Walton Overcomes Early Deficit To Defeat Pope 13-7, Remains Unbeaten In Area Play
On Saturday, the Walton Raiders and the Pope Greyhounds boys lacrosse teams faced off in a key area matchup in which both teams entered the night unbeaten in area play. After getting off to a 9-0 start to the season, the Greyhounds suffered their first loss on Tuesday but headed into Saturday’s game coming off a bounce back win over Marietta on Friday. Meanwhile, the Raiders, at 11-2 heading into Saturday, were looking to bounce back from their non-area loss to Roswell on Wednesday.
The Raiders would find themselves on the ropes early as Pope took a 4-0 lead, however, Walton would soon turn things around and outscore the Hounds 7-1 to close out the first half with a 7-5 lead. With momentum in their favor to start the third quarter, the Raiders would take a quick 8-5 lead after a Jaden Shapiro goal, but a Nick Givens goal for Pope would have the Hounds trailing by two once again and that would be the case heading into the fourth quarter.
However, it would be in the final period of play in which Walton would take complete control, scoring four unanswered goals in route to a 13-7 win. “We slowed it down and cleaned up somethings,” Walton head coach, Griffin Spotz, said following their win on Saturday, a win that now has the Raiders still unbeaten in area play along with Lassiter. Spotz, acknowledged that his team was not playing their game early when they fell into a 4-0 hole, but took nothing away from Pope.
“Pope is one of the four best teams in the state and I know they’ll bounce back but tonight, I felt like we were the better team,” Spotz said of the win over the Hounds. The next four games for the Raiders will all be area contest, including a match up with Lassiter, which could potentially be a battle for sole possession of first place in the area when the two teams meet on April 16.
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