On Thursday, April 13, Bel Air hosted the county rival Patterson Mill Huskies for a much anticipated Boys’ Lacrosse showdown. The Bobcats walked away victorious with a 14-5 victory.

Bel Air played extremely well offensively, as they nailed almost all of their shots and passed the ball around very effectively. Offense has been a weak point for the last few games, as the team has struggled without attackman Chase Oberlin. Oberlin has missed the last 3 games with a shoulder injury, and before this game, they haven’t been able to effectively score without him. Coach Chuck Muir made a bold decision to move senior midfielders Luigi Ascenzi and John Santimays to attack, and the move paid its dividends. Santimays finished the game with 4 goals and 2 assists, leading the team in scoring.

Not only did the offense play more explosive than ever, the defense continued to hold its own. They mirrored the Huskies’ best offensive players step by step and held them to only 5 goals. Ground balls proved to be essential, as the Bobcat defense kept getting more possessions and opportunities for the offense to score.

Junior Ben Keesey said, “We played great team defense, the talk was there, everyone was playing the position right, and individually everyone played their hearts out.

Before Patterson Mill, Bel Air was on a rough 3 game losing skid, and it made their record fall to 3-4. The Huskies were the first in-county opponent of the season, so it helps the outlook for the conference championship. C. Milton Wright is currently undefeated, and is leading the way for Harford County. Bel Air will have to keep playing as well as they did against the Huskies to keep in contention for the title.

The win certainly helps get momentum back in the Bobcats’ favor, as Keesey said, “This win is going to have a huge impact on us, we really needed that one. Now we have the momentum and motivation to keep it going and win the rest of our games.”

Bel Air looked as if they have found their stride, and they will hope to keep it going as the season goes on, but they will need support from our student section, come out to the next home game on April 20, as they will take on North East at Bobcat Stadium and hope to improve to 5-4 and make a late season push for the playoffs.