After taking a pair of tough road losses to quality opponents last week, the boys’ lacrosse team at Meridian High School returned home to take on Kettle Run. This would be the final home game of their regular season, meaning six Mustang seniors would be honored along with their families prior to the contest. It was an overcast night in Falls Church with a perpetual drizzle in the air, but no matter – the boys were ready for action.
Kettle Run opened the scoring less than two minutes in, but Jack Moore answered for the Mustangs only moments later, and Grady Jinks gave Meridian its first lead at just past midway into the first period. The visitors would tie it at 2-2 before Granger Davig gave the Mustangs a 3-2 advantage after a quarter, and though the second frame didn’t see any goals for its first several minutes, Meridian began to put some distance on the scoreboard just before halftime. After Kettle Run made it 4-3 with under four minutes remaining, Davig and Xavier Kuo both tallied to make it 6-3 at the break.
Then, while the moisture in the air remained mild, the floodgates were opened on the field in the third quarter. Meridian scored six more times unanswered in the period before Kettle Run got two back late, and then Hayden Kusic put the cap on a dominant frame by finding the back of the net with only two seconds left. The Mustangs would only extend their lead in the fourth, and five goals later, it was a final tally of 18-5.
Gaskins, Jinks, and Davig all scored four times for Meridian, while Moore and Alex Way each scored twice. Five of the six Mustang seniors found the back of the net at least once, including Dominic Zacharias-Martin, who received a loud ovation when he got on the board late in the fourth quarter. Next up, Meridian (9-4) will close out its regular season on Thursday at Dominion.
