Seahawks set to defend Henlopen South title in boys’ lacrosse
A Henlopen South title wasn’t enough to get the Sussex Academy boys’ lacrosse team into the state tournament in 2024, but with a season of experience, improved veterans and some newcomers, the Seahawks think they can go dancing in 2025.
“Our coaches made it pretty clear that we're trying to make the playoffs and win a playoff game,” said senior Ben Warren. “That's our goal for now.”
It was after their Henlopen Conference title game loss to Cape that the boys discovered Sussex Tech had made it in over them.
“It hurt, man, after losing to Cape and then finding out we didn’t make it,” said senior Johsua Jovel-Velasquez. “It felt bad.”
The lads have used the sting of last year as motivation during the off-season. So far, they say they’ve had a good preseason.
“It's been a lot of conditioning, and it's been rough on a lot of the newer kids, but it's gonna make us stronger and it's building up the chemistry,” Warren said. “It was kind of rough on the first day, but it's getting better every single day.”
Sussex Academy heads into 2025 with top performers at arguably the two most important positions in lacrosse – goalie and face-off.
“If you’ve got a goalie or face-off guy, it's one of those things that can make or break a season. Luckily, I have both,” said Seahawks coach Andrew Fox. “Those are two guys that continue to always work to get better or work harder all the time; they always get better because they put the work in.”
Manning the face-off “X” will be sophomore Jack “Taco” Meszaros.
“You look at Jack from two years ago when he started to now, and you see two different kids,” Fox said.
Not only does Taco fair well on the face-offs, but he has expanded his offensive game and has a shot that has shed the label of “face-off get-off” from the kid.
Guarding the pipes is junior Jackson Hagy.
“He leads by example, and he's always a leader – calm, cool and collected all the time,” Fox said. “He makes extra saves and has a vision that even if we have a bad defensive play, he's there to clean up the mess at the end.”
The Seahawks will need to find goals after losing a good portion of their scorers from last year, but there is confidence in the guys on this year’s team that it will come, while the other units can help prop them up.
“We’ve got some new guys coming in, so they've got stuff to learn, but I think we're looking pretty balanced, pretty good this year,” said senior Reili Roblero-Reyes.
Senior Jahmari Davis said the keys to winning are winning time of possession, which gives the defense a breather.
Cape alum Ben Weathersby, who played at Lebanon Valley College, will join Fox on the sidelines as an assistant coach this year.
“It's been real nice having a group of kids who are committed,” Weathersby said. “They're also real open to learning and they listen much better than I expected them to.”
Sussex Academy opens its season away at Delmar at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, March 27.
