Fallston blitzes C. Milton Wright

Twelve minutes Wednesday evening was all Fallston High needed to move into position for the UCBAC Chesapeake boys lacrosse title.

The Cougars used a commanding second period in a 12-7 decision over C. Milton Wright in Bel Air. Like an adept 3-point shooting basketball team, Fallston (9-2 overall, 5-0 Chesapeake) turned a sluggish offensive first quarter by both teams into an insurmountable six-goal halftime advantage by netting five straight goals on largely punishing long-distance line drive shots.

The win leaves the Cougars as the lone unbeaten (5-0) in the UCBAC Chesapeake with one game remaining (next week vs. Patterson Mill), with the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Mustangs (4-4, 4-1 Chesapeake).

“We played with some confidence, and we had a lot of ball possession,” Fallston coach Patrick Mull said. “The second quarter, it ended up kind of being the difference. I’m just proud of how the boys fought in that quarter. Offensively, we were sharp in that quarter. That was probably the best we played in the game and ended up kind of being the difference.”

Jacob MacMillan fired in three of his team’s goals in that decisive second quarter and finished with a team-high four for the half as the Cougars pounded C. Milton Wright’s defense with one blistering long-distance shot after another. Lucas Hurlburt chipped in a pair of left-handed scores in the first half which Fallston dominated possession, winning 11 of 14 faceoffs.

Two of C. Milton Wright’s 3 wins at the “X” were courtesy of Fallston’s infractions.

“Going into the game, we knew we had to come out really strong,” MacMillian said. “The first quarter, we were figuring stuff out; the second quarter, we were really firing on all cylinders. I think that quarter itself won us the game probably. The momentum we had going into halftime was great. Probably one of the best quarters we’ve played all season.

“Today, we had a lot of success outside. I think today, the looks we were getting a lot of times, the open guy was 10-12 yards out, and we’ve got some good shooters on the team. We executed well.”

The Mustangs rallied to within 9-6 with 1 minute, 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter on back-to-back goals from Hudson Welsh (4 goals) and three straight overall with the hosts reversing the possession battle.

Another long-range strike from Hurlburt with 25.6 seconds left, however, gave the Cougars a comfortable four-goal advantage heading into the final 12 minutes of play.

Fallston put the match away on back-to-back goals from Gage McKenna, off a nifty pass from MacMillan, and Ian Swartzendruber with 3:24 and 2:08 left in regulation, respectively, for an insurmountable six-goal advantage.

Welsh closed out the scoring with his fourth goal with 4.4 seconds left in the match for C. Milton Wright. Justin Eckman contributed three assists, and Cody Maddox produced two goals and an assist for the Mustangs.

“Our defense, they weren’t doing what we were asking of them,” C. Milton Wright coach Andy LeBrun said. “(His team) had a couple of defensive lapses and then on our offensive side, too many unforced turnovers that we committed. They had too many momentum swings, and we couldn’t hold our momentum. We had the highs going up and then Fallston would come out and score a goal and just deflate us.”

FALLSTON 12, C. MILTON WRIGHT 7

Fallston 3 6 1 2 - 12

C. Milton Wright 1 2 3 1 - 7

GOALS: Fallston - Jacob MacMillan 4, Lucas Hurlbut 3, Ian Schwartzendruber 2, Michael Lembach, Chris King, Gage McKenna; CMW - Hudson Welsh 4, Cody Mattox 2, Zachary Brown.

ASSISTS: Fallston - Jacob MacMillan, Gage McKenna. CMW - Justin Eckman 3, Tyler Morris.

SAVES: Fallston - Landon Mills 6. CMW - Andrew Maras 7.