TWHS LAX downs Westlake to advance to THE SHOW

COPPELL, TX -- Captain Cooper Starcke and the #3 state ranked Woodlands Highlander lacrosse team traveled to beautiful Coppell, Texas in the DFW metroplex to play in the THSLL (Texas High School Lacrosse League) AA Final 4 against the #2 ranked Westlake Chaparral's and put on their best performance of the year coming away with a huge team victory, 13-10 in the second semi-final of the day.

The Highlanders will face Highland Park in the state championship game tomorrow at 2:30 at Buddy Echols Field on the campus of Coppell High School. The Scots salvaged a W over Episcopal School of Dallas in sudden death, 11-10 after one of the most exciting 4th quarters you'd ever want to see. HP was up 10-2 early in the final quarter only to have ESD show the heart of a lion coming back to tie it up in the last minute of regulation.

Starcke has been a solid leader for this unselfish group all season long. So, when the 'Game Ball' goes to the whole team, the captain gets his name up in lights. During the post-game meeting, Defensive Coordinator, Danny Dolan gave respect to Starcke... 'Nobody embodies The Woodlands more than Cooper”.

As has been the case so many times this season, junior Ridge Crouch initiated the scoring with a precision lazer-beam from 15 feet that whistled past the hapless Chaparral goaltender's ear into the top right corner of the goal. The Woodlands would never trail in this game.

To Westlake's credit they came back to tie it up real quick on a feed to the crease from behind producing a perfect one on one opportunity for their talented attackman, Gage Frickenschmidt.

The Woodlands was having none of it as they came back 20 seconds later to light the lamp on a Sloan Steward to Starcke connection and followed that up with another tally from Crouch on a ridiculous feed from Starcke. 'Asher Presnall won the first three faceoffs of the day setting the table for the early scoring.'

Old reliable, Frickenschmidt pulled Westlake to within a goal at 8:59. Highlander sophomore, Luke Danna figured he'd seen enough and took matters into his own hands and scored two unassisted goals as the first quarter ended with The Woodlands in control, 5-2.

The pesky Chaparral's were obviously not intimidated as they found the net in succession to close the lead to the slimmest of margins early in the second stanza.

The Woodlands was on their game though as every time Westlake thought they'd be right back in it, the Highlanders found another gear. The gear-shift at this point was operated by Sloan and Danna as they scored back to back goals and The Woodlands headed to the locker room up 7-4.

We'll let a long-time Houston area coach describe why he thought The Woodlands was having success.

Say hello to Ryan Villarreal who messaged the following...
'The Woodlands Keeper is looking real good and the team is doing a great job taking advantage of the transition and off ball looks. They’re disguising cuts very well and catching the 'Chaps' sleeping a bit.'

Quite the astute observation. Albeit, Westlake wasn't impressed and they banged a couple home to start the second half and it was a one goal game again.

'The defense was solid all day long especially in on-ball matchups. They doubled at the correct times because their communication is and has stellar. Defensive Coordinator, Danny Dolan has been working hard with the defense and it is obviously showing. The scorers table was not counting ground balls but if you were watching with even poor eyesight, you could tell the Highlander defense won the game on the ground.'

The Steward trio were in on the next two goals as Sawyer hustled for ground balls on two consecutive possessions keeping plays alive so Sloan and Stockton could strike gold one after another and the Highlanders were up by three again.

Westlake was like a nagging rash as they just refused to go away as the ever present Frickenschmidt struck paydirt once again followed by teammate, Brett Mays.

Sloan Steward just kept plugging and with help from Danna, he stretched the twine twice. Once again, Westlake answered and hung right with The Woodlands and just refused to go away.

Then with two minutes left and the score 11-10, The Woodlands found their opening by way of two personal fouls on the Chaparrals. A tripping call came first, but Jack O'Rourke kept the play alive by muscling a ground ball, taking it down the field and then in passing it to Luke Danna, the latter was blindsided by a Westlake defender hitting him so hard that his helmet came off of his head. The next thing you saw was Danna getting up without his helmet on screaming to anyone within five miles....LET'S GO!!!! The Chaps were now two men down.

For all intents and purposes the game was over as Crouch scored twice on favors from Sloan Steward and Danna respectively.

The scoreboard read 13-10 Highlanders and they were state championship game bound avenging a recent loss to the impressive Chaparrals.

Head Coach Anthony Demaio shared his post-game thoughts. (Incidentally, we've been following the team ever since Demaio took over last summer. This guy is not one to show a ton of emotion. He's pretty even keeled. You can tell when he's happy, but he's won a D-1 Natty (National Championship) as a player. It'll take a little more than a state semi-final victory for him to lose it.)

'We are playing good team ball right now and it's culminating on the last weekend of the season. However, I don't believe we've played our best game yet. I'm a coach. I'll never think that (Smiles). Did you see Kimo (Kouletsis) play today? It won't show it in the stats but his team play today was unreal. I'll take his game today against any game he's played for us. He's such a team player.' (Kimo had 3 assists).

Right now, we are hustling after every ground ball. No one is waiting for someone else to get that ground ball. We're all going after it. These players are playing with a lot of emotion and heart. You saw that today in that Westlake would score, we'd score, they'd score, we'd score again. Who wants it more! We've got to keep that mentality. Team ball is what it's all about. We've been working towards that goal of playing together. We've got to keep that going.

On offense it's about capitalizing on transition and the little things that have got us this far. On defense we need big stops. It's a total team effort. Everything we do, we do as a team.'

Tomorrow's state championship game will be coached by two men where the age-spread is about 40 years. The old pro against the young buck...and yet they couldn't be more alike. Highland Park's head coach, Mike Pressler has had a storied coaching career that you could put up against anyone who has ever coached. He has the utmost respect of everyone in lacrosse, bar none. How is Coach Pressler like Woodlands coach, Anthony Demaio? They are both multi-sport athletes. Demaio in high school only, but nowadays to play two D-1 or even any division college sports is extremely rare. Pressler played lacrosse and football at Washington & Lee. He was the nose guard. Demaio played football, hockey and lacrosse in high school and for those of you who have been visiting another planet, played for Maryland in college. Both of these men appreciate athletes that can do more than one thing. This just in...that's why they're so successful.

Pressler is a team player. During his last season playing at W & L, he switched from attack to defense. Why? Because the team needed poles and he knew he could help. Unselfish! (W&L info provided by Pressler's teammate, Rusty Brand)

In high school and in college, Demaio did whatever the coach wanted him doing. When you're the type of athlete he is, you can play multiple roles and he knows that. He is a Yes Sir player. Whatever you need! He'd sell programs before the game, work the concession stand, sing the national anthem. Ok that last one is probably pushing it.

My point? These two men are more alike than they are different and it is going to be a treat to watch them in action against each other.

Every player and coach in the THSLL has one goal. That goal is to be playing on the very last day that high school lacrosse is being played every season. If you are doing that, you have made it to THE SHOW!

Tomorrow afternoon at 4:30pm there will be one team standing. But, you can bet both teams will have earned our equal respect.

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