Lacrosse falls in Regional Finals

The Tigers traveled to Kingwood for the weekend for the Texas High School Lacrosse League Super Regionals. They kicked things off against the hometown Mustangs on Saturday. Drip got things started early behind goals from Aiden Kane, Ryan Williamson and Jack Tanner before Kingwood was able to get on the board. A Williamson assist to Tanner wrapped up the 1st quarter with the Tigers leading 4-1. The offense kept up the pressure in the 2nd quarter with goals by Kane, Williamson and Brendan Linan, driving to a 7-3 lead at the half.

Drip didn’t allow the heat and humidity to get to them and turned the heat up themselves in the 3rd quarter. Kane dipped, dodged, dove and delivered his 3rd goal of the game before Brett Williamson found Tanner on the crease for his 2nd assist of the game. Linan finished out the quarter with two more goals, the 2nd assisted by Kane. Drip had extended the lead to 11-4 by the end of three. In the final 12 minutes Drip kept the energy up and spread the offense around. Sophomore Noah Chomout started it off after he picked up a ground ball off the faceoff, took it the distance, had a quick spin dodge, absorbed the blow of two defenders and found the back of the net for the first time this season. A minute later Grant Clarno picked up a deflection off of a Kaiden Grupp save, quickly moved the ball up to a streaking Tanner who found Kooper Brown on the crease for the finish. Clarno snagged another loose ball a couple moments later off a forced turnover from Nathan Waters, broke away up field and found Kyle Parker who had a quick swim dodge and shot to cap off the scoring for the day.

The 14-6 win sent Drip to the Regional Final on Sunday vs Rockwall. Senior Jack Tanner received the hammer for this 3 goal, 1 assist performance. Defensively, Cody Smith and Chomout led the team with 5 ground balls each and Smith, along with Gideon Schlab and Keller Stafford each forced 2 turnovers.

The Tigers walked into Sunday’s game with an opportunity to win a game and advance to the Final Four in Dripping Springs next weekend. Rockwall was coming off of an overtime victory over Memorial on Saturday. The yellowjackets stung first when senior Treece Kimmel drove and scored the first of his six goals on the day. The Tigers tied it up at one when Ryan Williamson found Tanner. Rockwall would score two more and take a 3-1 lead into the 2nd. Brett Williamson picked up two 2nd quarter goals on assists from Tanner and Kane, but couldn’t cut into the deficit and Drip found themselves down 5-3 at halftime.

Coming out of the half, the Tigers quickly cut into the lead when Parker found R. Williamson for a goal in a man-up situation. Drip tied things up at 5 when Kane threaded the needle and found the top shelf. After a Rockwall goal, Tanner found Brett Williamson to tie things up with his 3rd goal of the day. The yellowjackets would follow that up with 3 quick goals before the game moved into a lightning delay at 9-6. Drip wasn’t able to muster up anything offensively after the break and found their season come to an end with a 10-6 loss. Credit to the Rockwall goalie for keeping 14 Drip 4th quarter shots out of the goal. Cody Smith again led

Cody Smith again led the team with 5 GB’s and 2 caused turnovers, earning the final hammer of the season. He was followed by goalkeeper Austin Reeves with 4 GB’s and 9 saves. Lucas Willingham led the team with 4 faceoff wins. Congrats to Drip and their seniors on a great season. The Senior crew of Tanner, Smith, Linan, Schlab, Clarno, Ryan and Brett Williamson all had strong contributions on the weekend to close out their successful high school careers.

Dripping Springs will host the THSLL State Championships this Saturday and Sunday at DSMS and DSHS.