Marietta, GA- Lambert (21-0) completed the school's second perfect season and captured its second state crown (2012) with a 6-3 victory over host Lassiter (18-3) in the boys Class AAAAAA championship.
The Longhorns established their defensive dominance early against Lassiter after having to rally past Etowah in the semifinals. Lambert held Etowah to just one goal in the second half after overcoming a 6-4 halftime deficit for its 10-7 win.
“The semis helped us out a lot,” said Lambert head coach Josh Sagel. “That was the first time we were down all season at the half. We learned a lot about ourselves and realized that we can’t take any time off. Not that we took Etowah likely, it’s just sometimes you get in a win streak and it’s tough to keep the pedal to the metal.”
Lambert had the pedal to the metal from the opening faceoff and Hayden Barnes found the back of the net just 46 seconds into the game to give the Longhorns their first lead of the game. Grant Plauger assisted Hunter Clem to make it a 2-0 game and Matt O’Rourk scored before Lassiter could make it 3-1 at the end of the first.
The defense tightened up in the second quarter until O’Rourk scored the period’s only goal and put Lambert up 4-1 at the half.
“Our defense is a cohesive unit on and off the field,” explained Sagel. “They hang out with each other, they eat lunch together, they do pretty much everything together. That bond is tough to break.”
Lambert also held Lassiter scoreless in the third quarter and Conrad McEvoy scored another Longhorn goal to build the lead to 5-1.
Walker Wing assisted O’Rourk for the hat-trick in the fourth quarter to make it 6-1 before Lassiter added a pair of late goals during a desperate blitz of aggressive offense. The six goals were the fewest scored in a game by Lambert all season, but the Longhorns gave up just 2.89 goals per game in the final nine games of their perfect season.
“These things don’t happen often and we’re very blessed to have had two of those in our history,” said Sagel on the perfect season. “Do we expect that every year? Heck no. Not with Lassiter and all of Region 2. There are so many tough teams."
