Wallaceburg Lacrosse Association

The first ever Wallaceburg Griffins minor field lacrosse team finished up regular season play on Saturday with a 6 - 5 win over Six Nations, they were scheduled to play 2 games but the 2nd game was canceled because the league could not secure referees for the game. The growth of field lacrosse has been amazing across North America and here in Ontario and the Ontario Minor Field Lacrosse League was actually surprised with the amount of teams this year.

It's been a great experience for the 19 kids playing peewee field lacrosse here in Wallaceburg. Wallaceburg had 16 peewee kids sign up and coach Rick Brown also signed up 3 Novice players that wanted to play field lacrosse so he could help build our field program. The Griffins had a very diverse team that started with a core group of 7 players that played last fall for the Oneida Braves field lacrosse team, with that core group we also added 2 Sarnia Pacers, 3 new lacrosse players from the Chatham area and the rest of the team wanted to try rep field lacrosse after playing field lacrosse in last year's fall ball field lacrosse camp.

It's been a good learning experience and the Griffins had a few rough games along the way but were able to beat some big centres by winning games vs Niagara on the Lake, Halton Hills and Six Nations.

"It's a different game from box lacrosse and it will take time for these kids to learn the game" said Head Coach Rick Brown. The coaches and players were learning the rules as they played and managed to have a really positive first season. 

Everybody is having a lot of fun learning a new game and they seem to be picking up the game very quickly, new players Zak Mainville and Michael Sheeler have really excelled playing defense with the 6 foot long poles, our mid field has a great combination of athletes from Sarnia, Chatham and Wallaceburg and the kids play better team ball every week. Ethan Paxton & Jayden Brown are natural athletes new to lacrosse that seem to show their coaches a new trick every week, it's not hard to tell they are practicing at home every night. Our group of attack men are improving every week, with Brandon Ortibus leading the way with this group, he is tied for the team lead in goals and had a hat trick vs Six Nations and probably the nicest dish of the season when he made a one handed pass with his wrong hand with 2 six nations players all over him across the crease to Tyler Davis who buried the ball in the back of the net to finish the play off.

Our only minor field lacrosse team goes to Brampton the Friday to compete in the field lacrosse provincial championships. The Griffins are waiting for a ranking from the OLA that will determine what group they will compete in, field lacrosse moves teams up and down every week to try and make sure the teams compete against teams of similar calibre in each division. 

It's been a great experience so far and we hope minor field lacrosse is a big part of our lacrosse program for years to come. 

  With the Wallaceburg Red Devils offence, there are more options than a Swiss Army knife.
If a defence keys on the left side, the right side can beat you and vice versa. If you play them tight they can beat defenders one-on-one. If defenders play back, the Red Devils have a number of pin-point shooters who can make a team pay.
The Red Devils (2-1) showed their offensive prowess in a pair of home wins in Ontario Jr. 'B' Lacrosse League play last week.
They beat Sarnia 17-6 last Wednesday and beat a previously unbeaten Guelph Regals squad 14-13 in a thriller Saturday afternoon at Wallaceburg Memorial Arena.
"You pick your poison on our offence," said Red Devil head coach Jamie Knight.
"We have options on our left-side and if you're going to stack the left-side, we just pluck it over to the right. We have guys that can fill the net."
The Red Devils' big guns so far this season include Jordan Durston, Reid Miller and Jordan VanDamme. The veteran duo of Rob Pollock and Clint Lamarsh are also proven offensive players.
As an added bonus, the Red Devils have been getting contributions from players such as Mitch Burton and Mike Myers.
"We have good options for us this year," Knight said.
Red Devil captain Joel Shepley said the new coaches have helped the Red Devils so far this season.
"Years before everyone on the bench would get down after (the other team) would score a bunch of goals. And this year it seems everyone is positive. The bench is awesome this year," Shepley said.
Shepley, a first-year student at Lambton College, said potentially this year's squad could be the best one he was played on. Shepley has played full-time with the Red Devils for the past three years.
In the game versus Guelph, Shepley, a defensive specialist, scored the game-winner unassisted with 40 seconds remaining to break up a 13-13 tie.
Jordan VanDamme had five goals to lead the Red Devils. Reid Miller, Jordan Durston, Rob Pollock and Clint Lamarsh all had two goal games.
Durston had nine assists with Pollock chipping in with seven helpers.
Against Sarnia, the Red Devils jumped out to 7-0 and 9-1 leads. Durston had five goals, with VanDamme and Lamarsh each earning a hat-trick. Rob Pollock had two goals.
Nate Carroll, Mitch Burton, Mike Myers and Joel Shepley each had a single marker.
"Huge night for our offence. (Assistant coaches) Jacob (Kicknosway) and Steve (Lilley) have them clicking up front," said head coach Knight.
The Red Devils play three games on the road this week. On Wednesday night they play in Sarnia and travel to Welland on Saturdy, before travelling once again up to Sarnia on Monday night.
The next home game for the Red Devils is next Wednesday night (May 9). Game time is 8 p.m.