Liam Bartram of Hamilton High West sets for a shot that would result in 1 of his 5 goals on the day. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Apr. 3: Hamilton West Athletic Director John Costantino likes to joke that “every day is history” at his high school since it’s the oldest one in Hamilton Township.
That’s actually a debate for educational scholars to have. But we bring to you some actual hard-core history that was made by one of the representatives of the township’s oldest high school.
With its 17-2 victory over visiting Nottingham today, the Hornets boys’ lacrosse team is 2-0 for the first time in the 10-year history of the program. Not only that, by being up by 12 goals or more in the second half in each of those wins, Hamilton was on the winning side of a running clock game for the first two times ever.
The start comes on the heels of the program’s most successful season in 2017, when Hamilton went 9-8 and reached the state tournament under first-year coach Roc Azzarello. Playing quality competition made an impact.
“We finally got to see what a real lacrosse team was,” junior defender Dalton Adams said. “We played Rumson-Fairhaven, we played Hopewell, and they’re tougher than the guys we play in our division. It was interesting. I enjoyed it. It definitely carries over to this year.”
Especially having a winning season, which the Hornets had never accomplished before last year. They graduated 84 goals from that team, but still have some quality scorers up front along with a positive outlook.
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“They definitely have the attitude about winning now, and about playing as a team,” Azzarello said. “We still fight from time to time with selfishness. But they’re looking to move the ball. Today they moved the ball around a lot in the second half.”
By that point, the game was pretty much in hand, as Hamilton led 5-0 after one quarter and 9-1 at halftime. West got the running clock going with another five goals in the third quarter.
The Hornets experienced attack line came through the way its coach is counting on, as sophomore Liam Bartram and junior Kevin Novak each had five goals and one assist, while senior Declan Bartram – Liam’s brother – had two goals and four assists. Ironically, he only assisted his brother on one goal.
“But as players, I think we play good together,” Declan said. “Our backyard games end up in fights sometimes, but it’s all in fun. He’s been playing since eighth grade and I started my freshman year. Today I was just trying to get passes off and getting other guys to score.”
He did just that, as eight different Hornet players found the back of the net. Anthony Kathcart had two goals and an assist, Nick Derrico and Michael Marano had goals and freshman John Stines tallied his first varsity goal. Freshman Michael Gachetti had two assists, while Koray Ekiz, Michael Fitzpatrick and Hilsson Angeles had one each.
“We’re actually playing really good,” Declan Bartram said. “We’ve got a lot of chemistry going. Once we get amped up for the games and we start getting going, we’ll do pretty good.”
Azzarello’s biggest complaint in the early season is Hamilton’s ability to get groundballs, although the Hornets did fairly well against the Northstars.
“We think that’s really the game,” the coach said. “And we lost all our faceoff guys from last year, we have all new faceoff players, so we’re working at it. Today some of the scrums were good, I think that’s gonna get better. I expect a lot out of the faceoffs. Groundballs were good, I think we were over 45 today. Those are the things we profess with fundamentals so it was a good start.
“The one thing we’re looking at is we’re still learning how to win and stay at the tempo we play at. Sometimes we play teams and get too far ahead and the guys slow down too much. And the biggest thing we’re preaching is to look for the open guy. Make one more pass. It’s more about playing a good game, moving the ball around, playing as a team. That’s really what we’re professing.”
As for Nottingham (0-2), it looks like a big rebuilding year as the inexperienced Stars have allowed 34 goals in their first two games. Jason Toledo was a bright spot today with two goals.
One thing Nottingham has going for it is a quality coaching staff. First-year mentor Leo “The Scorekeeper” Mahon is a veteran lacrosse man. Assistant Chris “The Baron” Raba may have limited lax knowledge, but knows how to get the best out of players.
For the Northstars, it will be a season measured by improvement. For Hamilton, it will be interesting to see if more history can be made.
