Boys Lacrosse: Winds of change blow lacrosse field’s way again

NEWTOWN SQUARE >> There’s a glint in Tommy Hannum’s eye when he travels back in time Wednesday.

Near enough to 20 years on, he can recall classic tilts, overtime games, names of stars and grudge matches with ease. Hannum is no rocking-chair-type old-timer, having just run his Marple Newtown team through a brief but intensive practice session. But there’s a wistfulness that sweeps over him.

“I really loved the EPSLA days,” Hannum said.

From players and coaches — and players who’ve become coaches, and coaches who’ve become parents — the same message reverberates. There was something special about those days in the 1990s and early 2000s, when lacrosse’s hotbed crowned an absolute champion before the sport fell under the PIAA dominion in 2008. Catholic League or Inter-Ac or Central, all teams went into the same crucible of a tournament under the banner of the Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association and from it was forged a champion that for a year could thump its chest and say unequivocally, ‘we are the best.’

That nostalgia hasn’t faded, even as the changing tide of the PIAA marches. And while the fondness didn’t abate in the PIAA era, another massive sea change will uproot the new status quo.

“I’m an old-school guy,” Hewlings said. “I liked everybody being in a big pot together. There was no public and private, and I like that.”

Saturday’s District One quarterfinals quadruple-header at Harriton marks an end: Of the district’s single-class system, of the closest approximation of that old tournament, of the crowning of the most legitimate champion.

“That’s what I said six years ago,” Strath Haven lacrosse coach Jef Hewlings said.

In service of almighty football, next year will see the proliferation of state champions in every sport. Lacrosse isn’t immune, spawning Class AAA and AA victors in the district and state. The move solves a problem that doesn’t exist in lacrosse: District One is saturated with talent, maybe 15 of the best 20 teams in the state. Yet geographical equity bottlenecks just five teams to states, and on the quest for a PIAA title, District One teams often get some of their easiest games of the season at what should be the toughest juncture.

Instantly equilibrating talent across the state isn’t feasible and a necessary consequence of a growing sport, which has been undeniably quickened by the PIAA’s sanctioning of the sport to extend beyond the long-held southeastern enclave. The PIAA crown is obviously precious under the current system, but many coaches view the District One Tournament as the more daunting trophy to win.

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Springfield boys lacrosse coach Tom Lemieux speaks to his players before the District One second round win over Haverford Thursday. Lemieux and the reigning district champs will find themselves in the small-school, Class AA next year when the PIAA splits into two classifications. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)