Lacrosse 2-2 in last four games for 6AAAAA region

By John Smithson

The North Myrtle Beach varsity boys lacrosse team opened its 6AAAAA region schedule on  March 9th against the Carolina Forest Panthers and lost a 9-5 battle. They turned things around on March 12th with a 17-4 win over Myrtle Beach. Last week was much the same as the Chiefs lost at St. James, then came home and beat Waccamaw 13-5.

The Chiefs and Panthers opener was no surprise. The teams always play physical games, and this one was no different. The Chiefs scored the first goal of the game when Tennyson Hollo smoked a shot into the net with 10:14 on the first quarter clock.

The Panthers tied it 1-1 about three minutes later. The Chiefs Jack Sigsworth and Jonathan Gill scored twice for a 3-1 lead, but the Panthers scored another goal before the first quarter ended  for a 3-2 Chiefs lead.

Carolina Forest opened the second quarter with three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead with 9:33 on the clock. Hollo scored again about a minute later, but the half ended with the Panthers up 5-4.

The Panthers scored at the 7:45 mark in the third quarter to lead 6-4 and then took advantage of a one-man up opportunity to take a 7-4 lead with 6:26 left in the third quarter. The Panthers scored with 3:36 left in the third, but Sigsworth scored a breakaway goal with 3:07 remaining in the quarter to keep the Chiefs close.

The rest of the quarter featured some rough hits, 5 on 5 play, missing shots, and ended with the Chiefs still down 8-5.

The fourth quarter saw only one goal scored by each team. The Chiefs had some opportunities in the final quarter but couldn’t get another goal and the game ended with the Panthers winning 9-6.

The Chiefs met Myrtle Beach at The Hank in their second region game on March 12th, and things were totally different. The Chiefs had their senior night ceremony and dominated the scoreboard with a 17-4 win over the Seahawks.

It was the second time this season that the Chiefs won a game by 13 goals. Their first victim was Gilbert on February 27th. The lacrosse program record for victory margins came in 2021 when the Chiefs beat Laurence Manning Academy 15-0

The Chiefs had seven players score in the game. Jamison Gill led the way with five goals. Rocco Cornett scored four goals; Joshua Hutton scored three goals and Tennyson Hollo scored twice. Jonathan Gill, Jack Sigsworth and Rivers Higdon each scored one goal for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs traveled to St. James last Tuesday to meet the first place Sharks. Neither team scored a goal in the first quarter and St. James got a second quarter goal to lead 1-0 at halftime.

The Chiefs finally got on the scoreboard with two third-quarter goals, but the Sharks scored three times to lead 4-2 going into the fourth quarter. St. James put the game away with five goals and a 9-4 win over the Chiefs.

The Chiefs were home last Friday to play Waccamaw and acted like they had something to prove. Jonathan Gill scored the first two goals. Tennyson Hollo scored next and Gill’s third goal gave the Chiefs a 4-0 lead.

The Warriors got their first goal before Tennyson scored on a breakaway and Gill got his fourth goal of the first quarter for a 6-1 Chiefs lead. The Chiefs added three more goals in the second quarter with Rocco Cornett scoring first and Hollo adding a goal with four seconds left in the half and a 9-1 lead.

The Warriors scored two goals to start the fourth quarter, but Hollo’s two goals and two more goals by Gill sealed the Chiefs 13-5 victory.

Coach Zach Lytle commented on the two games of last week. “They put it back together. We talked about being able to build back after the loss at St. James. That wasn’t what we looked for. They played a great game tonight, but they need to do that again and prove they can go back-to-back and play well.

“They got to the loose balls tonight. It’s the fundamentals. We talk about picking up the ground balls, getting the ball around and creating a whole team atmosphere on the field. We always talk about self-awareness on and off the field. We fixed some things, found some things and it was much better than our last game.”

Lytle spoke about his offense. “I’m proud of the number of scorers we have with this group. Right now, we have seven or eight guys that have scored and that’s a big deal because they can’t focus on one person.

And focus is important. “We work extremely hard to make sure our guys have their head on their shoulders. That way it doesn’t get too chippy out there. We have instilled in them that their talk is their game. We are learning to be consistent as a group, as a team,” Lytle concluded.

The Chiefs played Socastee at home Monday and go to Carolina Forest tonight.