WORTON — As the coaching baton is passed from one KCHS lacrosse alum to another, first-year head coach Ben Joiner ’95 finds himself in a position comparable to that of his predecessor, Tom Speakman ’92, four years ago — trying to rebuild a program with a small roster defined by varying levels of ability and experience.
There are other similarities as well.
Ben Joiner moves up from helping to coach a championship 14U Kent County-based program last year to being the head coach at Kent County High School, where his son Quinten is now a freshman.
That was Tom Speakman’s story in 2021 when he took the reins at the same time his son was a freshman.
It was a rough start for Team Speakman and the Trojans, who were winless that first year.
But over time they engineered a remarkable turnaround, going from 0-8 in 2021 to four-win seasons in 2022 and ’23, and ultimately 7-7 last spring in a trajectory of success that brought them to the Class 1A East Region II championship game.
That narrative is both inspiring and comforting to coach Joiner, as the Trojans look to move forward from a lopsided loss Friday in their 2025 season opener.
Highly regarded Stephen Decatur raced out to an 8-0 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 20-0 win against a KCHS squad that dressed only 14.
“To have your first game against Decatur is a tough way to open,” Joiner said matter-of-factly in an interview on the field immediately after the game.
KCHS was without three starters — freshman attackman Quinten Joiner, who has many years of youth league experience, sophomore long-stick midfielder Gabe Parr and senior attackman Jack Fry.
Even at full strength the Trojans would have been beaten, coach Joiner acknowledged, while adding that the game likely would have been more competitive with Quinten Joiner, Parr and Jack Fry on the field.
He also noted that Stephen Decatur scored only once over the final 12 minutes, which “was a victory for our guys.”
Were there other positive takeaways from the game?
“Our on-ball defense looked really good, stronger than I expected,” coach Joiner told The Evening Enterprise.
Many of the Seahawks’ goals came from what Joiner described as “good cuts.”
“They were beating us on our second slide, and that’s something we can learn to correct through experience,” he said.
Kent County returns 13 players from last year’s region runner-up team, but graduation losses were huge — five all-conference performers, including most of its scoring and two starting close defenseman.
Senior midfielder Ethan Clark (28 goals, 16 assists) is the leading returning scorer and senior David Daniels is back for another year as the net-minder. They are the team captains.
The other returnees are: senior attackman Jack Fry (5 goals and 9 assists); juniors Lynden Saunders (defense), Peter Sine (attack) and Danny Harris (defense); and sophomores Aiden Ruiz Velazquez (midfield), Colin Fry (midfield, 8 goals and 4 assists), Tucker Ervin (defense), Gabe Parr (long-stick midfielder), Bryce Jacobs (midfield), Alex Harris (goalie, defense) and Caleb George (goalie).
Attackman Quinten Joiner is the only freshman.
The other newcomers are junior midfielder/face-off specialist Stewart Hickman, sophomore long pole/long-stick middie Dwan Harris and senior attackman Brett Devary.
Hickman, a three-year letter winner in varsity soccer, previously played lacrosse at the youth level for four or five years and is now returning to the sport.
Dwan Harris is a lacrosse novice, but has been the starting quarterback on the Trojans’ football team for two years and also is a two-year letter winner in basketball.
Coach Joiner said the team vibe is “super upbeat.”
He’s a realist, though, and knows there is a lot of work ahead.
“We’ve got to be supportive of each other,” he said, noting the challenges presented by having players with “varying degrees of ability and experience.”
Coming back to coach lacrosse at his alma mater is “definitely a thrill,” said Joiner, who was a member of the program’s 1994 state semifinal team that went 12-3 and the co-most outstanding defenseman on the 1995 team that went 13-3.
Joiner said he is grateful for an all-KCHS lacrosse alumni staff of Kreigh Kirby, Ty Anderson and Chas Willis.
Kirby was the head coach of the Kent County-based Honkers Lacrosse U14 team that went 9-0 last year.
NOTE: KCHS will host North Caroline on Monday and North East of Cecil County on Wednesday — both games start at 4 p.m. — before traveling to James M. Bennett in Salisbury on Friday.
