Although Buford and North Gwinnett High Schools no longer play each other in football, they occasionally get to battle it out in other sports. One such battle took place on Friday, February 23rd at North Gwinnett High School. The Buford Boys Lacrosse team traveled the short distance to Suwanee to go up against the Bulldogs.
Buford started out the game with a very “gutsy physical” style of play which caused the Bulldogs to be up only by three goals stated NGHS Head Coach, John Palocsik. North Gwinnett managed to turn things around in the second half even after being a man down five times. The Bulldogs managed to keep the Wolves at only 4 shots with none of them scoring a goal in the 4th quarter when North “got back to (their) style of play”. The Bulldogs were able to come away with a 14 to 7 win over the Wolves.
The Wolves were lead by Junior Grant Breyo with three goals and one assist followed by Danny Reymond, Hunter Bullock, and Brendan Allen each scoring a goal and Reymond also getting an assist. Other noteworthy performances were by Eric Warnstrom with thirteen saves and Mitchell Whalen with seven ground balls.
North Gwinnett was lead by Dylan Polanski with five goals and Jack Ortolano with four goals and four assists. Also contributing to the Bulldogs’ success were Nash Martin, Zach Swanson, and Joey DeMaria each scoring one goal while Lloyd DeLatour got two goals, one assist, and eight ground balls. Goalie TC Cho had ten saves for the day. Coach Palocsik stated that winning the game Friday night was made possible by an “overall team effort from a group of guys who trust and believe in each other.”
Palocsik and his group of Bulldogs have one goal in mind this season…redemption. After failing to make it to playoffs last season due to an inexperienced team with too many sloppy plays and turnovers they are looking to take all that they learned last season and build upon that. Coach says that his players have gained the focus and experience he feels necessary to take them to the playoffs. Coach Palocsik feels that his team lead by Captains Turner Cho, Lloyd Delatour, Jack Ortolano, and Harrison Place stands a good chance at making it to region playoffs and beyond.
It will be interesting to see if the Bulldogs can maintain their focus and drive to see them achieve their one goal of redemption by way of the playoffs.
Best wishes to both the Buford Wolves and the North Gwinnett Bulldogs on a great 2018 season.
