Pallotti Grad Rodgers Hopes To Join National Champs

Billy Rodgers, who graduated last week from St. Vincent Pallotti High, plans to study marine biology or environmental science in college.

The final two schools he considered were Salisbury University and West Virginia University, and they have very different athletic programs. Salisbury is a Division III program that has several teams that have contended for national honors, while West Virginia is a Division I program that competes in the powerful Big East Conference.

Rodgers ended up going with Salisbury. And the Laurel resident, who played four years of lacrosse at Pallotti, plans to try out for the school's lacrosse team. Even though the Sea Gulls are a small college program, making the team is not a given. Salisbury won its ninth national title in men's lacrosse Sunday, beating Tufts 19-7 at M&T Bank Stadium to avenge a loss in the title game in 2010.

Midfielder Rodgers, named to the 17-member all-MIAA B league team in boys lacrosse last week, said his coaches at Pallotti, head coach Kris Weaver and assistant Rob Weaver, are familiar with the coaching staff at Salisbury.

"I am going to try out," Rodgers, who also was on the swim team at Pallotti, told Patch this past weekend. "Kris and Rob are close to the coach [Jim Berkman]. I have been there to visit and will go down to register. My coach said I have a good chance to walk on and get on the team."

Weaver told Laurel Patch on Monday that Rodgers led Pallotti in goals (35), assists (20) and groundballs (117).

"He is a special player. He will do whatever it takes. He has a high ceiling. He has a lot of room for improvement," said Kris Weaver, whose team was 4-13 this season after Pallotti was 0-16 in 2010. Rodgers led the league in groundballs, Weaver said.

The Panthers had 82 more goals this year than in 2010, and Weaver said he plans to return 30 players to the program.

This was Weaver's first year as head coach, a former Pallotti standout who played Division III lacrosse at Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, PA. He took over for Chris Lombardi, who stepped down after a winless season in 2010. Rob Weaver played at McDaniel in Carroll County.

"One of the main things he got back was the school's pride," Rodgers said of Kris Weaver. "He did an alumni game and got a lot of people back into the program."

"Last year I kind of felt we didn't have a lot of leadership," Rodgers added. "This year we got a new coach, and we got a new coach really late [in the school year]. We hit full stride at the end of the year," though the Panthers did not have a winning record.

Rodgers, who is strong on face-offs, was one of three seniors who spent four years with the lacrosse program at Pallotti. The other two were John Chenault and Chris Dean. Rodgers said Chenault plans to attend Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, while Dean is headed to a junior college in Florida and then plans to transfer to Florida State.

Rodgers, who attended St. Mary's before heading across the street to Pallotti as a freshman, was also a four-year member of the Pallotti swim team along with J.T. Noland, a Laurel resident who plans to play football at West Virginia Wesleyan in the fall.

"I have been playing for 10 years and it has pretty much taken over my life," said Rodgers, who began playing lacrosse with the Laurel Boys and Girls Club. "I would love to be on the team" at Salisbury. Kris Weaver said the Laurel Boys and Girls Club no longer offers lacrosse.

Rodgers is not done with his pre-college athletic career. This summer he plans to swim again for West Arundel. Both of his older sisters, Kristen and Jackie, played lacrosse at Pallotti. Kristen graduated from the University of Maryland, while Jackie is a graduate of Frostburg State.