Two sign on to play Div. 1 lacrosse
From the Wicked Local Walpole website:
While the Walpole High football team was en route to the Super Bowl, the other Rebel team that played in a state title game in the last year was also making news.
Both Michael Connors and Davis Butts got the next phase of their lacrosse careers off to a promising start last month when each joined Div. 1 college programs.
While each got into his top choice, the only thing ironic about Connors accepting an invitation to the University of Vermont and Butts Loyola College is that Butts was the one once a champion skier.
Both Rebels are accomplished players who have excelled in high school and will continue to do so in college. Now they know where.
The colleges are confident they will deliver and so is Rebel mentor Jason Andalo, who has them back for one more crack at the state title.
“I’m excited for both guys,” offers Andalo. “They got an opportunity to play in college and to continue doing what they love doing. We’ve got more guys who are going to play in college too; they just don’t where yet.”
Among the Bay State Conference champions narrowing their choices are Leo Ajemian, taking a hard, long look at Springfield and Michael White, still on visits this winter. Like his teammates, White is undoubtedly looking forward to getting the process out of the way before the Rebels resume their quest for the school’s first-ever state title.
This year will be more challenging than last just because of the increasingly tough schedule, which includes Division 3 state champion Scituate, which rolled over Cohasset in the title game, 16-5, and Dover-Sherborn, which Scituate’s Sailors barely got by 9-8 in the previous game. The gem in the schedule however, is a showdown with Div. 1 power St. John’s Prep, ranked second just ahead of the Rebels, after an 18-3 campaign.
At least one challenge is out of the way for Butts and Connors.
But even still, waiting on a school probably would not have affected the pair much. Both are used to challenges as they pursue their goals.
Butts, an All-American middy, has a knack for getting nicked up on the field whether in soccer, where he’s also a league all-star or lacrosse where he also knows no fear when either chasing down a loose ball or taking the ball down the throat of an opposing defense.
While not scoring in outrageous spurts through his three varsity years, Butts is uncannily consistent, which has allowed him to steadily creep up on explosive teammates and position himself to take over the Walpole High all-time scoring record sometime this spring. He also enters this year with 127 goals.
“Greg Nash has it now but when all is said and done, Davis has a chance to be the guy at the top,” declares Andalo. “Davis was much stronger last year than when he was a sophomore, and he grew into his role. We didn’t go 20-1 because he didn’t get better.”
Connors’ challenges are also physical, but not his own. His mom has been courageously battling illness the last couple of years and the challenges the family has faced has made him even tougher and more mature than the roles he plays on the football team as a place-kicking holder or defensive back.
Connors is never the biggest lacrosse defenseman on the field but pound for pound is often the toughest. A major reason why the team only allowed 86 goals in 22 games is that Connors usually got to the loose ground balls first.
In fact he led the team the last two years and has been among the league leaders, earning him an all-star nod in 2008.
“The drawback of playing defense,” says Andalo, “is that in the end the game is driven by stats and ground balls are not glamorous.”
But if Connors was in it for the glamor, he wouldn’t be holding the ball for the place kicker either. His game is do what it takes to win.
“I’ve always played defense,” says Connors, whose dad, Brian, is Andalo’s assistant coach. “I’m a defensive-minded person. I only play defense in football and in basketball when I played that. I always wanted to use one of the bigger sticks in youth lacrosse (employed by long-stick middies) and I love shutting them down.”
One problem Butts had a couple of years back was what sport he wished to pursue. A skier who trained out of Vermont in junior high, he turned into a top player both in soccer and lacrosse.
“Playing one sport is not as useful as playing more than one sport,” explains Butts. “The biggest problem is that you can get pressure in lacrosse when you’re successful in other sports, but it’s also an expectation that makes it more challenging.
“You can gain success from success in other sports. Like in soccer, I’ve done the most conditioning I’ve ever done in any sport, but that’s an advantage if you’re better conditioned than the other team. If you’re on a better conditioned team in soccer you can still potentially win.”
Connors agrees with the conditioning philosophy.
“We get pretty good conditioning in football,” offers Connors. “Between gut camp and every Monday a conditioning practice, I think we were the best conditioned team in every game we played.”
Connors and Butts are two more examples of what a successful program can bring. Since 2002, when trendsetting twins Sean and Nick Crowley went to Div. 1 Manhattanville, the Rebels have had over 20 players play post-high school, including four at Div. 1. They include Matt Shakespeare (Brown) where he is expected to make an impact this year for the defending Ivy League champs, and Mike Glennon (Hartford).
The Walpole legacy also gets leadership roles. Since the Crowleys were at Manhattan seven former Rebels have been captains, the latest Dan Maiorana at Plymouth State and James Brady at Colby, each recently voted in. Others now playing include Brian Flanagan (UMass-Dartmouth) and Greg Nash (Guilford).
Both Rebels are happy with their choices, and they are competitive teams. Walpole isn’t the only one upgrading its competition as the Catamounts in Vermont, an America East challenger, will be visiting the alma mater of Coach Ryan Curtis, powerful Final Four participant Virginia, on March 10.
Butts is part of a seven-man recruiting class for a Greyhound team picked to finish second in the ECAC after winning the 2008 title. In 2010 it gets a little tougher to win as five new teams join the ECAC.
That just proves that things are still more exciting than ever in Walpole lacrosse, whether in town or out.
Read “Two sign on to play Div. 1 lacrosse” on the Wicked Local Walpole website
Comments are closed.
