Fort Mill boys and girls’ lacrosse teams both played for state titles; how’d it go?

It was the best of times for one team, and it was the worst of times for another.

The Fort Mill boys and girls lacrosse programs went for history April 27, 2019 at W.C. Hawkins Stadium on the campus of Irmo High as they both played for a state championship. No Fort Mill sports program has won two state team championships in the same day, but only one came away with a state title Saturday, the Fort Mill boys team (15-3), which beat the Wando Warriors 13-8 to claim the 5A state championship. The Fort Mill girls (15-4) lost 9-6 to the Chapin Eagles in the opening game of the doubleheader.

Fort Mill 13, Wando 8

Fort Mill came into the game ranked No. 1 in 5A with Wando right behind at No. 2. The four previous state finals battles between Fort Mill and Wando have been legendary, with the Warriors coming out on top in three of those. Fort Mill’s 2014 state title win came against Wando, the last time the Yellow Jackets won a final, and the last time Wando lost a final. The Warriors were looking for their fifth consecutive state lacrosse title coming into Saturday’s game against the Jackets.

Fort Mill and Wando battled to a 6-6 halftime tie. Zach Terry, Jack McGuire and Trenton Wylie all scored two goals each in the first half for Fort Mill. Terry finished the game with six goals, bagging four in the second half during an inspired performance.

“I wouldn’t be able to do it without my team,” he said. “They cleared space. They did everything right. We deserve this. We have been working all season for this.”

Terry opened the second half with back-to-back goals for Fort Mill, giving them a lead as part of a three-goal streak by the Jackets. Wylie added his fourth goal of the game with about five minutes left in the quarter to give the Jackets a 10-7 lead.

Fort Mill scored three goals in the fourth quarter, two from Terry and one from Wylie, who had five goals in the game.

Jackets head coach Parker Thomas was part of the 2011 team that won the state title for Fort Mill and said winning as the head coach felt better than winning as a player.

“The kids earned it,” he said. “I can’t think of a better way to cap it off for these seniors. I am more excited for these guys. I wouldn’t trade this one for anything. It is awesome being around these kids.”

Only three players scored all of Fort Mill’s 13 goals as Terry had six goals, Wylie had five and McGuire had two.

Chapin 9, Fort Mill 6

In the girls game against Chapin, Fort Mill came up short for the second consecutive year. Jackets’ head coach Kellianne Wunk said it was the little things that made the difference between the two teams.

“We came out so strong in the first half,” she said. “I told them at halftime we need to keep the momentum and run through them in the second half. We fell short. Little things like stick skills and shots hurt us in this game. I told them all season long that the fundamentals of lacrosse is what is going to make or break you. You don’t have to do anything fancy to win games as long as you stick to the fundamentals. In the second half, we dropped the ball and things like that and it showed.

“It is what it is, and we will fight again next year.”

Fort Mill went into the half leading 4-3, but Chapin tied the game with the second half opener. The Jackets’ Alexa Strelick put Fort Mill up 5-4 for the last time in the game with about 19 minutes left to play. From there, Chapin scored four straight goals to go up 8-5 with about 13:37 left.

Fort Mill battled back, but couldn’t consistently hold onto the ball, as turnovers allowed Chapin to run time off the clock. The Jackets’ Charlotte Anderson scored her second goal of the game with about four minutes left to make it 8-6, but Fort Mill couldn’t make the gap closer than that.

Anderson’s two goals gave her a new school record with 201 career goals, but she said it didn’t matter to her. The former record was 199 career goals held by Jackets’ assistant coach Kirsten Terry.

“I would rather have a state title than the record,” she said. “I would have taken that any day. I didn’t think about the record once today.”

A senior, Anderson said she wishes her teammates the best going forward and feels like Fort Mill can be back in the state finals next year.

“We have built a better team than we had before I got here,” she said.

Besides Anderson, Sawyer Wilcox scored two goals for Fort Mill, with other goals coming from Sydney Ziemer and Sterlick.

Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM

This story was originally published April 27, 2019 at 9:36 PM.