APA works toward improvement in lacrosse
By Junious Smith III
Lacrosse is a sport unlike any other and no local school plays it besides Arendell Parrott Academy.
The Patriots are closing in on the end of their lacrosse season, as senior night will be held May 2 against Greenville Conley. The matchup with the Vikings doubles as the only opponent within 30 miles of Parrott’s campus in a sport without many teams in the state. According to Maxpreps, there are 129 schools with lacrosse teams in all classifications — public and private — compared to baseball, which has 513 this season.
APA coach Gordon Churchill said the game mixes components of other sports, which makes it exciting to both play and watch.
“The offensive part of the game has the motion principles of basketball, where players have to move, set picks and find the open man,” Churchill said. “On defense, they keep those some principles but they can actually put their hands on a guy. The physicality isn’t quite like football and hockey, but it’s still there.
“The skill aspect is another important factor. There are guys who are afraid to play the sport because they think they’ll look stupid handling the stick. They have to get over it, because this is awesome overall.”
High school lacrosse is broken into four 12-minute quarters and played on a field 110 yards long and 53 1/3 to 60 yards wide with a playing area of 15 yards behind the goals, which are 6 feet long by 6 feet wide. Each side his 10 players — one goalkeeper, three attackers who are only allowed to play on the offensive side of the field, three defenders to assist the goalkeeper on the defensive side and three midfielders who are able to transition on both sides of the field.
The Patriots suffered a 15-2 setback to Raleigh St. David’s Thursday to drop to 4-4 on the season, but Churchill said the team will bounce back.
“We’re working on getting better every day and being more consistent,” Churchill said. “We played a really good team in St. David’s.”
The Patriots’ goals came in the third quarter with John Harvey Turner getting one with 3:09 to play and Morgan McPhaul following in the waning moments. Turner, who has played since eighth grade, said he made a transition to lacrosse five years ago and the attacker has never looked back.
“I used to play football in seventh grade, but I let it go because I didn’t have that passion,” Turner said. “I started playing lacrosse a year later and fell in love with the sport. I’ve been working on my craft more and more and I’m excited to continue my career next year at William Peace.”
Patriots defender Sam Okonkwo said he was encouraged to play as a freshman and kept going.
“It was mostly my friends who were trying to get me to play the sport,” Okonkwo said. “I didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t know the rules, but my friends kept supporting me and I’m glad they did because I love it.”
Okonkwo and Turner are two of six seniors on the roster, along with William Churchill, Will Connolly, Davin Gaskill and Will McPhaul.
