By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD — Effingham County’s lacrosse coach Owen Nix wanted his players to take care of business against South Effingham on Thursday night.
And the Rebels obliged.
Danny Padgett scored four first-quarter goals and finished with seven as ECHS blanked the Mustangs 15-0.
“I told our guys this is business tonight,” Nix said. “We have to handle business. We have goals beyond this. This is just one step.”
The Rebels (1-2) advanced to state last season and, as one of the more experienced teams in their nine-team area, should have similar expectations again this season.
And they looked a level above the Mustangs. Aaron Mordarski added three goals and Tyler Hutchinson, Drake Wilson, RJ Chapin, Evan Way and Noah Ricker made it a shorter night with a running clock throughout the fourth quarter.
Maybe it could have been more lopsided. One of ECHS’ best players, Tyler Garman, who is also an accomplished trumpet player, was at an honors band performance in Athens.
But winning and losing is only part of the story when talking about lacrosse in the county.
ECHS has 32 players and SEHS has 36 — a testament that the sport is growing.
“Nothing but good things can happen with these kinds of (participation) numbers,” Nix said. “I tell the kids all the time, the more people playing, the more competition, the better we’re all going to get.”
Mustangs coach Sean Farrell understands the growing pains. He said he grew up near Chicago and played high school lacrosse, then went on to play on a club team in college.
Seventeen years ago, he moved to Savannah and worked as an assistant lacrosse coach at Benedictine. The Cadets played in a South Carolina region to get more games.
Three years ago, ECHS and SEHS fielded teams to play in the Georgia High School Association.
The first spring, 2020, the threat of COVID abruptly ended the season after just a few weeks.
Nix began a club team at ECHS seven years ago and interest began to build. Now he teaches at the Effingham College and Career Academy and subtly tries to recruit players for both schools.
“I tell the kids, if you want to play at South, I know the coach and if you want to play at Effingham County, I am the coach,” he said. “We’ll get you plugged in.”
Farrell, in his first year at South Effingham, is seeing progress. The Mustangs (1-5) defeated Islands 13-2 the day before playing Effingham County.
Now he circles the date April 20 — the rematch with the Rebels and the game will count in the area standings. Progress can be measured in comparable scores.
“Most of our players picked up a stick in January,” Farrell said. “We have 12 returning players so most of the rest are just one or two years into their careers too. It’s fun watching them grow in a few short months. There’s a lot of potential here.”
