Facing head-to-head, two boys stand ready for the screech of the referee’s whistle. Patiently, like a lion with their prey, they stare at a small white ball in front of them. For any average person, this ball has no significance outside of a potential pass time for fun, but for these two boys standing in the center of HHS’s Red Raider Stadium on April 18th, that ball could mean winning or losing the state championship. After a few long seconds in a surreal quiet, the whistle finally bursts the bubble of tension and the two boys launch at the ball with all their might and the game begins.

Yesterday after a long fought game, Huntley’s varsity boys lacrosse team won 8-6 against Barrington. Starting the season rough after losing their first tournament game and then losing two more in the following weeks, coach Dominic Saccomanno used 20 years of lacrosse coaching experience to find the team’s flaws and break them in for this game.

“We had some tough competition at the beginning of the season,” Saccomanno said. “But the silver lining there is that our guys got tested and put in positions to get better.” 

The first two quarters of the game went slow for both teams. Possession switched back and forth between players with goals showing up occasionally. At the end of the first quarter, the game was tied 3-3 with goals spread all over that period. Rather than picking the pace up, HHS seemed to lay off the aggressive and overall looked undetermined. Because of this, Barrington had brought the score to 3-5 and were now seemingly on track to win. 

“We started off really slow in the first half,” midfielder Cole Copersmet said. “We were lacking in some areas that were really costing us.” 

Huntley was evidently not playing to their best ability and Saccomanno could see it better than anyone. While spectators got to view a scrimmage between Huntley’s youth lacrosse team, he did not waste his opportunity to reinvigorate his team. Reminding them of who they are and how to learn from their previous loses, Huntley was back in it to win it.

“We just weren’t playing good as a team at first, but once we got to the half, we calmed down and realized what we were doing wrong,” takeaway Tyler Hall said. “Afterwards I think we worked really well together to fix those errors and win.”

The effect of halftime was clear in the following two quarters. Huntley tied up the game in the third quarter by bringing it up to 5-5 and were visibly playing far better than before. The trend continued even in the fourth quarter where Huntley scored 3 more points and goalie Colin McDougall only let one in with only 18 seconds remaining. 

Even with a rough start, Huntley pulled through again, setting their current record for the season at 6-3. Boys varsity lacrosse plays their next home game on Saturday, April 22 to continue their season.

“Now we are getting back into the competitions and are ready to continue trying to win until playoff time,” Saccomanno said.