BLYTHEWOOD – The say Saturdays are for the [LAX] boys, right? Or at least Feb. 22 was at Blythewood High School.
With about thirty alumni in attendance, fans watched the friendly alumni vs. varsity game while enjoying Ricky Allen’s barbeque and burgers.
The alumni started off strong with a 5-1 lead. The Bengals came back and tied the game at 6 in the third quarter. The Bengals tried to carry the momentum forward, but the alumni pulled ahead in the fourth quarter to take a 9-7 win.
Alumni scorers were former standouts Peter Candela, Matthew Clary, Landon Barrow, William Oakes, and Ty Auton.
Blythewood scorers were Thomas Oakes, Luciano Queiroga, Mikah Dennis.
Candela, the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team at the University of South Carolina, has won two National Championships at USC in the MCLA.
Previous Bengal coaches Tony Rakes and Kirk Thurston were also in attendance. Thurston, who was a member of the National Championship team at Maryland and later played professionally, coached both the boys and girls teams at Blythewood. He took the boys to the playoffs and won two state championships with the girls’ team. Rakes, who started the program at Blythewood, is still involved – mostly coaching the JV team.
The Bengals opened play last week with a home game against Dutch Fork. The Silver Foxes took control with a 5-1 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead. Blythewood scored two in the third to narrow the lead to two. Dutch Fork put the game out of reach in the fourth and came away with a 6-4 win over Blythewood.
Landon Kahle scored two of the Bengals’ four goals. Rashad Henderson and Luciano Menchetti scored one each.
Blythewood followed their season-opening loss with lopsided wins over Camden Military and Trinity Collegiate.
In their 14-5 win over Camden Military, Thomas Oakes had three goals; Kahle had three; Austin McGuff scored twice. Mitchell Stalcup, Menchetti, and Henderson had one goal apiece.
Blythewood downed Trinity Collegiate 22-0. Kahle and Oakes had five goals each. Menchetti scored four. Collin Nguyen, McGuff, Gammons, Hall, Stalcup, Dillon Hutcherson, and Mikah Dennis all had one goal.
Still looking to grow the program, head coach Val Queiroga says he wants kids to come try lacrosse, especially if a kid plays any other sport. Queiroga says lacrosse is easy to pick up – many football, basketball, hockey, and baseball players have joined the BHS Lacrosse team over the years and have said they enjoyed it more than they thought they would. New players are encouraged to come out and play with the JV as early as 7th grade. Coaches say they do not have to know how to play, they will teach them.
Varsity Players: Collin Nguyen, Brady Sullivan, Chris Hill, Thomas Oakes, Mitchell Hepler, Dillon Hutcherson, Landon Khale, Caleb Navarrete, Austin Mcguff, Rashad Henderson, Brayden Rassmussen, Mitchell Stalcup, Reed Paolucci, Gavin O’Conner, Grayson Smith, Parker Gammons, Seth Hall, Luciano Queiroga, Trey Tapp, Will Perkins, Luke Ely, RJ Owens, and swing players Jacob Clark, Mikah Dennis, Matthew Tolson and Nate Whitney.
Alumni Players: Hunter , Peter Candela, Hunter Whitfield, Landon Barrow, Matthew Clary, Damani Elliott, Ryan Williams, Tommy Gunter, Coulson Hance, Conner McDonald, Collin McDonald, William Oakes, Ty Auton, Evan Taylor, Cole Sanders, Max Bloom, Carson Vermillion, Jake Berg, Cale Ramos, Chris Koelsch, Josh Nguyen, Tyler Khale, Ethan Stephens, Aundrea Tyars, Mack Martin, Owen Heller, Charles Porter, Nate King, Nathan Waldrop, Roman Huntley
