If FHC’s boys varsity lacrosse team needed any motivation to stay undefeated against the state-renowned Hartland Eagles on Saturday, all it had to do was turn back the tape from a year ago. 

Back in April of 2021, Hartland ended the Rangers’ undefeated bid with a steal on the road. This year, it was FHC’s turn to come away with a thriller. 

Boomed by a 5-0 third quarter, the boys played their best lacrosse down the stretch to secure an epic 10-8 win after coming out flat to start the day. 

“We just seemed flustered in the first half for some reason,” head coach Andy Shira said. “We had some unforced turnovers, the transition game wasn’t there for us, and we struggled to get face-offs.”

While FHC wasn’t executing the firepower to keep up, junior Crandall Quinn had a coming-out party. The UofM commit racked up a whopping 20 saves on the afternoon and kept his squad afloat in the opening 24 minutes. 

Just three goals at halftime were certainly not what coach Shira and his Rangers were looking for. Still, a 5-3 deficit showed that this was still anybody’s game. 

“At halftime, we just talked about relaxing a little bit. We have one of the best offenses in the state and two goals are nothing,” coach Shira said. “We just needed to make sure to take the right shots and not rush things.”

A major turning point in the second half was when sophomore FOGO Luke Wedder began to have success on face-offs. His teammates capitalized and the Rangers soon had a third-quarter lead. They added on two more to end the frame with an 8-5 advantage. 

FHC had a simple 12 remaining minutes to close it out, which is much easier said than done when going up against the reigning recipient of Michigan’s Mr. Lacrosse. 

Senior John Foster had done an incredible job on Hartland attackman Bo Lockwood. But, as All-Americans tend to do, Lockwood did his best to rally his Eagles back in it. 

After the score became deadlocked at 8, FHC’s offense tacked on two clutch, late goals to ride high out of Hartland with a 10-8 victory. 

John Tomsheck and Jonah McConnell led all Ranger scorers with four and three goals, respectively. Juniors Magnus Salmon, Graham Bennett, and Collin Webb also found the scoring column on Saturday. 

The competition does not slow down even a bit for FHC ahead of its next matchup. On Tuesday, May 3, the Rangers host East Grand Rapids—the defending state champs and arch-rival— at 7:15 PM in a marquee matchup.

“We’re really proud of the kids for how they fought back, stayed together as a team, and found a way to win late in the game,” coach Shira concluded. “It was impressive to see how composed our guys stayed, which will be really beneficial as we get closer and closer to the playoffs.”