Despite a ferocious comeback from a 7-1 halftime deficit, the Rockbridge County High School boys lacrosse team came up short 10-9 in overtime at home against Cave Spring on Wednesday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats (3-3) sent the game into overtime when Jayden Layman scored in the closing moments of regulation to tie it 9-9, but Cave Spring (5-4) scored the winning goal on a shot by Keaton Prokopchak just 35 seconds into overtime.
The last three contests between RC and Cave Spring have been decided by one goal. Last year, the Knights beat the Wildcats 11-10 in Roanoke during the regular season and then earned an 8-7 comeback win over RC to end the Wildcats’ season in the Region 4D quarterfinals.
In Wednesday’s game, the Knights got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the first quarter, and they took a 7-1 lead into halftime. The Wildcats outscored Cave 5-1 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 8-6 before continuing to battle to force overtime.
Junior attackman Grayden Brown sparked the Wildcats’ comeback, scoring six of his game-high seven goals in the second half. Scoring one goal each for the Wildcats were senior attackman Jayden Layman and freshman midfielder Parker Flint. Also helping RC’s offense was senior attackman John Brooke, who led RC with four assists.
RC senior midfielder Quincy Speers, who had three assists, was honored in the fourth quarter when he dished out an assist for his 100th career point.
Andrew Browning led the Knights with three goals, while Ryder Compton, Jackson Libassi and Ben Fradette each scored two goals.
RC junior goalie Chase Pooley made seven saves, while Cave Spring goalie Cooper Reger had five saves.
The Wildcats will return to action on Monday when they play host to William Byrd, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity game scheduled to follow at 7:15 p.m.
For the full story and photos from Wednesday’s game, with comments from RC head coach Davey Jones, please see our April 30 newspaper.
