Dunbar High School has made its mark on the football field and the basketball court, but this time the Poets are fielding a team they never had before.
The 2006 season marks the first time that Dunbar has fielded a boys? lacrosse team. Terry Boyce, aformer lacrosse player at Forest Park and a former assistant at Edmonson, takes the reigns as the head coach of the first-year program.
“They were looking to start the program last season, but they could not get enough players even though they had the equipment,” Boyce said.
Boyce said to get enough players for a team, Dunbar had an assembly with its entire male population: nearly 125 boys. “Twenty-five guys stepped up when we explained what we were doing, but only 15 stayed,” Boyce said.
Dunbar (1-0) went down to just 11 players because of eligibility problems, leaving just one reserve. Of the remaining 11, just three players had prior experience with lacrosse: Matthew Odezugo, Anthony Smooth and Unell Woodhouse.
“We are short on bodies, so we all need to stay in shape and play most of every game,” Woodhouse said. A senior at Dunbar, Woodhouse played organized lacrosse when he was in the seventh and eighth grades, and between ninth and eleventh grades he practiced at home.
Dunbar was supposed to play its second game of its four-game schedule Tuesday at Randallstown (1-5), but due to a scheduling problem with referees the game was not official.
John Sheehan is the referee assigning authority for high school lacrosse games with the Southern Lacrosse Officials Association. “The game was not on our schedule. It is the athletic director?s responsibility to notify us when a game is added,” Sheehan said.
Mike Gelman, the athletic director at Randallstown, said the game was added before the season. But after the original schedule was approved, he forgot to add it to Sheehan?s schedule.
“We added the game, but I did not get back to him,” Gelman said.
Though referees were not present, the teams scrimmaged, with coaches from Randallstown acting as referees. In the unofficial game, Dunbar won, 4-2. Unell Woodhouse scored all four of Dunbar?s goals, while Ousmane Toure and David Dubert teamed up for the Randallstown goals.
Woodhouse wants to try to use lacrosse as a way to go to college. Woodhouse is interested in Seton Hall University, Westfield State College and possibly Johns Hopkins University, though he admits he may not have the grades to play at Hopkins.
“I am excited that Dunbar finally got a lacrosse team. I just wish we had more than four games,” Woodhouse said.
BEYOND THE GAME
» Coach Rich Patchak from Randallstown and coach Boyce from Dunbar want to reschedule the game for some time in early May on an open date, before the post season starts for Randallstown.
» Dunbar?s first game was an 8-2 victory over Forest Park. Woodhouse scored five goals in that game, with Anthony Smooth adding two and Rashad Staton scoring one.
