Mount Greylock Lax Honors Renzie Lamb in Rivalry Game
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- You will not often see the Mount Greylock boys lacrosse team on the wrong end of game that ends in running time.
And you probably would not expect to see Mounties coach Jeff Stripp smiling after a 20-6 drubbing like the one his team suffered on Saturday on MCLA’s Shewcraft Field.
But for Stripp and Fairfield-Ludlowe coach Chris Parisi, Saturday’s game was about more than the scoreboard.
Because while Parisi’s Falcons will be listed as winners on the trophy awarded in the “rivalry” game, the name on trophy that counts is the one that is etched on both high school programs.
“We started it back in 2013,” Stripp said of the Renzie Lamb Cup that was at stake on Saturday. “At least, that’s when the first game was played.”
The rivalry contest took a couple of years’ hiatus when Stripp stepped away from the Mount Greylock program for a while after the birth of his youngest child.
But he and Parisi talked last fall about renewing game. Shortly after they decided to bring their teams back together on the field of play, their inspiration, who coached both men at Williams College, died in November at 81.
“The idea was to just honor a man who meant a lot to both of us,” Stripp said.
“He’d come out and watch, and we’d hear him from the sidelines and stuff. It’s about the sport of lacrosse and bringing teams together and families together. That’s kind of what we’re doing.”
Mount Greylock went into Saturday’s game facing an uphill battle.
Several of the Mounties’ regulars were unavailable, and, even if they were, Stripp said the Falcons would have presented a mighty challenge. Fairfield-Ludlowe is a Class L school in Connecticut with about 1,500 students grades 9-12; Mount Greylock has 337 students.
That nearly five-to-one ratio held on the scoreboard by day’s end.
Ludlowe stormed out of the gate with four goals in the first 4 minutes, 5 seconds. Oliver Lay scored the first of his game-high four goals during that stretch.
The Mounties finally got on the board about five minutes into the game when Michael Wellspeak sent a pass across the defense for Taylor Cummings, who finished to make it 4-1.
It was 9-1 in the final minute of the first quarter when Cummings set up Mac Waynick for a man-up goal.
Wellspeak scored late in the second quarter to cut into a 14-2 Ludlowe lead. But it was a 16-3 game at half-time, and the second half opened with running time.
Waynick scored another goal, and Nick Belouin scored twice in the second half for the Mounties.
Cole Filson stopped seven shots in the Mount Greylock goal as the hosts slipped to 1-1 going into Monday’s game at Amherst-Pelham.
Stripp said there were positives to take away from the loss -- not the least of which was the experience of playing a quality opponent.
“The guys that are here -- the idea is to get experience,” Stripp said. “This is a good team. They play in a really good conference down in Fairfield County. Our objective was to learn something and get better.
“Tate Kuster at faceoff had a great day. We just didn’t have very good wing play on the outside. But he’s doing a great job on the faceoff ‘X.’ And there are some positive things. … It was interesting to see the guys out there and how they would react to the situation.”