Chargers’ Cox teaching valuable lessons as team finds success down 18 seniors

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PITTSBORO — Northwood men’s lacrosse head coach Ryan Cox had one eye glancing proudly in the rearview mirror and another cast anxiously on the week ahead after his Chargers trounced Seaforth, 17-3, last Friday.

It was a successful senior-night salutation to three graduating team members, a far cry from the send-off the school gave to 18 men’s lacrosse players last year. Seniors Pierce Cook, Jeremy Fernandez and Robbie Delgado were honored at halftime amid life-size posters of them hanging from the stands, which were bedecked with gold and green balloons fluttering in the chilly air.

“Each of them contributes and has provided great leadership, so in that way, we challenged them to be leaders tonight, and they did,” Cox said after the Chargers’ third game in three days. They clipped Cedar Ridge, 9-8, on Wednesday, then blew out Eastern Alamance, 17-1, on Thursday.

“We go into two big games next week, so a lot of everything we did this week was preparation and making sure we were disciplined, and we executed, and we challenged the boys in that way,” Cox said. “The second half, we challenged the boys in trying to stay out of the penalty box,” which had mixed results.

The Chargers, now 10-4 on the season after a 12-6 loss to 4A Chapel Hill on Monday, are scheduled to go up against Central 3A conference nemesis Orange (9-2) on Wednesday. Orange is sitting atop the conference standings, just ahead of Northwood, slotted at second. The Panthers beat the Chargers, 14-9, on March 21.

And with playoffs just around the corner, Cox said he and assistants Eric Ditter and Liam Walsh are seizing on every teachable moment possible to enhance their players’ knowledge and field savviness in hopes they will avoid repeating mistakes during the playoffs.

“Playoffs are loser-goes-home” without a shot at redemption for flubbing up, Cox said.

Asked to assess the team’s trajectory from the start of the season, Cox had a ready answer.

“I’m really proud of what this team has accomplished,” Cox said. “They’re playing together as a team, there are limited egos on the team, they’re trying to help each other get better, and we’ve challenged our players who are our leaders to make everyone around them get better. And I think they’re doing that.”

Cox is pleased that, after starting the year on Feb. 14 with 14 players, the roster is now up to 20, “and they’re all working hard to get better no matter where they’re at, whether they’re the best player on the team or the one that just started with a stick in his hand as Robbie Delgado did” as a first-time player, he said.

As a former player and coach who’s been around the game for a long time, Cox doesn’t put much stock in personnel turnover, even with the loss of 18 seniors last year.

Every team is different, and establishes its own identity, he said. Losing 18 players looks large on paper, but only 10 can step on the field at one time, and the current 10 starters “are pretty darned good,” he said.

His players may not possess tremendous skill, but they play with a lot of heart, he said, and the guys who come in off the bench add to the positive mix, so having 20 players who are committed “makes all the difference in the world.”

While this year’s team is young, there are some advantages to that age gap. Unseasoned players tend to be more willing to listen to coaches because they are on a quest to learn how to improve their game, he said.

While Cox is looking for teachable moments, Seaforth coach Joe Hubbard is looking for wins from his even younger squad of freshmen and sophomores during the first-ever season of lacrosse at the new high school.

The Hawks are 3-10 on the season, 1-8 in the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference. They lacked the size, speed, muscle and stick experience to give the Chargers a run, though sophomore attack Payne Swenson had a strong outing, scoring all three of the Hawks’ goals. But for much of the night, the game clock was left running due to the 12-point lead rule.

Northwood junior attack Jason Walden was a big reason Seaforth was denied a win on Friday. He was the game’s top scorer with five goals, more than the entire Hawks team was able to muster. Junior midfielder Will Smith was right behind him with four goals.

But it was Walden who scored first on the night, setting the tone early. With just 1:43 off the first-quarter clock, Walden came facing the goalie and fired the ball into the net. It was the first of a 9-goal barrage in the opening quarter, in which Seaforth failed to make a credible scoring threat.

The Hawks never even penetrated the Chargers’ side of the field until freshman midfielder Layne Armstrong won a face-off at 9:41 and the Hawks mounted a fleeting but futile attempt at a scoring drive. Armstrong was one of the shining lights for Seaforth, winning several face-offs. In the end, the Chargers’ relentless attack and time of possession helped decide the outcome.

“We just moved the ball around tonight,” Walden said. “We did well. We like to beat Seaforth. They’re a rival opponent in the area.”

His coaches told him to move his feet more, and Walden said moving off the ball created more scoring opportunities.

“I did that, and I just got around my defender and stuck it,” he said. He particularly enjoyed his goal at 5:32 of the first quarter, when he took a pass behind the net.

“I came around topside. I had my arm out to deflect the defender, and I got my hands free and stuck it bottom right,” Walden said.

“We’ve won some crucial games. We’ve lost some crucial games” heading into the showdown with Orange, Walden said. “We’re hoping to get back at them and seal a victory.”

Senior night went well for defender Pierce Cook, who netted two goals.

“It was a pretty good game,” Cook said. “We did what we had to do. We played well, got some people in toward the end and had some fun. I loved it.”

His first goal came at 3:17 of the first quarter to put the Chargers up 7-0. He snatched a ground ball with a carry all the way to the goal. He also had a buzzer-beating goal to end the game.

“Three seconds left, I got a pass from (junior defenseman) Nick (Feliciano), one of our new kids, and made a play,” Cook said.

That play illustrated what Cox spoke of concerning this new mix of players.

“We definitely had to step up losing 18 seniors last year,” Cook said. “A lot of juniors have also stepped up.”

Learning defense, learning offense, not playing one-man ball, passing and catching, and doing what needs to be done have been the keys to the standout season, Cook said.

“It’s a whole new team, a whole new environment, but everyone’s done their job and done well,” Cook said. “This might be our best season yet.”