Dallastown boys' lacrosse stumbles at Lampeter-Strasburg for season's first loss

STRASBURG — It’s rare for any high school athletic team to finish a season undefeated. While it does happen from time to time, even the best teams in history have succumbed to a setback or two along the way to a championship.

Heading into Saturday morning’s clash with last year’s District 3 Class 2A runner-up Lampeter-Strasburg, the Dallastown boys’ lacrosse team found itself in unprecedented territory with a perfect 12-0 mark. Already owning a big-time victory over rival Central York, the Wildcats may have thought they had the upper hand against a Pioneers squad that lost to those same Panthers.

If they did, they thought wrong.

L-S gained the advantage early, scoring the first two goals and taking a 5-3 lead after the first period. On a warm but windy day, the Dallastown boys were denied a comeback as penalties and turnovers doomed the opportunity. The result was a gut-wrenching 13-10 setback, the first of the season for coach Scott Thoman's squad.

“That was the story of the day,” Thoman said. “We just had way too many turnovers and just didn’t take care of the ball. Hats off to (Lampeter-Strasburg). They came out with a lot of energy.”

The slow start was nothing Thoman was concerned with from his squad, especially early on a Saturday morning. He’s seen his team take a period to find itself on several occasions this season, but the second-period turnaround was usually on the horizon.

“We typically just kind of feel our way out in the first quarter,” Thoman said. “There were several games already this year where we were down early, but we always have been able to make adjustments and get on a roll. So (falling behind) is not uncommon for us.”

What is uncommon is that the Wildcats could not adjust to what the Pioneers (9-3) were doing on both ends of the field. Dallastown’s main snipers had to work hard to find room for shots, and when the deficit grew, the players may have tried to play hero-ball.

“I thought that we were trying to rush things a little too much,” Dallastown’s Gavin Pickett said. “We should have just tried to run our offense and not rush stuff, which can not go as planned sometimes.”

Pickett finished with three goals and Evan Mitchell tallied five for the Wildcats. But 34 groundballs and six penalties stifled the high-powered Dallastown boys.

Neither Pickett nor Thoman believed the team was looking ahead to Thursday’s looming clash with unbeaten Susquehannock, although the early start time may have been a contributing factor.

“We were in the locker room (at Dallastown) at 7:30 this morning and some guys were sleeping,” Thoman said. “Playing on a Saturday morning is always hit-or-miss with whether guys will step off the bus ready. I’m not going to blame it on that. It was just that L-S played better than we did. If this were a Friday night game and we played the way we did, it would have been the same result.”

Before the Wildcats get their much-anticipated showdown with Susquehannock, the Warriors (11-0, 9-0) will have to deal with Central York on Tuesday. The Panthers (9-2, 8-1) have been on a roll ever since dropping a 7-6 heartbreaker to Dallastown on March 24, setting up a three-way battle at the top of the standings as the regular season winds down.

Dallastown's next contest will be at home Tuesday against Spring Grove.