Huntingtown High School freshman Tyler O’Callahan looks for an open teammate in the first half of Monday’s SMAC boys lacrosse championship game against Leonardtown at Great Mills. O’Callahan scored the Hurricanes’ last four goals as Huntingtown remained undefeated on the season by upending the Raiders 11-4 in that contest.
Huntingtown High School senior goalie Liam Clark cradles the ball after recording a save in the first half of Monday’s SMAC boys lacrosse championship game against Leonardtown at Great Mills. Clark and the Hurricanes prevailed 11-4 in that contest to remain undefeated on the season.
Huntingtown High School freshman Tyler O’Callahan looks for an open teammate in the first half of Monday’s SMAC boys lacrosse championship game against Leonardtown at Great Mills. O’Callahan scored the Hurricanes’ last four goals as Huntingtown remained undefeated on the season by upending the Raiders 11-4 in that contest.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
Huntingtown High School senior goalie Liam Clark cradles the ball after recording a save in the first half of Monday’s SMAC boys lacrosse championship game against Leonardtown at Great Mills. Clark and the Hurricanes prevailed 11-4 in that contest to remain undefeated on the season.
In stark contrast to their previous meeting three weeks earlier which needed overtime to decide, the Huntingtown High School boys lacrosse team dominated the second half of its rematch with Leonardtown in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference championship game on Monday evening at Great Mills en route to an 11-4 victory.
Huntingtown (12-0) had rallied from a late, two-goal deficit to force overtime with Leonardtown when the two teams met on April 13, with the Hurricanes literally getting the equalizer at the buzzer. Huntingtown eventually emerged with a dramatic 9-8 victory in the extra session last month to keep its hopes for an undefeated season alive.
Then on Monday evening in the rematch between the two squads that carried considerably more weight, Huntingtown owned a tepid 4-3 lead at the intermission then dominated the second half.
The Hurricanes got their last goals from freshman Tyler O’Callahan, who typically has been one of the team’s better facilitators this spring, and stellar play in the net from senior goalie Liam Clark.
“Tyler is not one of our guys who usually does a lot of scoring,” Huntingtown first-year coach Bill Connolly said. “He’s usually our leading assist guy. But tonight he came up with some huge goals in the second half. Liam was outstanding in the net. He made so many tough saves tonight.”
Huntingtown opened the game on a 3-0 run, only to watch Leonardtown draw even at 3-3 midway through the second quarter.
Huntingtown regained the lead late in the second quarter and the Hurricanes only added to their advantage in the second half. In fact, Huntingtown eventually enjoyed an extended 8-0 run in which the Hurricanes held the Raiders scoreless for an astounding 27 minutes of playing time.
“We played our worst game of the season tonight,” Leonardtown coach Bart Rogers said. “They definitely played a lot better than we did and their goalie was outstanding. We had too many turnovers and we just did not execute at all tonight. It’s going to be hard to bounce back from a game like this and then get ready for regional playoffs on Friday.”
Leonardtown (9-3) committed a bevy of unforced turnovers throughout the contest and then often its best possessions were turned away from Clark. The Hurricanes senior keeper and Wingate University recruit kept the Raiders off the board for nearly the entire second half until Matthew Henry scored with just over two minutes remaining.
“It was a great game to be a part of,” Clark said. “This was a total team effort and we’re still undefeated. I think committing last winter and then signing before the season started really took a lot of weight off of my shoulders. Now I could just focus on playing and practicing and then being ready for the season.”
