Fort Mill Yellow Jacket lacrosse team going to fourth straight title game

What looked to be a blowout early, turned into a slugfest between two rivals as the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets held off the Nation Ford Falcons 10-7 to win the Upper State boys lacrosse championship.

With a spot in the state finals on the line, the biggest game in the short historic rivalry between Fort Mill and Nation Ford took place Tuesday evening at Bob Jones Stadium.

Both teams came into the game with a 10-6 record. Nation Ford was looking for its first spot in the state finals, while Fort Mill was looking to get back to the finals for the fourth consecutive year, having won once in its previous three trips.

“Our team has really bought into a system,” said Fort Mill head coach Stephen Nadolski. “Our goal is always to compete for a state championship. Brian (Holland, Nation Ford coach) does a great job. They put up a hard fought game.”

Fort Mill came into the game ranked second in the state and Nation Ford was ranked sixth. Fort Mill will face the winner of the Lower State championship between Wando, ranked first in the state, and Bishop England, ranked third in the state.

The Jackets took advantage of early miscues by Nation Ford and controlled the flow of the game from the opening face-off throughout the first quarter. Not for the lack of trying, Nation Ford got several shots on Jackets’ goalie Daniel Cortazar, who was able to gobble up the close attempts.

Fort Mill scored in the first four minutes of the game with a goal coming from Josh Cobbina. The Jackets came right back and scored again 40 seconds later to take a 2-0 lead with the second goal coming from Trenton Wiley.

Nation Ford struggled in the first quarter to hold onto the ball, especially near their goal, turning the ball over and giving the Jackets’ extra opportunities. Fort Mill capitalized as Aiden Grabb scored the Jackets’ third goal of the game on the ensuing possession.

In the second quarter, Nation Ford goalie Mac Beats and the Falcons’ defense was able to slow the Jackets’ momentum down as Beats was able to stave off Fort Mill’s shot attempts. Nation Ford got on the board right before the half as Jack McCullough scored with 28 seconds left to cut the Jackets lead to just two heading into the break.

Turning point

Fort Mill led 6-5 heading into the final quarter as Nation Ford put together a furious third-quarter rally, outscoring the Jackets 4-3 in the period. McCullough would score with just under 10 minutes left to tie the game at 6-6.

The Jackets would then comeback with two unanswered goals from Grabb and Cobbina, both of whom got hat tricks to put Fort Mill up 8-6. Fort Mill would then get another goal from Cobbina and a goal from Colin Crutchfield to seal the deal for the Jackets.

Critical

Fort Mill started the second half and scored within the first 90 seconds on Cobbina’s second goal of the game as he broke through the Falcons’ defense. Nation Ford answered about a minute later as Corbin Tesimale scored for the Falcons to cut the Jackets lead to two goals.

Nation Ford’s Jack Adkisson came back a minute later to score and shift the momentum clearly into their corner. With Fort Mill on the ropes, Nation Ford stayed on the attack as Billy Luther tied the game at 4-4 with less than seven minutes left in the third quarter.

Star contributions

Cobbina scored four goals for Fort Mill and Grabb added three to help lead the Jackets. For Nation Ford, McCullough led with two goals.

Overheard

Nation Ford head coach Brian Holland said he was proud of his team and wouldn’t trade them for the world.

“I just told my guys to finish with class,” he said. “It was a good game. We had our chances, we just didn’t capitalize.”

Box score

Fort Mill 10, Nation Ford 7

Records

Nation Ford 10-7, Fort Mill 11-6

On deck

Fort Mill will play in the state championship game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Chapin High School.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Fort Mill Yellow Jacket lacrosse team going to fourth straight title game."