By Jack Weaver ’15 | Staff Writer

As the spring sports season comes to a close, the boys’ lacrosse teams’ playoff run came to unexpected halt. South lost to Haslett 7-6, the second team’s one-goal loss of the season, after mounting an incredible comeback.

On Wednesday, May 28th, the team faced off against a Haslett team, that earlier in the season, defeated them in the closing seconds. For the Blue Devils it was a chance to redeem their tough loss and continue their playoff run.

In this third round playoff matchup, the Blue Devils would give up six unanswered goals to start the game, yet thanks to two quick goals from Jack Denison ’14, they would only go into the half down 6-2.

“All their shots early in the game were good shots, so they were able to put us in a hole with their early goals,” said Aidan Hubbell ’15.

The damage appeared to have been done and the game looked too far out of reach for any hopes of a comeback, yet for a team who won 12-straight games after starting the season 0-3, it would take only several minutes to make it a game again. The boys would go on a 5-0 scoring run.

“Once you get momentum and a couple face-offs here and there, everyone’s jumping on the sidelines and there’s energy,” said head coach Don Wolford. “Sometimes it’s that first or second goal and then you start stringing them together.”

Although the furious comeback was quick and left them with plenty of time to tie or even take the lead, scoring would stall out as both teams only scored one goal in the final quarter of play. Numerous late penalties and missed opportunities near the goal would plague the Blue Devils, and in the end would be the deciding factor in the game and their season.

“Obviously our expectations were to win a state title, but I feel like we were successful,” said Jerry Coyle ’15. “We won our conference and just came up short that last game.”

For senior Andrew Wright ’14, the culmination of never losing to North, winning the conference title, and playing on the same attack line with his classmates and good friends friends Andrew Hyde and Jack Denison, both ’14, are what have made this season so special.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Wright. “I made a ton of great memories with the guys throughout the years, and it’s also been surreal to play with my best friends on the same line the past couple years.”

As for the returning players next year, it will be difficult to exceed a 14-5 record, win a conference championship and be ranked 12th in the state, but Hubbell is ready for the challenge.

“We’re losing a lot of talent this year, especially on offense, but we’re still returning some core players and we can’t forget that all the teams we play are losing a lot of their best players as well,” said Hubbell. “Next years’ focus includes a MAC Red Championship, big non-conference wins, and a deep run in the playoffs.”

Like Hubbell, many returning players have also set a list of preseason goals, but for Coyle there is only one goal on his mind. He wants to complete a goal set by this years’ season that couldn’t be fulfilled.

When asked what this goal was, Coyle simply said, “State champions”.

As the Senior class departs, leaving behind many great memories and having made strong bonds with teammates, coach Wolford reflected on his time working with this year’s Seniors

“It’s an incredibly talented Senior class,”Wolford said. “A lot of them have been with us for a long time, so they’ve really had a chance to grow. It’s difficult to see them go out this early, because we were hoping for more, but they still came out and had a hell of a game. They could’ve just folded and quit but they didn’t. I think that speaks a lot to the resilience of this team.”