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Balancing act

Spartans shine in win over Bulldogs

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Samuel DeJoseph, right, and Anthony Barber celebrate after Barber’s opening goal in the Spartans’ 11-7 victory over Poland on Wednesday.

BOARDMAN — In a season that’s been full of ups and downs, the Boardman boys lacrosse seniors made sure their senior night was full of ups in an 11-7 victory over Poland on Wednesday.

“It was definitely balanced out for us,” Spartans coach Dave Peters said. “Our game plan was just try to keep possession and get off as many shots as we can, and we executed that pretty well.”

Anthony Barber wasted no time getting Boardman on the scoresheet, putting the Spartans up 1-0 under 2 minutes into the match.

Just over the midway point of the opening quarter, Boardman took a 3-0 lead on goals from Mark Filicky and Lucas Dray.

Poland didn’t disappear however, as the Bulldogs fired off three quick goals from Joey Ibiris, Jonah Cuzan and Nate Scheck to knot the game at 3 at the end of the first quarter.

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Boardman sophomore Antonio Alarcon races upfield while being heavily guarded by Cole Eaton of Poland during their lacrosse matchup on Wednesday.

From that point, on the game was evenly paced, but Poland was never able to wrestle the lead away.

Dray recorded four goals for the Spartans, leading the team. Seniors Mark Filicky and Spencer Jankowski each recorded two.

Boardman sits at 5-8 and will enter the postseason as a battle-tested squad thanks to a challenging schedule.

The main obstacle in facing teams from outside the Mahoning Valley is that a lot of players play year-round with lacrosse.

For Peters, that means there’s a lot of time spent on making sure they have the basics down.

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Mark Filicky, left, and Jacob Hughes of Boardman collide with Poland's Noah Dearing as he tries to make a pass.

“We try to just go back to basics, and that’s what it seems like after every game, it’s we go back and coach basics,” he said. “Passing and catching is the main thing. If you can’t pass and catch, you can’t keep possession.”

The Spartans are an undefeated 4-0 against Mahoning Valley teams, but to Peters, all four teams in the county are on par with each other.

“We’ve had a very tough schedule,” Peters said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but playing against these elite teams, it’s tough. When you come up against like all the teams on 224, we’re all pretty balanced.

“You can’t go up against any of these opponents and think it’s a victory. You have to go out and earn it. Definitely tonight, Poland is a great team and they gave us a good challenge.”

Poland (2-10) is fielding a team for the first time since 2018. With only two players on the roster from that season, coach Dennis Schweers is proud of the progress the team has made over the last six months.

“When we started off in December, we probably had four guys that knew how to catch and throw,” Schweers said. “As you see tonight, they’ve all come a long way, and I’m very proud of them.”

Cole Eaton and Nate Scheck each recorded two goals for Poland.

The Bulldogs look to cap the season off on a high note on the road against Cardinal Mooney on Wednesday.

Boardman hosts Canfield on Monday in the team’s final home contest.

“We scouted them once this year, and they’re aggressive,” Peters said. “They’re aggressive and they’re fast. We got some guys that could go up against them. We picked out a few good players out there that I think we could man up against, and I think it’ll be favorable for us.”

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