Lacrosse: Worthington Kilbourne boys, girls sweep rival Thomas Worthington
Sunday, April 14, 2024
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Worthington Kilbourne’s Zach Zimmerman looks to pass as Thomas Worthington’s Kaviraj Brannon defends Sunday in the WoTown Showdown. Photo: Joshua Morrison
Cole Fisher has settled into being a facilitator rather nicely for the Worthington Kilbourne boys lacrosse team. Part of the reason is he’s got a talented goal-scorer in Thomas Tyack to feed the ball.
Tyack scored five goals – all assisted by Fisher – to lead the Wolves to a decisive 16-5 victory over Thomas Worthington to cap a full day of WoTown Showdown lacrosse.
“Me and Tyack have played on the same team since we were 8 or 9 (years old),” said Fisher, a junior attacker. “We’ve played summer together (and) we’ve played school together – we’ve played so much together. We’re very complementary (of each other). We have very different playing styles but we got together.”
The Kilbourne girls team also notched a big 15-6 win over the Cardinals in a day that featured middle school girls and boys games and boys and girls junior varsity games, a vintage jersey sale and a stick drive.
“This is one of the coolest events that Worthington does, in general,” Kilbourne boys coach Brian Miller said. “The basis around everything is getting everyone out and the weather cooperated this year. It was really fun.”
Fisher and Tyack jump started the Wolves (5-5) by combining on two goals in the first minute, 11 seconds of the second quarter for a 3-1 lead. Kilbourne led the rest of the way.
“We talked all week about how we saw this as an opportunity for him to break out of his shell,” Miller said. “He did that. He owned the opportunity and we’re super proud of him for that.”
Worthington Kilbourne’s Ian Abahazie holds up the WoTown Showdown plaque after the Wolves’ victory Sunday against Thomas Worthington. Photo: Joshua Morrison
The Wolves didn’t get their first goal until Declan Ryan scored off a Max Ziskin pass with 10.3 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Ryan added two assists, Evan Schutte scored two goals and Zach Zimmerman had a goal and an assist for Kilbourne.
Preston Hawkins had seven of his 11 saves in the first quarter for the Wolves.
Thomas’ John Connell found Colin Scalise with 16.6 seconds remaining in the opening frame to open the scoring. But it was three penalties in the second quarter that helped Kilbourne take control according to Cardinals coach Matt Erdlitz.
“We had a couple of bad penalties in the second quarter and then they pumped in a few goals because they were a man up for so long,” said Erdlitz, whose team fell to 4-4. “It’s hard to come back from that.”
Todd’s big day propels Wolves girls over Cards
Ava Todd used the momentum in the face-off circle to create offense in leading Kilbourne to a win.
After the Wolves went down 1-0 on a Macy Morgan goal with 10:20 remaining in the first quarter, Todd won the next four draws.
The Wolves responded by converting the next five goals, which all came on 8-meter shots, led by Todd, who had three.
Todd finished with five goals and combined with Bella White to win 17 of 25 draws to lead Kilbourne (7-2).
“My teammates are great,” said Todd, a senior midfielder. “They know where I’m going to place the ball and they know to be on the circle and be on the draw when I throw it back to them. I’ve worked a lot on my wrist strength throughout the years and that really helps a lot.”
Worthington Kilbourne’s Addie Hale (left) is defended by Thomas Worthington’s Audrey Kahoun during Sunday’s WoTown Showdown. Photo: Joshua Morrison
Todd and White, a junior midfielder, are both committed to Kent State where Kilbourne alum Jackie Wolford is a senior and older sister Margaret, also a Kilbourne alum, is an assistant coach.
“We don’t have a whole lot of depth on our varsity team. So, we have to give our midfielders rest on the attack end and so a lot of times we’ll have different midfielders there,” Wolves coach Doug Troutner said. “It also throws off the other team a little bit. They’ll get used to one center doing one thing and then we throw something different at them.”
Ellie Buterbaugh, Addie Hale, Kayleigh Kennedy and Rylee Steinbeck each scored twice for the Wolves and Kennedy added two assists.
The draw has been a bit of a struggle for the Cardinals after losing Meredith Estepp to a season-ending injury just before the season.
“The draw for us has been a challenge all year,” Thomas coach Kendall Horner said. “We’ve had some issues with personnel where we’ve had some injuries happen. Unfortunately, we’re just not very deep at that position.
“(Kilbourne was) doing a very good job of getting the ball in their stick and then putting the ball where they wanted. So already, if you know where the ball is going, you have an advantage. They did a great job of hustling through the ground balls. That’s one of those things where you can’t teach, you just have to want it bad enough … and they wanted it.”
Audrey Kahoun scored twice and added an assist and Haley Gee had two goals for the Cardinals (2-6).
“Sports are just like life – there’s ups and there’s downs,” Horner said. “The way that the team comes together and decides what they’re going to be from this point forward is totally up to them.”
Worthington Kilbourne’s Reagan Wilkinson (from left) and Rylee Steinbeck work together to contain Thomas Worthington’s Sarah Forman during the WoTown Showdown Sunday. Photo: Joshua Morrison