The 2021 GHSA lacrosse season ended Saturday with four state champions crowned from three different schools — Lambert’s boys and Milton’s girls won Class 6A-7A, and Blessed Trinity swept 1A-5A.
For a recap of Championship Saturday, go here.
Below is a brief recap for each champion.
6A-7A Boys
The Longhorns won their fifth title since 2011, which averages out to a state championship every other season. This year, junior attacker Danny Kesselring led the way, and they coasted to a 21-1 record, including 8-0 in Area 6. Their lone loss was 12-9 to the 1A-5A champion, Blessed Trinity, which came in their second game of the season. However, they closed on a 20-game win streak and won convincingly, 17-9, in the title game, with Kesselring’s two early goals setting the pace.
6A-7A Girls
The Lady Eagles had a dominant season, even by their standards. For just the second time in program history, they went undefeated, finishing 21-0, 6-0 in Area 2, closing with a 13-8 win over West Forsyth in the title game. The only other time they finished undefeated was 2005 — the first year the GHSA began recognizing state champions — when they went 15-0. Milton may have to construct a new building to house the growing number of trophies the Lady Eagles bring home, with this year’s being the 15th overall and fifth in a row.
1A-5A Boys and Girls
Why divide this classification into two when one school — Blessed Trinity — took home all the hardware? And the private Catholic school in Roswell has done this before — recently, in fact — when they swept the lacrosse championships in 2018.
The only other schools to accomplish a sweep are Westminster in 2010 and 2013, and Milton in 2010.
On the boys’ side, the Titans completed their quest for perfection, finishing 25-0, 7-0 in Area 5 and beating Pace Academy 12-8 in the title game. The Titans’ schedule was not padded, either. In the regular season, they handed 6A-7A champions Lambert its only loss of the season, and played a total of 10 teams that finished the regular season ranked. Their closest calls came by the score of 10-9 twice — first to unranked Milton on March 24, then to No. 2 Westminster in the semifinals.
On the girls’ side, the Lady Titans went 15-2, 5-0 in Area 5 and doubled the score of their championship opponent, Starr’s Mill, with a 12-6 win. What’s scary about the Lady Titans — at least for the competition — is how they’re built to win for years to come. Their leading scorer, Clark Hamilton, who scored 40 goals, is only a freshman and, of their nine double-digit scorers for the year, none were seniors.
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This concludes my high school sports coverage of the 2020-21 school year, which also included Class 2A football and basketball in addition to all classifications of lacrosse during spring. It was an unusual year with circumstances I hope to never again encounter. Overall, it was great to see student-athletes compete, albeit with significant restrictions — but that’s more than some states allowed.
We’ll see you next year and, in the meantime, be on the look out for the AJC’s annual release of its Spring athletes of the year, which will include a lacrosse player on both the boys and girls sides.
Have a great summer and see you in a few months when football season is on the horizon.
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