Brown Sets Single-Game Record With 12 Points
Ending the season on a high note, the Rockbridge County High School boys lacrosse team earned a 23-14 road win over Hidden Valley on Monday of last week in Roanoke.
The Wildcats finished with a record of 5-10 and were in a three-way tie with William Byrd and Cave Spring for the final spot in the Region 4D tournament. The three teams’ names were thrown into a hat, and Byrd’s name was drawn as the advancing team. RC split a pair of games with Byrd this season, falling 11-4 on May 14 in Vinton before earning a 7-4 win on May 13 at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista.
The message to the team, RC head coach Davey Jones said, was, “That’s why we’ve got to take care of business in the regular season.”
“It felt good to take a step forward this year and finish the season strong, as opposed to last year, when we weren’t in the playoff picture,” said Jones, completing his second year as RC’s head coach. Last year, the Wildcats finished 4-9. Against Hidden Valley (2-11), Jones said the Wildcats “played well, especially the offense.”
Senior attackman Grayden Brown led the Wildcats with seven goals and dished out five assists for a total of 12 points, setting a program record for points in a game. He finished his three-year career with 98 points.
Teammate Andrew Kelly scored six goals and had five assists and “dominated at the faceoff X,” said Jones.
Also stepping up was Caleb Robinson, scoring four goals and dishing out an assist. “Caleb came up big,” said Jones of the senior who switched from defender to attackman late in the season. “I wished I’d played him at attack earlier in the season.”
Pat Looney scored three goals and had two assists for the Wildcats, Parker Flint added a goal and an assist, and Justin Higgins and Zach Hart each chipped in one goal.
In goal, RC senior Chase Kelly made 13 saves, finishing his career with 259 saves.
The Wildcats will miss senior manager Hayley Higgins and their 16 senior players: Brown, Higgins, Robinson, Andrew Kelly, Chase Kelly, Trenten Cash, Benjamin Davis, Malcolm Forbes, Avery McDaniel, Brennan McDaniel, Aiden Meyers, Cole Peters, Daniel Reed, Dusten Sisk, Liam Stillwell and Jack Wonderly.
Three of the seniors have committed to playing lacrosse at SVU: Meyers, Robinson and Sisk.
“This is a senior group we’ll miss,” said Jones. “They very much are the personality of the team.”
The RC coach said that he and his assistant coaches talked with the players at the final game about younger players who were dressing for the varsity game since there was no junior varsity game. “We talked about preparing for next season now, rather than waiting until the first practice next spring,” said Jones.
