BOYS LACROSSE: Clarkston advances to Elite Eight, gains date with No. 1 Brother Rice

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — With each passing game, Clarkston gains more confidence. Now, the Wolves will need a huge boost in their next daunting task.

Clarkston rolled past Brighton 10-6 Tuesday’s night at Bloomfield Hills Andover in a Division 1 boys lacrosse regional semifinal to advance to the regional finals. There awaits defending state champion Birmingham Brother Rice with the regional title on the line at 7 p.m. Friday at Andover.

Clarkston, which has rewrote the school record books, is making its first appearance in a regional final and first ever postseason date with Birmingham Brother Rice. The Wolves have won 16 straight games since dropping a 12-6 decision to Troy Athens in early April.

Clarkston is currently 18-1-0 on the year.

“You can’t ask for much more than that,” said Clarkston coach Brian Kaminskas, whose team’s previous highest win total was 11. “As we improve, it’s a nice measuring stick to be able to play a team like Brother Rice. To be good, you have to play the good teams. That’s what we’re seeing in the tournament.”

Not looking past Brighton (14-4-0), a team that came into Tuesday’s contest with only three losses, the Wolves jumped all over the 14^th-ranked Bulldogs. Clarkston built an 8- lead at the half and never allowed Brighton to close the deficit down to fewer than four goals.

“I thought we played really well,” said Kaminskas. “We did the things we have been doing all season.”

Brother Rice has won all six of the MHSAA D-1 state titles and several others in the old coaches association state tournament.

Kevin Horton scored four goals to pace the attack for the Wolves (18-1-0), who led 8-2 at the half.

Kevin O’Grady added two goals and two assists, Jordan Kincaid had two goals and Alexender Dziewit chipped in with two assists in the victory for Clarkston, which held a 31-23 shots advantage in the contest.

Garrett Brady scored three goals with an assist for Brighton (14-4-0).

Matt Goebel made nine saves in the win for fourth-ranked Clarkston.

“Matt has been just really solid in goal for us all year,” said Kaminskas. “He’s the type of guy that you really want back three.”

Goebel has a solid defensive backfield in front of him — a group of unsung heroes that have helped the Wolves charter some new territory. Matt Burtnett, Ethan Frick, Evan Kniesel and Nick Demattia.

Burtnett and Goebel are two of the team’s five seniors.

“We have four poles back there that are a cohesive (unit),” praised Kaminskas.”We are pretty well balanced defensively, which is a huge part of our success. Having that group with a strong goalie has really helped us get to where we are now.”

Five of the eight remaining teams are from Oakland County and two are from the OAA Red Division. Troy Athens, champions of the OAA-Red and the only team that defeated Clarkston this season, takes on Ann Arbor Pioneer, Novi-Detroit Catholic Central takes on city rival Novi and Holt will face Rockford.

Clarkston has the toughest draw facing Brother Rice (14-4-0), which traditionally plays some stiff out-of-state competition each spring to go along with a rugged Catholic High School League schedule.

Brother Rice is young but they are very talented. They are very well-balanced offensively,” offered Kaminskas. “We will have to be at our best to have a shot of beating them. We have been working on a few things the past few weeks that we are going to bring out of the hat.”

Category: Clarkston, High School, Prep Wraps