BY JEFF FALK
HARRISBURG – It’s something that no one will ever be able to take away from you. But perhaps the best thing about the first one is that it’s something to build upon, to build from.
The way it turns out, the act of garnering championships is both a science and an art.
On a gloomy Thursday evening at Central Dauphin Middle School’s Landis Field, the Palmyra boys’ lacrosse team captured the Mid-Penn Conference championship with an impressive 16-11 victory over Trinity. After trailing by two scores at the break, the Cougars netted 13 goals in the second half, seven of which came in the decisive third quarter.
Senior Jake Herman showed the way for the Cougars by tallying three goals and contributing three assists. Herman was supported by midfielder Grant Haus, who potted four goals and picked up an assist, and sophomore attacker Seth Robertson, who scored four times.
The Mid-Penn Conference title was Palmyra’s second straight and the first of the Cougars’ three stated goals for the season. With the triumph, Palmyra, champions of the Keystone Division, improved to 17-2 on the year.
The Cougars’ next action will come on Wednesday, May 16th at 7 p.m. at Lebanon Valley College’s Arnold Field, as the third seed in the quarterfinals of the District Thre Class AAA tournament.
Trinity, champs from the Commonwealth Conferece, dropped to 13-5 on the spring. During a regular-season meeting in Camp Hill back on April 23rd, the Cougars had beaten the Shamrocks 16-9.
“This is our first goal,” sad Palmyra head coach Dave Ondrusek. “We have three goals every year, to win the league, to win districts and to win states. It doesn’t make the other two goals any easier. But it puts in perspective what we can accomplish.
“We knew how good a group of guys we had at the beginning of the season,” continued Ondrusek. “We have definitive leaders, and the expecation was that we’d have success. How has it played out? We were 16-2 during the regular season, and our two losses were two very good teams (Manheim Township and Hempfield). So far, so good. So far we’ve been doing what we were supposed to be doing. I couldn’t be prouder of these guys.”
“The past few years we’ve had a lot of success,” said Herman. “This was our first goal. It’s great to start this way. It’s a good group of seniors. Now we just want to go out and see how far we can take it.”
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