STEVENSVILLE — Kent County High School’s boys lacrosse team heads to North Dorchester this afternoon with an opportunity to get what coach Ben Joiner described as “healthy.”
North Dorchester (0-8) is offering lacrosse as a varsity sport for the first time.
Meantime, the mostly underclassman Trojans (1-7) are coming off an 18-3 loss yesterday at Kent Island, and have dropped six games in a row.
According to coach Joiner, Kent Island (8-1) is one of the top-ranked public school teams in the state.
Joiner said Wednesday’s game was an opportunity for the Trojans to play against strong competition, “and we learned a lot trying to execute some of the schemes we run on both offense and defense.”
“We always have things that we can look at with a critical eye and find things that we need to do to get better. Clearing the ball is still a huge issue … and we need to get better on ground balls,” Joiner told The Evening Enterprise in a text message Wednesday night. “But we can also turn to things that we are doing really well, celebrate those things and find ways to improve on them.”
Joiner said the Trojans have come a long way on their on-ball defense and ability to play one-on-one. The four close defenders — Dwan Harris, Tucker Ervin, Lynden Saunders and Danny Harris — are working very well together.
Some of the players who are still learning the sport of lacrosse, such as sophomores Bryce Jacobs and Aiden Ruiz Velazquez, are contributing, especially on defense.
And, senior Ethan Clark continues to be the spark on offense. Coaches say Clark has an uncanny ability to get downhill off dodges, plus good speed and a great motor.
Yesterday at Kent Island, Clark had the Trojans’ only assist. Freshman Quinten Joiner scored all three of the Trojans’ goals.
Sophomore Alex Harris started in the cage and was stellar with 13 saves.
Senior David Daniels came in for the second half and made four saves.
WHAT’S NEXT: After today, KCHS has three games remaining in the regular season — including Wednesday, April 30 at home (5 p.m.) against Wicomico and May 2 at home (4 p.m.) against North Caroline.
