Solon Lacrosse Gets Best of Hoover Boys in 17-8 Playoff Game

First, Mother Nature soaked Hoover. Then, Solon did. Or more specifically, Chris Humphrey.

After waiting out thunderstorms and the rain for two hours, the Vikings escaped out of their locker room only to find themselves spinning in a tornado wearing a No. 7 white jersey.

Humphrey swirled around  defenses for six goals and two assists as the Comets scored the game’s final nine goals to down the visiting Vikings, 17-8, and bounce them from the second round of the Ohio High School Lacrosse Association Division I Tournament on Thursday night.

“Humphries was playing well,” Hoover head coach Matt Gregory said. “It’s tough to stop a guy when he’s shooting like that.”

And as the old saying goes: When it rain, it pours.  And, boy, did it pour, pushing the game’s 6 p.m. start time back two hours.

The Comets (11-4) avenged an earlier 13-12 loss to the Vikings (12-4) on April 15, beating them for the first time in the school’s history. Sam Littman and Tres Barksdale each scored three goals and had an assist. Hoover senior captain Brock Grandjean and Keith Hart each had two goals.

For a time, Thursday’s playoff contest appeared headed in the same direction as the two schools’ earlier contest in April. After a tight first half that saw the Vikings down, 8-6, entering the third quarter, Hoover’s Hart and Brandon Crues each scored goals to knot the game, 8-8.

And then, there was nothing. Nothing but Solon and Humphrey taking over completely.

“We had some mental breakdowns happen. One thing led to another and we just fell apart from there. It’s a shame because it’s my last game at Hoover. They are a good team, so it’s not like we lost to a bad team. … They just wanted it more than us, I feel today,” Grandjean said.

Humphrey quickly retaliated with a pair of unassisted goals for a 10-8 lead that the Vikings never answered.

After Terry Tsivitste weaved through the Vikings’ defenses to feed Littman for a score, Humphrey flipped a nifty pass from behind the net and over to Littman, which he buried at point-blank range for a 12-8 lead with 6 seconds left in the third quarter.

Tres Barksdale scored two goals in the fourth quarter that bookended Humphrey’s three scores to close out the game.

The Vikings never led in the game and quickly went down, 3-0, at 8:10 of the first quarter, but the Vikings scored three of the next four goals, including two from Grandjean to draw within one at 4-3.

Solon scored three straight goals, but Hoover wouldn’t let them get away as Hart, senior captain Ethan Frock and junior captain Nate Weltman each scored goals to eventually pull within 8-6 at halftime.

Coach Gregory reflected on the efforts of his seniors as their high school careers ended in Solon on Thursday night.

“We had 13 seniors and a lot of them were three- and four-year lettermen. It’s sad to see them go. Not the way we wanted it to end, but they had a great career, great run and these guys are going on to college and bigger and better things,” Gregory said.