Woodford County’s unbeaten lacrosse run ends, but Yellow Jackets showed grit
Woodford County’s unbeaten run ended in the KHSAA Boys’ Lacrosse State Tournament semifinals Monday at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown against the eventual runner-up, St. Xavier.
In Wednesday night’s final, the No. 1 Tigers suffered a stunning 9-8 defeat on a counterattack goal by No. 2 Trinity with one second remaining. The Shamrocks’ Lincoln Gumer scooped up a loose ball at midfield and fed Colin Teeley to his right on a sprint. Teeley’s shot beat the St. X keeper to give Trinity back-to-back state championships.
It’s the second season in a row the Shamrocks have lost to St. X in the regular season and eliminated the Tigers in the playoffs.
In the girls lacrosse final, Kentucky Country Day also defended its state crown with a 13-9 win over Sacred Heart.
The boys final result makes clear that No. 3 Woodford County significantly closed the gap that has existed between Louisville-area teams and the rest of the state for years of lacrosse’s existence as a club sport before it was sanctioned last season by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.
The No. 3 Yellow Jackets beat Trinity 11-10 in their regular season finale and Monday led St. X twice, including a 9-8 edge at halftime.
“We battled the whole time,” Woodford County coach Ted Wilson said. “But you’ve got to take the ups with the downs. I think we were dominant on face-off all night. … We didn’t come out with the energy we needed in the second half, but I’m proud of our guys.”
After falling behind St. X 5-1 in the first quarter, Woodford reeled off four straight goals to tie the game early in the second and scored four of the next six goals of the half to swap the lead. St. X scored two goals in the first 30 seconds of the third quarter to go back in front for good.
Cole Humston led Woodford with three goals. Joseph Dale, Brayden Humston, and Drew Sumner each added two, with Behr Wheeler and Greyson Hodge also scoring. Nine different players scored for St. X, led by Will Townsend, Brooks Mahoney, Connor Marks and Connor Cronin with three each.
“The perception of us five years ago when I started was not like this,” Wilson said. “People really respect us now. … These seniors, they collectively went something like 68-7. So, they’re pretty dang good.”
Trinity defeated Sayre 16-1 on Monday in their semifinal. Kentucky Country Day (22-1) and Sacred Heart (17-4) ranked 1-2 in the latest LaxNumbers.com ratings. Their Lexington opponents in Tuesday’s semifinals, No. 6 Henry Clay and No. 10 Lexington Christian, fell by scores of 20-2 and 20-4, respectively.
Woodford’s Hodge and Alex Senters were named to the all-tournament team. Paul Miller and Paul Coppedge earned all-tournament honors for Sayre (17-3).
The girls all-tournament team included Amelia Webster and Vonnie Allen-Guy from Henry Clay (17-5) and Madeleine Eubank and Mia Hester from Lexington Christian (15-5).
