P-CEP Boys Lacrosse Gears up with Black and Blue Classic

The and boys lacrosse teams hosted the Black and Blue Classic on Saturday at Plymouth High School, an event that drew schools from all over southeast Michigan.

Nine teams participated in the pre-season tournament consisting of a series of 25-minute scrimmages. Each team played four games, though no scores were kept nor were any stats.

“We don’t keep score,” said Canton coach Kevin Riley. “Not on scrimmages. We’re just here to work on our games.”

Coach Riley only had half of his varsity team to work with on Saturday. Several players are still finishing up the hockey season, and numerous others were in Grand Rapids for the weekend for a school function. To fill out his team for the day he allowed some of the junior varsity players to participate.

“We did good offensively,” said senior attacker Matt Rodgers, who went on to explain that the outing was a great opportunity for the junior varsity kids to get used to the level of the varsity game. “It gives some of the younger guys more experience,” he said, “to kind of get them into the game.”

The day began at 8 a.m. with a matchup between Canton and Hartland, and concluded just after 5 p.m. with a game between Plymouth and Haslett-Williamston. In between, each team played four games. Canton also faced Haslett-Williamston, as well as Tecumseh and North Farmington-Harrison.

“We can hang in there,” said sophomore junior varsity midfielder Craig Allard. “It’s just a faster pace." 

And when asked which of Canton’s varsity players he thought looked the best out on the field, 11th grade junior varsity attacker Michael Olah responded without hesitation: “Matt Rodgers,” he said. “No doubt.”

Plymouth began their day with a 9 a.m. matchup against Tecumseh, and later faced North Farmington-Harrison and Hartland.

Varsity coach Brian Walsh said that the team’s defense looked really good but that the offense needed some time to mature. “We’re new on the attack this year,” he said, referring to the amount of underclassmen he has on the team. “So, we’re kind of getting our offense worked out.”

Senior defenseman Ben Burkman agreed, though he said that he was impressed with the team’s effort. “I think we looked pretty solid,” he said.

Senior midfielder Conor Downey said that he was skeptical heading into the day that the team would perform well, mainly because roughly half the team was so young. But aferward he admitted that he was wrong. “I wasn’t all that confident before today,” he said. “But seeing the guys work so well together in a team setting really impressed me.”