Simply put, Hereford boys lacrosse had the better of it against visiting Mt. Hebron on Wednesday in every facet of play.
The Bulls proved that quickly. Junior goalie Luke Barnett made stops on the visitors’ first four possessions, while senior attackman JP Revitte got his productive outing going with a goal and an assist.
Barnett finished with 12 saves, Revitte had four goals and three assists and dominant work from faceoff specialist Cole Wallner all contributed to Hereford’s sturdy 9-4 win over the No. 14 Vikings in nonconference play.
Hereford improved to 6-1, while Mt. Hebron, still getting several key players back to full strength from injury, fell to 4-6.
The Bulls dominated the first half with Revitte in on every goal they scored in building a 5-1 halftime advantage. Wallner set the tone for the second half with an opening faceoff win and goal eight seconds into the third quarter.
“This is huge for us,” Revitte said. “Mt. Hebron is a big school, big powerhouse with a lot of history. But our motto is to stay composed, play our game, because it’s going to be four quarters of action and we knew we had to give it our all. We were ready to go on the gas from the get-go. So we’ll see if this can give us some good energy moving forward.”
After reaching the Class 3A state title game the past two seasons, the Vikings haven’t hit their stride with lingering injuries and a challenging schedule putting them under the .500 mark. The Bulls showed no sympathy Wednesday.
Earning a man-advantage early, they moved the ball swiftly before Revitte found Brady Manankil for a 1-0 lead a little over three minutes into play. Revitte made it 2-0 less than a minute later. At the other end, Barnett kept the Vikings’ attack frustrated with save after save.
“The start, to get the team going with those early saves and to get hot and push the offense down on transition so was big,” Barnett said.
Hereford coach Kyle Leppert was pleased to see how well the offense communicated, moved the ball and read the Vikings’ defense. It all starts with Revitte.
“He’s moving well off the ball,” Leppert said. “He’s dictating matchups and controlling things by where he gets the ball and as soon as the ball is out of his stick, he’s moving on to the next thing to get in good position.”
Keegan Ryan, Will Kettering, Joey DiTomasso and Maverick Smith scored goals for Mt. Hebron, while goalie Luca LeClaire made six saves. The Vikings have a week before their next game and coach Mike McCarthy hopes they can get back to being fully healthy. Ryan played on a limited basis Wednesday and fellow standout Cooper Stockenberg missed the game but is expected back next week.
McCarthy was quick to credit Hereford’s tone-setting first half as the difference Wednesday and hopes to see the Vikings make strides to set up another extended playoff push.
“That’s our goal. We got a week off coming up and I think that will help get some continuity with guys getting back healthy,” he said.
Both teams will return to their respective league play next week. Hereford travels to No. 15 Towson at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday and Mt. Hebron next visits Reservoir at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Mt. Hebron — 0 1 1 2 — 4
Hereford — 2 3 3 1 — 9
Goals: MH — Ryan, Kettering, DiTomasso, Smith; H — Revitte 4, Kittner, J. Bush, McGee, Wallner. Assists: MH — Tangires; H — Revitte 3, Goetz. Saves: MH — LeClaire 6; H — Barnett 12
