Behind seven first-quarter goals from seven different players, Atholton boys lacrosse topped visiting Hammond, 16-0, on April 7 to improve to 4-3.
"I was very happy with some of our execution today," Raiders coach Erik Burnett said. "Guys are really looking for ways to run offensively, and guys are looking to do the right things in terms of finding matchups and all the things we as coaches preach about."
Atholton got things going in a hurry thanks to a dominating performance in the faceoff circle by Kyle Brinker, who won all but two faceoffs on the day.
Senior attackman Sam Smith found sophomore midfielder Max Bryant a minute into the game, then Smith scored one his own 34 seconds later. Junior midfielder Jake Broschart scored unassisted 33 seconds after that to make it 3-0 in the Raiders favor.
Atholton received goals from Talbott Gottwals, Joey Brewer, Rick Mooney and Jake Topper to finish out the first quarter, then picked things up where they left off to start the second where Evan Monthie and Brewer each scored two more.
The number of players finding the back of the net didn't surprise Burnett. It's been a strength of the team all season.
"I feel like it's kind of changed each game. We've had some consistently good performances from Sam Smith, Jake Broschart, Jordan Maddox, Joey Brewer – we've had some guys who really play well," he said. "And really it's all about them executing well and them being willing to do all the nitty-gritty stuff like riding hard, getting ground balls, and all the thankless things that never get reported in stats but are really the key to being good."
For Hammond, it's been a tough start to the season as they have yet to win a game or score a goal. But coach Chris Reagle said the program has a plan in place that will help the future Golden Bears' teams.
"We have a lot of guys coming into our program that have flat-out never played before. I think on our whole varsity team we don't have a single guy who ever played before high school," Reagle said. "So this year one of the things we're trying to do is keep a lot of the more talented sophomores on JV and allow our JV to build. We knew (our varsity was) going to take some lumps, but hopefully we can build for the future through the JV."
The JV team has won several games and is competitive in the majority of their games, and Reagle said they have shown progress. The varsity squad, though, only has 15 players, meaning the majority of the players are on the field the entire game.
"We made a decision as a program that that's the way we're going to build," Reagle said. "We have some guys that have to really play all game and tough it out, and they're getting better for it."
Atholton (4-3) 16, Hammond (0-4) 0
Goals: A – Joey Brewer 4, Max Bryant 3, Evan Monthie 3, Talbott Gottwals 2, Sam Smith 1, Jake Broschart 1, Rick Mooney 1, Jake Topper 1
Assists: A – Smith 1, Monthie 1, Bryant 1, V. Ciccone 1
Saves: A – Darren Kasoff 5; Ha – Dylan Sicca 12
Half: 13-0 A
Others scores:
Howard (7-0) 24, Wilde Lake (2-4) 2
Goals: Ho – Cody Ford 5, Eric Schroeder 4, Scott Bruner 2, Tristan Kelehan 2, Brad Zulick 2, Peyton Smith 2, Alex Stephanos 2, Vanden Vale 1, Michael Travisano 1, Ryan Land 1, Owen Gerus 1, Adam Friedman 1; WL – Ryan Tiffey 1, Matthews 1
Assists: Ho – Bruner 4, Stephanos 4, Travisano 2, Schroeder 1, Zulick 1, Ben Shillin 1, Kelehan 1, Gerus 1, Nolan Dunnigan 1
Saves: Ho – Collin McClelland 2, Justin Overstreet 2; WL – Allen 12
Half: 19-0 Ho
Marriotts Ridge (4-2) 15, Long Reach (1-5) 2
Goals: MR – Troy Hensh 4, Patrick Clipp 3, Jack Grote 3, Grant Hanlon 2, Luke Ingersoll 2, Mitch Cassidy 1; LR – Skylar Briscoe 1, Kevin Leno 1
Assists: MR – Clipp 3, Grote 1, Hanlon 1, Nick Anania 1, Sam McCoy 1, Mak Kennedy 1
Saves: MR – Guy Scarpaci 4, Chris Simpson 2; LR – Anthony Valenza 11
Half: 12-0 MR
Glenelg (4-2) 11, River Hill (3-2) 6
Goals: RH – Jake Friedman 2, Zach Beard 2, Jimmy McEneaney 1, Brendan McKenna 1
Assists: RH – Josh Schulman 1, Beard 1
Saves: RH – Darius Khademi 9
Mt. Hebron (5-0) 11, Oakland Mills (1-3) 4
Goals: MH – Kyle Sutton 3, Tyler Holzman 3, Kyle Watts 2, Brian Demek 2, Jake Edmondson 1, Scott Mackrell 1; OM – Bhylet 3, Evan Riss 1
Assists: MH – Sutton 2, Edmonson 1, Holzman 1, Brookhart 1; OM – Caldwell 2
Saves: MH – Casey DuBois 16; OM – Ketchum 21
Half: 2-2 tie
Centennial (2-2) 7, Reservoir (4-1) 5
Goals: C – Fochios 3, Wilson 2, Moore 1, Rottman 1; Re – Marsh 2, Rutten 1, Romer 1, Ekstrom 1
Assists: C – Wilson 2, Fochios 1, Moore 1, Clay 1; Re – Zester 1, Rutten 1, Carson 1
Saves: C – Simpson 6; Re – Smith 11
Half: 4-3 Re