Boys Lacrosse: Strath Haven’s season of firsts one to build on

MIDDLETOWN >> Dazed and spent, Noah Frantz could scarcely find the words when Strath Haven coach Jef Hewlings approached him Tuesday night. As Frantz sat dejectedly on the bench at Penncrest, staring blankly out on the field where his Panthers had surrendered an 8-5 decision to Springfield in the PIAA semifinals, Hewlings had to pass along a message to his long-stick midfielder. What Frantz and the five other seniors had contributed to the Panthers, Hewlings told him, would not die on the field Tuesday. It would extend long after those players had matriculated from Haven.

That may have seemed hollow consolation after a 5-3 lead 12 seconds into the second half evaporated as Springfield rattled off five straight goals to book a spot in Saturday’s state final against La Salle. But the laundry list of firsts racked up by the Panthers (19-7) will endure. They clinched a share of the Central League title for the first time in program history. They earned the program’s first berth in the state tournament since the PIAA assumed control of the sport in 2008.

Or, as Frantz eloquently put it:

“It’s pretty remarkable how far we’ve come from my freshman year being the 28th or 27th seed in districts to (this year) going in and playing the 27th seed,” he said. “I think the program has never won a second playoff game after the first, and we won five to where we’ve gotten, being a state semifinalist.”

This senior class, Hewlings acknowledged, has bequeathed perennial expectations to the next generations, especially when the lacrosse field splits to two classes next year, with both the Panthers and Cougars landing in the small-school grouping.

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