, King and Oliver Farber also had goals while Logan Sparks had three assists.
Goalie Richard Hof had seven saves in the crease. Winston Wolfe had four ground balls and three takeaways. Tristan Tucker and Marble had three ground balls each while Carson Garland had five takeaways on defense.
With the loss Salem finished the season with a 16-3 record. Salem’s only losses were to Patrick Henry and twice to E.C. Glass, including the Region 4D final and the state championship game. Salem also had wins over Glass and PH during the regular season.
The Spartans will lose a dozen seniors to graduation, including Region 4D Player of the Year Dallas and first team all-region selections Ronnie Frith, Oliver Farber, Garland and Hof. Senior Andrew Nevergold was second team all-region.
“I wish we could have sent this senior class out on top, but they’ve left an incredible legacy,” said Revercomb. “They really helped build this program up to where it is today, and the sustained success we’ve seen is in large part due to their hard work and togetherness.”
The seniors leave with a State Championship, two Region Championships, a State Runner-Up trophy and a Region Runner-Up finish. The senior class never lost a regular season home game in their four-year run.
“We’re really going to miss this group of guys,” said Revercomb. “I hate to get so close to our goal of a state championship and to lose, but it was still an incredible year with the boys. We had three overtime wins and finished with a 16-3 record. The journey we took as a team was an unforgettable one and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
The Salem program is now at a point where the Spartans are perennial state contenders. Revercomb is already looking forward to next season.
“The JV went undefeated and we have a lot of younger guys who I’m looking forward to see step up for us,” he said. “This gives us more fuel and motivation to work harder in the offseason to get back to where we want to be and that starts with region championships and then state championships.”
in last Saturday’s championship game against E.C.
Glass
and dad, Chad Custer after a tough loss in Leesburg.
