DUNBAR REALIZES BRAVEHEART VICTORY
AT KCD FALL JAMBOREE
Written by Trey Adams



Six Kentucky Lacrosse Association high school teams, part of the newly divided Division I-B, met on Saturday, November 8 at Kentucky Country Day School for a fall jamboree and round-robin style tournament. Representing the Louisville-area of the state were Christian Academy of Louisville, DuPont Manual High School, and Kentucky Country Day School. Representing the bluegrass region of the state were Covington Catolhic High School, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, and Tates Creek High School. The two teams missing from the action were Henry Clay High School of Lexington and Male High School of Louisville who round out the Division I-B rankings.


The morning witnessed two rounds of intensive play on three fields with KCD beating Covington Catholic 6 to 4 but falling to Dunbar 3 to 5. Meanwhile, CAL upset Tates Creek 7 to 5 and DuPont Manual 6 to 3. Covington Catholic also managed a 7 to 5 victory against Tates Creek.



After lunch, competitions heated up with Manual squeaking out a victory against Tates Creek 7 to 6, and Dunbar fighting back in the second half to lead Covington Catholic 8 to 5.


However, the first highlight of the afternoon was experienced with the Braveheart overtime competition between KCD and CAL. KCD accomplished an incredible final seconds goal against CAL to tie up their afternoon game. The intense goal brought one KCD player to the ground. Braveheart overtime pits one middie and one goalie against the opponents middie and goalie with a face-off to begin competition. The competition is sudden death. The Bearcats upset the Centurions with the Braveheart victory 7 to 6.


After the tallies were counted, Dunbar had accomplished three wins by 2:45PM with a goals scored total of 21 to their opponents 9. And, CAL, even with the overtime loss, had won two games with 23 goals scored against their opponents 14. The final game would be Dunbar v/s CAL.


The final game on the KCD soft-grass field pitted Head Coach Phil Brock's Christian Academy of Louisville Centurions against Head Coach Dave Kaetzel's Paul Laurence Dunbar High School Bulldogs. During the first half, the bulldogs dominated with the centurions managing only one goal despite multiple shot opportunities against the Dunbar defense led by senior goalie Drew Waid. Coming off hot, as they had against Covington Catholic in their afternoon game (pictured below), Dunbar was up 6 to 1 at the half.


Not to give up, and, as they had against KCD earlier, the centurions demonstrated their tenacity as a come-from-behind team and dominated scoring the second half to bring the game to a tie within seconds of the end of the 20 minutes running clock. Overtime began with a full team 4 minute sudden death period. Alas, no team had prevailed when the time elapsed--both goalies demonstrating a save each. In grand style, the referees and coaches agreed to a Braveheart to finish the game. Dunbar won possession but threw away the shot. On the return downfield, the CAL midfielder managed a shot with his goalie earning the chase. A second shot found him down on the field with the Dunbar midfielder on ball recovery and in a fast break towards the CAL goalie. He finessed the ball low on the goalie capturing the victory for the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School Bulldogs.

In interview, Coach Dave Kaetzel indicated that his team has come a long way and attributed a successful day of lacrosse competition primarily to his opponents. "Covington Catholic, CAL, and KCD all gave us tremendous challenges. It's been a great day for us."


All of the coaches want to thank Tom Windham, Head Coach of the Kentucky Country Day Bearcats, Athletic Director Tim Green, Head Athletic Trainer Mike Mehring, and the KCD Boosters (refreshments) for a fantastic day of Fall Lacrosse! It would be presumptuous to believe that the results of today's games were any indication of how competitions will pan out in the Spring; however, they were a great test of team play, dynamics, and coaching during the off-season.