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Maple Grove halts Orono's streak

By Loren Nelson, Editor, 04/23/10, 11:35AM CDT

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Crimson race to victory over defending MBSLA champions

One by one they came calling.

Minnesota State High School League coaches hoping to secure a game against Orono, the standard bearer of the Minnesota Boys Scholastic Lacrosse Association, were clogging Spartans coach Josh Scott’s voicemail with schedule requests.

“We won the championship last year, and everybody wanted a part of us,” Scott said. “And this was the showing we give.”

On this night the best of the MBSLA – the ambassador of the club-level league as Scott described his team – was no match for what is considered a mid- to upper-tier MSHSL team. Maple Grove outscored Orono by seven goals in the second half en route to an emphatic 13-5 win at Maple Grove on Friday, April 23.

The loss snapped Orono’s 15-game win streak, the longest in either of the state’s alphabet soup boys lacrosse leagues.

“When you can make run like that, I don’t care who your competition is, whether it is MBSLA or MSHSL, that’s great lacrosse,” Maple Grove coach Gig Willson said about Orono’s win streak.

Not so great was Orono’s composure. A series of unsportsmanlike penalties were called on the Spartans in the second half, the result of numerous unrepeatable conversations with the officials.

Penalty after penalty led to goal after goal for Maple Grove, which outscored Orono 9-2 in the final two quarters as the Crimson effectively pushed themselves away from mid- and more toward upper-tier MSHSL status.

“That was a great team,” Scott said. “They are going to do some things this year, Maple Grove. And I think we will, too.

“We have a great chance of coming back and winning the state again. But not playing like this.”

Bo Maki scored three goals for Orono (1-1), which trailed just 4-3 heading into the second half. Maple Grove (2-1), meanwhile, got goals from eight players, including a hat trick from Tyler Johnson.

“We’ve got a fully stacked team, basically,” Johnson said. “Everyone has got talent. “

The euphoria of the big win only fueled Johnson’s optimism for the season.

“We’re going to state,” he said with a grin.

Loren Nelson

Loren Nelson

MN Lax Hub Managing Editor

Phone: 612-379-1030 (ext. 126)

Statistics, summary

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THREE STARS

1. Tyler Johnson, Maple Grove
Senior attackman scored three times to lead a balanced Crimson offense that saw eight players notch at least one goal.

2. Jack Rice, Maple Grove
Sophomore midfielder scored three goals and added an assist. He opened the scoring in the second half to spark the Crimson as they outscored Maple Grove 9-2 in the final two quarters.

3. Bo Maki, Orono
Senior attackman scored three of Orono's goals, giving him nine in two games this season.

Quick Hits

Quiet Celebration
After the traditional postgame handshake between the teams, Maple Grove coach Gig Willson whisked his players into the Crimson's locker room underneath the bleachers for a long, eerily quiet session. Did his team do something wrong? Was he unhappy with their play despite the win? On the contrary. "He was just kind of congratulating us and telling us we have a day off (Saturday)," Crimson sophomore Jack Rice said. "So we're happy about that."

Carrying the Banner
As the defending state MBSLA champion, Orono sets the standard the rest of the state's 21 club-level teams use to gauge the level of their programs. So when the Spartans matched up against Maple Grove in a rare MBSLA vs. Minnesota State High School League crossover game, there was a keen interest in seeing how the two leagues compare. "I feel like we let them down," Orono coach Josh Scott said, referring to the rest of the MBSLA teams, after the Spartans' had their 15-game win streak snapped. "Because now, nobody is going to look at us anymore, no matter what we do this year."

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