Franklin County - After he and his teammates received their State Runner-Up Medals, graduated senior Alex Maruna, the disappointment carved in his face, looked back with class and dignity on what was an otherwise record-setting spring for Coach Patrick McManamon's LAX Cats.
"It was a great season, a great group of guys and great seniors," said Alex, just moments after he was recognized by the Ohio High School Lacrosse Association as one of the premier defenders in all of Ohio. "We set the level of expectations for the rest of those kids coming into the program. This is not the downfall of the program, it is all up from here."
"Here" was the first trip to the OHSLA State Championship Game for Saint Ignatius, where the LAX Cats faced perennial power Upper Arlington, now an 18-time State Champion after its impressive 17-5 victory over Saint Ignatius on Saturday evening at Thomas Worthington High School's Hamilton Field.
The Golden Bears, who also eliminated the LAX Cats in last year's State Semifinals and were pushed to the limit by Saint Ignatius before edging the Wildcats, 12-10, a regular season matchup at Upper Arlington in mid April, showed everyone in attendance on Saturday why they are and have been Ohio's best of the best.
In winning their fourth OHSLA State Championship since 2012, the Golden Bears were golden in every phase of their deliberate, but oh so effective and athletic attack.
Displaying a relentless, but under control defense and winning the key ground balls off face-offs, Upper Arlington jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by senior attack Ben Baker, junior attack Alex Rankin and multi-killed senior midfield Danny Logan, a University of Denver recruit. Logan's first goal of the evening came with 4 minutes and 47 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Despite that early barrage by the Golden Bears, Coach McManamon's LAX Cats stayed calm and quickly ran off three goals of their own in knotting the score at 3.
Saint Ignatius' first two goals were courtesy of senior midfielders Alexander Leszcz and Jared Stepka, and gifted senior attack and Lehigh University recruit Crew Cintron tied the score on his smooth spin move around the cage with 10:31 left in the second quarter.
Reacting in a manner one would expect from a multiple champion, Upper Arlington ran off four unanswered goals and led, 7-3, with 3:55 to go in the first half.
The LAX Cats closed to 7-4 off a goal by junior midfield Brent Chernosky, but the Golden Bears answered right back when junior attack Jack Dolan beat the defensive slide with 12 seconds left in the first half.
With Upper Arlington holding a four-goal advantage, the teams headed to their respective locker rooms for the halftime break.
Little did they know they wouldn't return to the field anytime soon.
Mother Nature greeted Hamilton Field with lighting, thunder and heavy rain, and the game was delayed for over an hour.
When the second half got underway, Upper Arlington needed less than two minutes to stretch its lead to six goals.
Cintron's second goal on the evening cut the deficit to 10-5, but like Mother Nature's halftime downpour, the Golden Bears began to rain goals on the LAX Cats' defense.
In what was a resounding display of dominance, Upper Arlington ran a lacrosse clinic to a 16-5 lead entering the fourth quarter.
After the versatile Baker sent an on-the-money assist to senior attack Sam Buckley, it was 17-5 with 9:24 remaining to be played and a running clock came into play.
The highly touted Logan lived up to his billing as his four goals off his trademark juke and quick first step earned him the State Championship Game's Offensive MVP honor. The young man was as advertised, my friends.
Golden Bears senior defense Joe Levitt took home the Defensive MVP award. Upper Arlington's passion on defense had as much to do with the outcome as its scoring.
The shots on goal were 29-11 in favor of the Golden Bears.
Although Maruna said the long halftime delay kind of took away from the atmosphere of a state championship game, he had nothing but praise for Upper Arlington.
"They came out hot and played extremely well," said the young man who will be furthering his education and lacrosse career at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Maruna then joined his teammates as they gathered in front of the LAX Cats' faithful and sang the alma mater.
"I'm just so proud that we made it to this point," said Coach McManamon '96 of the program's first state championship game appearance. "The outcome, obviously I don't know what happened. I'll have to watch the third quarter, I have no idea what happened in that third quarter. I don't think I've ever seen a quarter like that from us.
"We just didn't play well, I don't know if it was the moment, or what it was," Coach McManamon continued. "We seemed to be chasing our tail the entire time. But it's all the work that these guys put in to get us to this point and we got through the door. They'll be more (state championship games), I'm certain of that."
Those future state championship games will come under the OHSAA banner, as lacrosse becomes a sanctioned sport next year.
The LAX Cats closed their season at 16-3 and the Golden Bears wrapped up yet another championship campaign at 20-3.
"It was a great season, a great group of guys and great seniors," said Alex, just moments after he was recognized by the Ohio High School Lacrosse Association as one of the premier defenders in all of Ohio. "We set the level of expectations for the rest of those kids coming into the program. This is not the downfall of the program, it is all up from here."
"Here" was the first trip to the OHSLA State Championship Game for Saint Ignatius, where the LAX Cats faced perennial power Upper Arlington, now an 18-time State Champion after its impressive 17-5 victory over Saint Ignatius on Saturday evening at Thomas Worthington High School's Hamilton Field.
The Golden Bears, who also eliminated the LAX Cats in last year's State Semifinals and were pushed to the limit by Saint Ignatius before edging the Wildcats, 12-10, a regular season matchup at Upper Arlington in mid April, showed everyone in attendance on Saturday why they are and have been Ohio's best of the best.
In winning their fourth OHSLA State Championship since 2012, the Golden Bears were golden in every phase of their deliberate, but oh so effective and athletic attack.
Displaying a relentless, but under control defense and winning the key ground balls off face-offs, Upper Arlington jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by senior attack Ben Baker, junior attack Alex Rankin and multi-killed senior midfield Danny Logan, a University of Denver recruit. Logan's first goal of the evening came with 4 minutes and 47 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Despite that early barrage by the Golden Bears, Coach McManamon's LAX Cats stayed calm and quickly ran off three goals of their own in knotting the score at 3.
Saint Ignatius' first two goals were courtesy of senior midfielders Alexander Leszcz and Jared Stepka, and gifted senior attack and Lehigh University recruit Crew Cintron tied the score on his smooth spin move around the cage with 10:31 left in the second quarter.
Reacting in a manner one would expect from a multiple champion, Upper Arlington ran off four unanswered goals and led, 7-3, with 3:55 to go in the first half.
The LAX Cats closed to 7-4 off a goal by junior midfield Brent Chernosky, but the Golden Bears answered right back when junior attack Jack Dolan beat the defensive slide with 12 seconds left in the first half.
With Upper Arlington holding a four-goal advantage, the teams headed to their respective locker rooms for the halftime break.
Little did they know they wouldn't return to the field anytime soon.
Mother Nature greeted Hamilton Field with lighting, thunder and heavy rain, and the game was delayed for over an hour.
When the second half got underway, Upper Arlington needed less than two minutes to stretch its lead to six goals.
Cintron's second goal on the evening cut the deficit to 10-5, but like Mother Nature's halftime downpour, the Golden Bears began to rain goals on the LAX Cats' defense.
In what was a resounding display of dominance, Upper Arlington ran a lacrosse clinic to a 16-5 lead entering the fourth quarter.
After the versatile Baker sent an on-the-money assist to senior attack Sam Buckley, it was 17-5 with 9:24 remaining to be played and a running clock came into play.
The highly touted Logan lived up to his billing as his four goals off his trademark juke and quick first step earned him the State Championship Game's Offensive MVP honor. The young man was as advertised, my friends.
Golden Bears senior defense Joe Levitt took home the Defensive MVP award. Upper Arlington's passion on defense had as much to do with the outcome as its scoring.
The shots on goal were 29-11 in favor of the Golden Bears.
Although Maruna said the long halftime delay kind of took away from the atmosphere of a state championship game, he had nothing but praise for Upper Arlington.
"They came out hot and played extremely well," said the young man who will be furthering his education and lacrosse career at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Maruna then joined his teammates as they gathered in front of the LAX Cats' faithful and sang the alma mater.
"I'm just so proud that we made it to this point," said Coach McManamon '96 of the program's first state championship game appearance. "The outcome, obviously I don't know what happened. I'll have to watch the third quarter, I have no idea what happened in that third quarter. I don't think I've ever seen a quarter like that from us.
"We just didn't play well, I don't know if it was the moment, or what it was," Coach McManamon continued. "We seemed to be chasing our tail the entire time. But it's all the work that these guys put in to get us to this point and we got through the door. They'll be more (state championship games), I'm certain of that."
Those future state championship games will come under the OHSAA banner, as lacrosse becomes a sanctioned sport next year.
The LAX Cats closed their season at 16-3 and the Golden Bears wrapped up yet another championship campaign at 20-3.