The Big Walnut boys lacrosse team started the season in style, setting the tone early before cruising to a 16-0 non-league win over host Buckeye Valley Tuesday night in Delaware.
The Golden Eagles (1-0) scored six first-quarter goals and seven more in the second to jump out to a 13-0 halftime lead over the Barons (0-1).
Luke Chiles broke the scoring seal off a nice feed from Jakob Ambrose one minute into the game. Ambrose collected another assist, this time setting up a Ashton Baker goal, and after Chiles found Baker to make it 3-0 with 9:25 left in the opening quarter, Braden Andreini got in on the act with a pretty behind-the-back goal before adding another to balloon the lead to 5-0 with 7:08 to play in the first quarter.
BV, which entered the season with 17 players who had never touched a lacrosse stick prior to this spring sprinkled throughout the roster, called a timeout to talk about things … and it settled the young team down a bit.
A.J. Nicolosi forced a turnover on the Eagles’ first possession after the timeout and Nolan Pienta ripped a shot just high and wide after the Barons took advantage of a man-up opportunity to get the ball into the BW end.
The pressure was short-lived, however, as Big Walnut regained possession and promptly inserted the ball into the back of the net courtesy of Gordon Rond to make it a 6-0 game with 1:56 left in the first.
Chiles got in close on the Eagles’ ensuing trip into enemy territory, but BV keeper Connor Brant made his first save of the night to keep the spread at six heading into the second quarter — a period in which Andreini and Baker scored twice and Logan Telesz, Caleb Sanford and Ambrose scored to pad the point total and force the second half to be played with a running clock.
Chiles scored midway through the third, but Buckeye Valley was much more connected on defense, and Brant made a handful of solid saves to avoid further damage before Adam Wilhelm and Rond added fourth-quarter tallies to smooth out the scoring summary.
Olentangy Liberty 12, Olentangy Berlin 6
The Patriots started fast and never looked back, doubling up the host Bears in non-league action Tuesday night in Delaware.
Olentangy Liberty, which led 7-2 at halftime, scored the game’s first three goals as Luke Godwin, Alex Theuerkauf and Jospeh Wiseman scored early to help their team play from in front from start to finish.
Berlin answered with back-to-back tallies, one at the end of the first quarter and the other early on in the second, but Liberty closed the half on a 4-0 run thanks in part to a pair of goals from Owen McGee — the first and second of his high school career — before outscoring the Bears 9-4 in the second half to seal the deal.
Gavin Angell led Berlin with three goals and a pair of assists while Zach Zielinski had two goals in the setback.
Also: Delaware Hayes 16, Marysville 2.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Evy Wirth scored the Barons’ lone goal and Larrianna Battle had 18 saves as Buckeye Valley fell to host Hilliard Darby 15-1 Tuesday night in Hilliard.
Also: Dublin Coffman 16, Olentangy 8.
