AC Flora falls short in bid to bring Midlands its first boys lacrosse championship
A.C. Flora High School looked to end the Midlands’ title drought in boys lacrosse Saturday, but Dennis Treasurer and his Bishop England teammates had other ideas.
The senior attacker scored five consecutive goals during a stretch from late in the first half and early into the second to give the Battling Bishops an 11-7 win over the Falcons and a victory in the Class 4A lacrosse championship at Irmo High School.
It was the Bishops’ second state title and helped them sweep the weekend in Class 4A. The Bishop England girls defeated Oceanside Collegiate 25-2 earlier in the day for that program’s fifth straight title.
“The girls have an excellent program and we been battling just to keep up with them,” Bishop England coach Terry Tracy said. “I’m proud of them and the way they fought today.”
A.C. Flora was trying to become the first Midlands public school to win a boys lacrosse title. The sport was officially sanctioned by the S.C. High School League in 2010. The Falcons were making their second title appearance, with the other in 2017 when they also lost to Bishop England.
Flora battled injuries to its defense this season, including losing senior Banks Pope, a Clemson football commit, to a season-ending ACL injury. Coach Mickey Purdy said his group, however, was better prepared this time around.
It looked that way early as Pierce Mills and Henry Gibson scored a pair of first-half goals to put Flora up 4-3 in the second quarter. But Treasurer scored the next five with the final to put the Bishops up 8-4 with 6:27 left in the third quarter.
Flora got within 9-7 and then had an open-net opportunity with the Bishops’ goalie out of the crease. But a BE defender stepped in the crease to deny the opportunity. The Flora coaching staff appealed the call but it stood.
BE tackled two more goals late in the fourth.
“Bishop England is a grind-it-out team and this is one that they wanted,” Purdy said. “We didn’t take advantage of some situations we had. But I am super proud of my seniors of what they accomplished this year. It just wasn’t enough today. This game is about momentum and about ground balls and it just didn’t happen for us today.”
Robert Pilla added three goals for Bishop England.
George Gallagaher, Charlie Riley and Charlie also scored for the Falcons, who finished 14-4 on the season.
“What we accomplished this year was terrific,” Purdy said. “We didn’t come here for second place. Sometimes you try your hardest and it doesn’t work out.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 6:51 PM.
