Champion vs. Champion. Matchups like these do not come by often, especially this early into the season. Saturday, March 15th was a huge date in the IHSLA world. The back-to-back 2A state champions of Hamilton Southeastern took on the 1A state champions of Evansville Memorial HS.
It was a warm, sunny morning on the day of the matchup. Face-off was set for a 2:00 start time, and everything went on as planned. This was considered a true “test” of not just both of these teams, but how much of a skill difference there is between the 2A and 1A levels. On the IHSLA website, the score prediction was 20-8, HSE.
Hamilton Southeastern is led by a star-studded lineup. Senior Max Kemp and junior David Gould lead the way on offense, scoring a combined 28 of the total 51 goals so far this season. Gould is committed to play at Loyola University Maryland, who won the first ever NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championship. On the defensive side, junior Kyle Jenkins (Quinnipiac commit) and sophomore Vince Putnam hold up the defense, which is averaging just 4.0 goals allowed on average.
With 2:00 finally here, senior Nick Weber stepped up for the face-off. Weber wins possession, and we are underway in this highly anticipated matchup.
The first quarter started lightning fast for the Royals, with Henry Wans, David Gould, Max Kemp and Marcus Laux all punching goals in within the first 5:48 of the 1st quarter. It started to look like this would be a blowout in favor of HSE.
But, just as quickly as lightning struck for the offense, it soon struck a couple miles east of the field. Players and Fans were ordered off the field wiith 1:46 remaining in the first quarter, and HSE with an 9-1 advantage. Everyone was unsure of how long it would take before we could resume play, if we could resume play.
As the clock kept moving, so did the storm. Unfortunately, there was no more shortages of lightning strikes in the area. Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes later, the game was cancelled due to the weather in the surrounding area. The game does not count, as an IHSLA matchup is required to have 2 complete quarters in order for games to be recorded.
HSE is looking to continue their early season dominance on Wednesday, when they take on the Center Grove Trojans.
