Eagles maintain dominance over Seahawks 10-3 in boys’ lax

A trip to Smyrna over the spring break resulted in the first in-state loss of the year for the Sussex Academy boys’ lacrosse team.

“This was a tough game for us; we haven't had a really tough matchup in a while,” coach Andrew Fox said. “The IR and the Delmar games are tough, physically, but the last hard game we really had was Cape Henry, and that was an intense game that we needed to be prepared for.”

In the battle of birds of prey, the Eagles struck first against the Seahawks and led 2-0 a little more than five minutes into the game. Sussex Academy sophomore Taco Meszaros, who notched his 500th career face-off win, tried to spark a fire when he blazed down the field after winning a face-off and sliced Smyrna’s lead in half. The Eagles struck twice more, but the Seahawks' belief in one another began picking up. 

“I thought it was a much better game after the first quarter; offensively, we possessed – we practiced on that big time yesterday – defensively, they stood their ground. Jackson [Hagy] did a great job, Cooper [Lawson] did a great job, and [Brandon Jaimes] did a hell of a job covering [No.] 14,” Fox said.

Smyrna scored two early goals in the second quarter before the defensive standoffs began. An extra-man offense opportunity late in the frame broke the scoring drought as senior Ben Warren found sophomore Anthony Tattoli to make it 6-2 Eagles at the half.

The Seahawks offense possessed the ball in the third quarter but was unable to convert. Unfortunately for the visitors, Smyrna added another three goals to lead 9-2 heading into the fourth quarter.

“It's got to be six guys on offense; we can't just have five guys playing,” Fox said about the offense stalling.

Smyrna reached double figures before Gideon Sammons cranked a goal from about 10 yards out off an assist from Brandon Jaimes with 20 seconds left, making the final score 10-3. 

On the ensuing face-off, Meszaros won, giving  the sophomore 500 career face-off wins in his young career.

“Great feeling!” Meszaros said. “I've come a long way, and all my coaches helped me out.”

Sussex Academy’s first in-state loss puts the Seahawks at 6-2, but it’s a negative the team thinks they can flip into a positive.

“This was something we needed; we were in too much control for the last few games,” Fox said. “We needed to kind of be humbled – the boys understand that – and they’re not going to be too down on themselves or bummed. I think they all know there's another level to this that we need to get to.”