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Back to Liberty: Western boys lacrosse earns state final berth

Photo by Bart Isley

There’s a certain magic to the idea of a hot keeper. Whether it’s in playoff hockey or lacrosse, the keeper who’s seeing the ball better than usual at the right time of year is a pretty coveted asset.

 

But it isn’t something you can plan for, it just has to happen and when it does like it has for Western Albemarle boys lacrosse senior keeper Jackson Sours during the Warriors’ postseason run that’ll now head to the state championship game after a 12-5 victory over Freedom, it changes the entire dynamic for the team.

 

“Offensively it lets us know that even if we don’t get it we have back up on the defensive side and we can take more risks,” said Western senior Oliver Herndon. “Defensively, it helps us know that we can play more aggressively when we have him back there.”

 

Sours stuffed 22 shots by Freedom, giving the Western offense and defense all the backup it needed.

 

“We owe pretty much this whole game to Jackson,” Herndon said. “He bailed us out several times when our defense got beat. We owe everything to him pretty much.”

 

Sours’ performance made Western’s offensive effort led by Carter Elliot’s three goals and two assists hold up and vault the Warriors into the state final where they’ll take on Dominion. Sours came out of the gate stopping everything, with six first quarter saves and while Freedom got a lift out of a lightning delay in the second quarter, the Warriors’ senior keeper got locked back in pretty quickly.

 

“(During the delay) I went into the gym and sat by myself because I didn’t want to break the mindset,” Sours said. “When I got back in here it was easy to fall back in, it’s playing lacrosse, it’s the game I love.”

 

Freedom actually outshot the Warriors by a 45-41 margin, but Western was much more efficient, with Herndon, Luke Reilly and James Buetow each scoring twice. The Warriors seemed to do a solid job, as they have the entire postseason, of taking advantage when the opposition tries to focus on clamping off Herndon and Elliot.

 

“At halftime we made the adjustment that with Carter and Oliver drawing so much attention that as soon as the slide comes they need to move the ball through X and find the ball on the backside,” said Western coach Alex Whitten. “If that frees up Luke or John Carr (Haden) or Jimmy Buetow, I’ll take a 12-5 win against these guys.”

 

Western jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the delay, and Freedom then reeled off three straight to close the second quarter. But the Warriors again caught fire in the third, scoring four goals to take complete control.

 

It helped that Sours continued to stop the vast majority of what Freedom threw at him.

 

“He found the ball today — not happy about not giving up that many shots — but he was tremendous today,” Whitten said. “Even against Hanover (in the region final) he let in 18, but he stopped 14 which were big saves. He’s playing tremendous and he’s such a great kid you’re just happy to see him have success.”

 

The Warriors’ large senior class also got to celebrate a victory on their home field for the final time, a place that’s become pretty special for a lot of them who also play football in the same spot. Senior Matt Mullin called that group to midfield to celebrate that moment just minutes after the final whistle blew.

 

“We got the big win that was awesome, but I’m definitely going to miss it,” Herndon said. “It was kind of crazy to know that was my last game.”

 

Their final game will come in Lynchburg though where they’ll take on Dominion in the championship game.

 

“We’ve earned the right to compete for a state championship and that’s why you play this game,” Whitten said.

 

Saturday at 2 p.m. at Liberty for the second year in a row, they’ll exercise that right.

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