By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Clarkston Boys Varsity Lacrosse set the pace in their home opener with three goals in the first minute in their 20-4 win over Oxford, April 3.
Lucas Diton scored the first goal in the first ten seconds with an assist from Nick Ferman.
Ferman scored his own goal with 11:27 left in the first quarter and Parker Royce made the third goal 11 seconds later.
“It’s a nice way to start the season and get a little momentum coming off of spring break and into the April grind,” said Brian Kaminskas, head coach. “The guys we are counting on are stepping up early and getting things done which is nice. We lost a lot of seniors in key positions. There are a lot of shoes to fill. We have talked to the boys a lot and said there is going to be a rebuilding process – it’s going to take time. So far, so good.”
The Wolves finished the first quarter with a 12-0 lead with four more goals from Diton and a hat trick from Luke Darnell.
Both teams scored two goals in the second quarter with Clarkston’s Denny Wandrie and Kendall Mackouen scoring one each.
Oxford’s Christopher Pullman scored with 3:14 remaining in the first half and Owen Pavlock added one more with 22.2 seconds left, putting the scored 14-2.
Diton finished the night with five goals and four assists.
“He had a nice game,” said Kaminskas. “He is doing extremely well.”
Ellis York had four goals and one assist.Darnell scored three goals and had one assist. Denny Wandrei had three goals and one assist. Ferman had two goals and four assists. Mackouen, Parker Royce and Joe Rottenberk each scored one goal.Robert Haracic had nine saves for the night.
“Ellis really looks good from the offensive end,” said Kaminskas. “From the defensive end, Sean Alnaraie really stepped up and played well.”
The Wolves followed it up the next night with a 17-5 win over Okemos.
“They are young,” said Kaminskas.
Ferman and York led the team, each with five goals. Ferman had one assist. Makouen had two goals and one assist. Wandrie had two goals. Darnell had one goal and six assists. Royce and Tyler Pilarski each had one goal. Diton and Rottenberk each had two assists. Charlie Formaro and Brendan Weich each had one assist. Haracic had six saves.
Kaminskas added Wandrie was a standout in both games.
“He is really coming into his own as a player. He is a junior, and he is really working at communicating like a senior,” he said.
The Wolves (2-0) opened the week against DeWitt on Tuesday. They head to Canada to play St. Michael’s College on Friday and Upper Canada College on Saturday.
“It’s our traditional games with Canada,” said Kaminskas. “St. Mike’s routinely pump kids into the top levels of the Division 1 world in college. They are always a challenge, and it’s a good and fun game. Upper Canada is sort of the same thing. It is actually of the birthplace of lacrosse in Canada. The first organized game was played on their campus. They are friendly games. They are extremely high level and difficult. It will be fun.”
He added it’s good challenge for the players.
“It’s always good to have the challenges early,” Kaminskas said. “And, we have to play international rules which are extremely different and extremely fast compared to the way we play. It’s just a different look and there is nothing at risk. It doesn’t hurt us from a state seeding and it doesn’t help us either.”

  Boys Lacrosse, Clarkston Athletics