PETOSKEY — You’re not going to win many games on the lacrosse field if you can’t find the back of the net.
If there’s one thing the Petoskey lacrosse team has proved capable of, it’s just that. Well, actually, both this season. The Northmen know how to score and score a lot, which has led to their 14-2 record.
On Friday at Northmen Stadium in Petoskey, the winning continued with a Division 1 regional victory over Lansing Catholic in an 18-9 final.
The 18 goals actually came as a season-high for the Northmen – aided by a season-high nine goals from junior Charlie Thomas.
“I wanted our seniors to have the opportunity to play as long as they can and the boys have really worked for it,” Thomas said afterward Friday.
While Thomas has had some big games this season, including multiple games of five or more goals, Friday night came as his biggest indeed.
“My attackers were just doing all the work for me,” he said. “They were finding me through the lanes, so it was a really great team effort.
“I’m just motivated. I want us to have a long season. It’s a really fun sport to play.”
The win certainly helps Petoskey have a longer season, as they now advance within the regional bracket to meet Traverse City in Grand Ledge on Thursday, May 23.
It’s of course a team they know well, with TC taking a 14-6 victory the previous time out.
With five straight wins since that loss – all coming with 11 or more goals – there’s reason for optimism for the Northmen.
It’s not just Thomas doing all the scoring, either. Senior Brandon Klingelsmith, who owns a six-goal game already this season, has been a force right along with Thomas.
He’s one of those seniors Thomas talked about that’s excited about keeping the career alive and goals set for the season.
“We’ve worked hard,” Klingelsmith said. “We set a high goal at the start of the season and we’ve met it and now we’re going above and beyond what we set. This one’s over, so it’s on to the next one and we’ll wok on TC and give it our all next Thursday.”
Between Thomas and Klingelsmith, a potent one-two punch has been formed on the offensive end for PHS. They’ve helped lead to 11 games of double digit goals on the board and seven of 13 or more.
“We’ve played since middle school together,” Klingelsmith said. ‘In the summer, he’d send me a text and we’d meet at the field and play. We hangout outside of lacrosse as well, so we’re pretty tight in general, then we just click on the field.”
On Friday night, Thomas had the nine goals and three assists, Will Mastin scored four and assisted on four and Klingelsmith added two goals and three assists. Nick Anderson, Jackson Radar and Alex Cannon also added a goal each.
Austin Klingelsmith, who is having a fantastic season in net as well, finished with eight saves. Most of the scoring for Lansing came with Klingelsmith out of net in the fourth and PHS JV players in.
With only Thursday guaranteed for Petoskey ahead, Thomas has faith that a run can be put together, though he also knows there’s pieces to be cleaned up first.
“We just need to make sure we have good ball movement and then keep the ball on our sticks,” he said. “We’ve been dropping some passes. I think we can take this far, we just have to put all the pieces together.”
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
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