BY WENDI REARDON
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Wolves dominated the third quarter against Northville on Saturday to win a close game, 13-12.
“We talked at half-time about setting up, doing what we do the way we do it, and bringing the fight back,” said Clarkston Boys Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach Brian Kaminskas. “They did it. It was a great third quarter.”
Northville opened the second half with their seventh goal, putting their lead two ahead of Clarkston.
Jake Hodges narrowed the lead by one when he scored with 8:49 left in the third quarter. Thirteen seconds later Justin Dickerson tied the score.
Ian Phillips was next to score for the Wolves with a quick shot on the net with an assist from Nick Bowman, putting the score at 8-7 with 7:57 remaining.
The fire from the Wolves continued with two goals from Bowman. One goal each from Tommy Atchison, Aiden Nolan and Keaton Mitchell to close the quarter 12-8.
“Keaton had a heck of a game especially in the third quarter,” Kaminskas said. “He really took it on, did a lot of things, and the short handed goal he had was a really nice one.”
Mitchell scored one more goal before Northville closed in on the score with four goals. They attempted to tie with 20 seconds remaining and were blocked by Clarkston goalie David Taylor.
The Wolves opened the game with a 2-0 lead before Northville scored and closed in on the score. With three minutes remaining in the first half they scored two goals to take the lead.
“It was mistake ridden,” Kaminskas said about the game. “We didn’t play our best game. We continued to put ourselves into the penalty box and they capitalized on almost every single penalty. If we stop making mistakes and giving opportunities to the other team we are going to win a lot of games. But, if we keep playing like that it is going to be a long season.
The Wolves also defeated Troy last Thursday, 14-1. Mitchell led with four goals. Phillips, Dickerson and Matthew Williamson had three goals each. Bowman scored one goal and had seven assists.
“It was exactly the way we want to play all year,” Kaminskas said. “They took eight shots in three and a half quarters. We were smothering on defense and almost no mistakes on offense. It was exactly how we want to play. It was a great team game.”
The boys also beat St. Andrew’s College on Sunday in overtime with the winning goal by Phillips from Mitchell, 12-11.
The boys opened the week against Utica Eisenhower. They head to Notre Dame Prep on Thursday, 6:30 p.m. and host Lake Orion on Saturday, 7 p.m.
“It is going to be interesting,” said Kamainskas, adding Notre Dame Prep and Lake Orion are undefeated. “It will be a challenging week. We are playing three challenging teams who would like nothing else but to beat us.”

  Boys Lacrosse, Clarkston High School, Northville