By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Clarkston Boys Varsity Lacrosse opened the season on a 3-game winning streak.
The Wolves dominated the second half in their home opener against Cranbrook for the 10-5 win, April 4.
“It was good to have a win,” said Brian Kaminskas, head coach. “We knew it was going to be sloppy and we would make some mistakes. It’s day one. They never stopped. They played through their mistakes. They kept running. They kept doing exactly what we asked them to do. As we got through this first game with hiccups and jitters, they started to show what they could do.”
The game was tied 2-2 at the end of the first half.
Cranbrook opened the third quarter breaking the tie within the first minute, 3-2.
Ellis York tied the game two minutes later off his shot on the goal. Within the next five minutes the Wolves added three more goals with two more from York and one from Ryan Phyle.
“York had a great second half,” said Kaminskas.
Zaiden Green widened the gap to 7-3 in the first 26 seconds of the final quarter with an assist from Gavin Pate.
“We didn’t change a whole lot in the second half,” said Kaminskas. “We just talked them through some of the mistakes, some of the speed changes from practice to game. We have a lot of new bodies out there. Some guys who have never played on varsity before. Just playing through all that.”
Cranbrook quickly added their fourth goal less than 20 seconds later.

The Wolves finished the night holding on to the lead with three more goals with two from Green and one from York. Cray had two assists and Lucas Diton had one assist in the fourth quarter.
“Cranbrook is a good program,” said Kaminskas. “I am happy with the performance we gave against them. They will be in the semifinals for sure Anytime you can beat Cranbrook it’s a good night. Our guys did their job. They did well. It’s nice to have them off the books and a ‘W’ in the column.”
He added Danny Redmond had a great night in the goal.
The Wolves defeated Stoney Creek on Thursday, 14-4.
Stoney Creek opened the night with the first goal. Tyler Cray tied the score with nine minutes remaining in the first quarter. Parker Royse scored the next two goals, each after the Cougars had scored to grab the lead. Nicholas Ferman closed the quarter to grab a 4-3 lead for Clarkston.
The Wolves doubled their score in the second quarter to close the half, 8-4.
During the second half York had two goals. Pate, Green, Luke Darnell and Lucas Diton had one goal each.
Clarkston won their home game against Okemos on Saturday, 10-8.
Okemos grabbed the lead with the first two goals of the game.
Green closed the lead by one, scoring the first goal for the Wolves with 4:38 left in the first quarter with an assist from Blake Berry.
Fifteen seconds later, Phyle tied the game with an assist from Green.
Okemos grabbed the lead scoring another goal and Darnell tied up the game, 3-3, with 2:44 left in the quarter. York broke the tie with less than 90 seconds to go in the quarter.
The Wolves scored two goals in the second quarter, both from Pate sending them to half time with a 6-4 lead.
Green, Diton and York scored in the third quarter to help Clarkston hold a 9-7 lead.
Ferman scored off a pass from Phyle for the final goal for the Wolves 14 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Clarkston opened the week against Dakota on Tuesday.
They host Birmingham Consolidated on Thursday at The Pond, next to the tennis courts. JV plays at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.
They head to Grandville on Saturday.
The Wolves host Rochester Adams, Tuesday, April 18. JV plays at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.

  Clarkston Boys Varsity Lacrosse, Lacrosse