Prep Lacrosse
Second-quarter outburst leads Northgate to win
by Staff Reports
For the second straight night, Jake Smerka and Mitchell Hutton each posted three-goal games while helping Northgate’s boys lacrosse team erase an early three-goal deficit to beat McEachern 10-6 on Thursday in Cobb County.
Down 3-0 after one quarter, the Vikings came alive for eight goals in the second including Smerka’s hat trick and two of Hutton’s three goals. The team outshot McEachern 36-24 and finished with 36 ground balls to the Indians’ 28.
David Liberacki got Northgate on the scoreboard with 9:26 before halftime and a mere 9 seconds later Smerka cut it to 3-2 off the faceoff.
The Vikings then put together two more goals in 28 seconds, tying it on Cole Johnson’s unassisted goal and then going ahead for the first time on Smerka’s second of the game.
After McEachern tied the game with 5:11 to play in the second quarter, Northgate’s quick-strike offense went ahead for good with four unanswered goals before halftime, the first pair coming 32 seconds apart.
Hutton got on the scoresheet after Smerka quickly polished off his three-goal effort when he took a pass from Liberacki to put the Vikings ahead 6-4.
Hutton added his second just over two minutes later before feeding Casey McClendon with 23 seconds left in the second quarter to polish off a 8-4 halftime lead.
Liberacki finished with two goals and an assist while Devon Johns made 13 saves in goal for Northgate, which hosts Lincoln, Fla., on Saturday.
Lincoln comes to town today to play East Coweta at Garland Shoemake Stadium.
