May 14, 2024 the Green Level Gators faced off against the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders and came out with a 16-9 win to head to the State Championship. The Gators and Crusaders have already met once during the regular season with the Gators taking the 10-9 win in overtime. This rivalry brought the energy to the game. You could see with both teams how bad they wanted to win.
With this being playoffs it’s emotional no matter who you play one team has to go home and the other advances with a chance to win a state championship. I asked Jr. Jacob Fedich how did it feel to get the big win over Cardinal Gibbons in the Final Four? He said, “Felt great, we knew we had everything we needed to beat them and we went out and did it. Everyone from the defense to offense to Josh to Ethan executed on our plan and due to that we were able to win.” Jacob is one of the top players in the state and you could see that on the field last night with his physicality throughout the whole game.
This game started off with back in fourth action as both teams were going goal for goal in the first quarter. The Gators were able to gain momentum and never look back once they got it going in the second quarter. It seemed like the Crusaders didn’t even get a chance to touch the ball with Sr. Josh Smith continuously winning faceoffs who also ended up breaking the state record in face offs won in the state of North Carolina. When the Gators did get the ball they made sure to capitalize on the opportunity, consistently scoring forcing the Crusaders to sub for a new keeper. For the Gators Austin Hern and Aj Ahart had themselves a day to help lead their team to a dominating victory. Austin Hern was all over the field putting in 3 goals and assisting on 2 goals as well. Aj Ahart tagged along with 4 goals making a huge impact on the offensive side of the field.
The Gators will go on to play Lake Norman in the State Championship game as they seek to be the first Green Level men’s lacrosse team to put a ring on their finger. Make sure to show out Goonies and bring the energy so Green Level can bring it home.
