Seahawks laxers fire on all cylinders in 17-2 win over Woodbridge

The Sussex Academy boys’ lacrosse team rebounded from a heartbreaking loss to end spring break by opening the restart with a 17-2 win over Woodbridge April 15.

While the offense managed to put eight different scorers in the stat book, three of those players scored 12 of the 17 goals.

Sophomore Cooper Hagy delivered five assists and four goals to lead all players with nine points. His classmate Ty Jarrell led all scorers with five goals and two assists for seven total points. Their linemate Anthony Tattoli tallied two goals and two assists. At the midfield, junior Gideon Sammons continued his string of strong play with a hat trick and two helpers. Senior Chase Ballinger scored once and assisted on three goals.

“We're really trying to dial that in together as a team,” Sammons said. “The hard work's paying off. With a couple new additions on offense, it allows a lot more spacing and gives us a lot more opportunities.”

Junior Taco Meszaros won his 700th career face-off and filled up his stat line with a goal and an assist. Sophomore Nicholas Warren and freshman Chase Watkins each had a goal, while junior Michael Whitaker had an assist.

A lot of the offense started down at the defensive end, where senior Jackson Hagy registered five saves and the short-handed defense stepped up in all facets of the game.

“Our clears today were phenomenal,” coach Ben Weathersby said.

Weathersby is in charge of the defense and has his boys hungry to improve and force turnovers.

“The connection that the entire defense has is amazing,” junior Brandon Jaimes said. “I'm so proud of the growth that we had throughout the entire year.”

Jaimes has drawn the opposition's top offensive option since junior Cooper Lawson went down.

“Cooper is a great mentor for me and everyone else on the defense,” Jaimes said. “He's our anchor, and so it was unfortunate seeing him go down, but I'm just glad that we as a unit in the defense could be able to come together and step up.”

Lawson is helping his team on the sidelines while he is out, but without him on the field, the Seahawks are down arguably their best transition and close defender. It has taken the whole group to fill those voids.

The defense believes Weathersby is a big reason they have been able to hold down the fort.

“Coach Ben is an amazing coach, and he always knows what to do in order for us to prepare for each game,” Jaimes said. “We talk about matchups, we talk about aggressiveness and being able to be so accurate with our defensive positioning.”

Fans of the long poles can appreciate the Seahawks’ approach at checking this year, as they seem to be very accurate and still move their feet when they throw a poke or slap to the bottom hand.

“Every day, especially in the pregame, we have a little routine now where we have them throwing sticks in between hands, whether that's up and down, doing Ws or figure eights,” Weathersby said.

Sussex Academy will host Henlopen South contender Indian River at 5:30 p.m., Friday, April 17.