It was a historic day at San Marcos High’s Warkentin Stadium on Wednesday, as the Royals’ boys lacrosse team played its first postseason game.
The Royals rose to the occasion, as Justin Lehman scored six goals and had an assist and five other players had goals in a 12-5 victory over Glendale in a first-round game of the Division 2 Southern Section North Division playoffs. They’ll host a semifinal game on Tuesday against Culver City at 4 p.m.
San Marcos coach Rick Lehman was a little overwhelmed by the win. He helped start the Santa Barbara Lacrosse Association nine years ago and got the high school programs going in 2015.
“I need to process it,” he said after congratulating his players. “It’s a little ridiculous after this many years pushing Santa Barbara, getting lacrosse at the youth level. Some of these kids played at the youth levels, most of them did not. So, it’s a huge accomplishment.”
It was also a big deal for his son, Justin, a junior, who played on the first San Marcos team in 2015.
“It’s crazy. I’m one of the first members of this team and it’s amazing to see how we’ve come together,” he said.
The San Marcos attack was clicking at the start. The Royals took a 4-1 lead, with three different players scoring goals. But Glendale took advantage of some defensive lapses and a penalty to score back-to-back goals to make it a 4-3 game in the second period.
The Dynamiters’ goalie stopped shots by Lehman and Mason Zimmerman, but the San Marcos defense stepped up and made plays to keep the Royals in control of the game.
“We had to make some adjustments for them to get back into the mode of playing good defense,” coach Lehman said “Once we did that, that meant our offense had the ball more, and we have a lot of weapons on this team. Justin is a phenomenal player but he’s got a great group of people who can rip shots as well.”
Lehman began the ripping with consecutive unassisted goals, weaving around Glendale defenders to create his shots. His second goal came on a power play to give the Royals a 6-3 lead with 1:46 left in the second quarter. Shea Rousseau beat the goalie with 45 seconds left to make it 7-3 at halftime.
“We had push to through and make a couple of plays,” Justin Lehman said of regrouping after Glendale’s goals. “I had to help the team out, move them along, score a couple of goals and put them in position to win.”
Glendale (8-7) scored off a loose ball in the crease 38 seconds into the third quarter before San Marcos (13-2) responded with five unanswered goals to put away the Dynamiters. Lehman lowered his stick and used a hockey slap-shot motion to score the first goal of the onslaught. Joshua Blanchard followed with a finish off a superb counterattack. It started with goalie Ryan Lehman making a save and throwing a long outlet to Mason Zimmerman who fed Blanchard for the score.
“We practice those quick outlets — get the rebound and get it going. We have a lot of skilled players to do it,” said coach Lehman.
Justin Lehman found Zimmerman with a slick pass for his second goal of the game. Michael Palmer made it 11-4 and Justin Lehman finished the San Marcos scoring with a blistering shot the goalie had no chance of stopping.
Palmer had three of the team’s six assists and Ryan Lehman made 10 saves.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
