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5/17/2009- Lacrosse
Orchard Lake St. Mary's Making Splash in Michigan
By Eric S. Smith/www.lawpower.com
Zombies have long been a part of culture, dating their origins back to the development of Voodoo. In the 1960s, they made their way onto the big screens as a mainstay in horror films. But now nearly 50 years later, zombies may have found a way into high school lacrosse. Not literally, but figuratively.
A zombie rises from the dead and wreaks havoc on those around it. Similarly, the Orchard Lake St. Mary's High School lacrosse team in Michigan has risen from the dead and begun to shock the traditional lacrosse hierarchy in the Great Lakes State.
Before current head coach Greg Normand arrived in 2008, the Eaglets won five games in the previous two seasons. Last year, OL St. Mary's had a more respectable 9-9 record, but this year they have started on a 12-4 tear with two regular season games remaining, and have also earned a top seed in the region for the postseason.
"I took over a program that was pretty down for a while," said Normand, who is also the head coach at Eastern Michigan University . "They had no real scheme and needed to be reminded that this was about having fun. The talent was there--it just needed to be rediscovered."
Consider it rediscovered. This season, through the first 15 games, OL St. Mary's has eight players with more than 40 points and has averaged 11.8 goals per game on more than 49 shots. Leading the way has been junior Ian Brambs , who has 42 goals and 53 assists. The trio of Scott Koenigsknecht , Taylor Docking and Drake Chwalibog rounds out the high-powered attack of the Eaglets.
"We have the fastest team in the state," Normand said. "Most people can run with our first line, but our second line is even faster. We can get up and down the field and have a lot of weapons. We do have a high number of turnovers, but we play very fast so that is to be expected."
Their cranked-up tempo and speed almost allowed them to pull off an upset of epic proportions. The Eaglets played Brother Rice , which hasn't lost an in-state game in six years, and took them to the limit. The Warriors led Orchard Lake St. Mary's, 12-11, with eight seconds left when the Eaglets came within inches of forcing overtime. Instead, the last shot rang off the crossbar and kept the Warriors' perfect run in tact.
"That was the best high school lacrosse game I have ever been involved with," Normand said. "Both teams had a great amount of respect for each other. But Rice had to figure out what we were doing on offense. Rice went into a zone against us for the first time that anybody can remember."
Since that near-miss against the Warriors, the Eaglets have played them again in their conference championship with Brother Rice prevailing, 10-6. But that game was also close after three quarters of play. The good news for the Warriors now is that they will head to the Division I playoffs while the Eaglets are slated to start the Div. II postseason.
OL St. Mary's heads into the Div. II playoffs after playing a bunch of high-quality Div. I teams during the regular season. That tough schedule may help the Eaglets as they return to the playoffs.
"We are still learning, but hopefully our tough schedule bodes well for us," Normand said. "We've been down in 10 of our 16 games and won 12, so that shows that we don't quit, but we need to get off to better starts."
Certainly, the Eaglets have struggled out of the gates, but then the offense settles in and the defense begins to clamp down on opponents. The defense is anchored by Nick Gondek and P.J. Walters , a sophomore who is a raw talent but has great size at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds. OL St. Mary's also uses a two goalie system with Cameron Schulze and Adam Hatchard . But the real engine to this team is face-off specialist Josh Abbott, who has won 68 percent of his face-offs.
While the schedule helps the team's toughness, some would hypothesize that it would hurt with familiarity. The Eaglets haven't played many top-tier Div. II teams and thus lack knowledge about their potential opponents' tendencies. But that seems to not be an issue for Normand.
"We have film on every team," Normand said. "Plus, my offense doesn't follow traditional lacrosse rules, so sometimes it takes a team a half to figure out what we are doing."
But to fully make a splash back on the scene, the Eaglets will need to make a strong playoff run, and that's something Normand and his squad understand.
"I tell them that we haven't done anything yet," Normand said. "We're still the underdogs until we do something, and some nice regular-season wins doesn't mean we've done anything yet."
Certainly, OL St. Mary's has risen from the dead of a few seasons ago, but now only time will tell how these "zombies" fair in the lacrosse world. Normand and company are hoping for a Hollywood ending.
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