Columbus diocesan high schools pulled off a championship sweep in the state Division II lacrosse tournament.
The Columbus Bishop Watterson boys won their first championship, holding off Wooster 9-7 on Sunday, June 8. The Columbus St. Francis DeSales girls won their second consecutive title and fourth in nine years, defeating Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown 15-9 the previous day. Both games were at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus.
Watterson 9, Wooster 7
Drew Dunlap scored four goals, including the game-winner, as the Eagles led from early on but never were able to build a comfortable margin. Luke Ishmael had a goal and three assists and teammates Ryan Grim, Davis Seaman, Will Harris and Marcus Dixon also scored.
Watterson (14-6) led 4-1 after the first period on two goals by Dunlap and one each from Ishmael and Harris. The Generals (18-3) cut the lead to 4-3 in the second period, with Dunlap and Dixon scoring in the final 2:01 of the first half to return the margin to three goals.
Wooster closed to 6-5 late in the third period, but goals by Grim and Dunlap early in the fourth period made it 8-5 and Seaman added an insurance goal with 4:01 left.
“I’ve thought about this moment for a long, long time and it was better than what I dreamed of,” Watterson coach Chris Sauter said after the game. This is his 12th season with the Watterson program and eighth as head coach.
“We knew what we were in for before the game started and we knew we had to play 48 minutes of lacrosse today for sure. That’s (Wooster) a good team that’s very, very, very well coached and we would have been in some big, big trouble if our game plan didn’t work.”
Watterson finished just 8-6 during the regular season but won tournament games against Bexley, Oakwood, Jonathan Alder, Xenia and Cincinnati Mariemont to reach the championship match. “We played the toughest schedule in Division II,” Sauter said. “I saw the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together in about the middle of the season.”
Among the players who scored in the title game, only Dixon is a senior. Dunlap, Ishmael and Grim are juniors, Seaman is a sophomore and Harris a freshman.
“I think hard work and prayer both played roles in what we were able to accomplish,” Sauter said. “We went to Mass as a team probably eight times this season, including today before the game. Usually, including today, it was at (Columbus) Immaculate Conception because that’s where Deacon Chris (Campbell, Watterson’s principal) is.
“This team doesn’t have any college recruits but lots of unity. We’re Catholic and proud to wear it on our sleeves.”
The DeSales girls lacrosse team reigns as the Division II state champion for the second straight year after winning the title on Saturday, June 7 in Historic Crew Stadium. Photo courtesy Hayden Sauvie
DeSales 15, Hathaway Brown 9
Campbell Heald led the Stallions (22-1) with seven goals, breaking the state championship game record of six she set last year against Bay Village. Caroline Cross, like Heald a junior who plays the attacker position, added four, with Mary Claire Willison, Anna Bogan, Courtney Kelley and Marin Kamerick scoring once apiece.
The seven goals gave Heald, who has committed to play for Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 2027, a total of 98 for the season to go with 90 assists.
“Campbell is consistent in most games and the big moments aren’t too big for her” said DeSales coach Joe Finotti, in his 14th season with the Stallions. “You wouldn’t know it just from looking at her goal totals, but Campbell is a great facilitator, very unselfish. It says something that she has almost as many assists as goals.”
Heald and Cross, who has signed with Butler, are two of five DeSales players who have made commitments to playing in college. The others are Bogan (Clemson), also a junior, and seniors Tiffany Kelley (Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina) and Marcella Valentine (Chatham University in Pittsburgh).
“The statistics may indicate the juniors are our skill players, but the seniors, beginning when they were juniors last year, provided leadership that was an example for those juniors,” Finotti said.
“Winning the state title last year made some things harder and some easier. The players we had coming back knew what a championship run was like but also had a target on their backs all year as defending champions. Next year, the target will be bigger.”
DeSales put the game away with five unanswered goals in the third quarter – two each by Heald and Cross and one by Bogan – after Hathaway Brown had gone ahead 7-6 early in the second half.
DeSales led 4-1 early in the second quarter, but the first half ended in a 6-6 tie, with the Blazers scoring three times in 31 seconds during the quarter. Heald had four first-half goals.
“We got out of our game a little in the second quarter. At halftime, we just talked and realized we had to play a gritty second half. The team accepted the challenge and dominated,” Finotti said.
“I use that word ‘gritty’ a lot because it’s how we play. I’m of the opinion there’s no reason girls can’t play gritty, play aggressive and have fun playing the sport at the same time.”
The victory was the 19th straight for the Stallions (22-1), whose only loss was to Upper Arlington in the regular season. They posted playoff victories over Bexley, Granville and Columbus Academy and defeated Cincinnati Hills Christian on June 4 in the semifinals, with Heald, Bogan and Tiffany Kelley each scoring four goals in that game.
Besides last year, DeSales took home state lacrosse titles in 2016 and 2019. This was the third straight year for a Columbus diocesan school to win the Division II girls championship. Columbus Bishop Watterson defeated Hathaway Brown in the 2023 title game.