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Dripping Springs Lacrosse hit the road again last week for nondistrict games against Houston’s Woodlands on Friday, Mar. 7, and Katy the following day. They came away with more lessons learned in a 2-24 defeat to the elite Woodlands and some valuable self respect after coming from behind to defeat a feisty Katy for a 1514 win.
Versus Woodlands
Only days prior to Friday’s match against Drip, Woodlands #3 (4-1), one of Texas’ finest high school lacrosse programs, was coming off the heel of a heart wrenching loss to #1 Highland Park in double overtime. Even so, Friday’s contest was not expected to be competitive - and this proved out.
Of note, newly installed 2025 Drip head coach Michael Staub was a key assistant to Woodlands’ head coach Anthony DeMaio for several years before accepting the Drip head coaching position. Coach Staub oversaw De-Maio’s developmental program for Woodlands’ youth and was widely respected as the high school Class B coach. DeMaio and Staub also co-own the lacrosse summer travel team, Texas Lonestars.
Woodlands was dominant from the outset with Drip defenders always two or three steps behind. Despite the lopsided affair, Drip’s junior FOGO Hudson Ela was able to win a majority of his face-offs against the reserve Woodlands FOGO. This allowed Drip to execute successful offensive sequences and put up goals, including a beautiful double move-dodge by junior attackman Austin Garza, initiated about 15 feet from the goal. Senior midfielder Brady Taylor contributed the other goal after a dodge from nearly the same point.
Starting junior goalie John Ault finished his evening against Woodlands early, with 10 saves. Giving Ault a break, sophomore Tom Sihler stepped into the cage, notching four saves of his own.
Versus Katy
The following day, about 20 miles due west on Interstate 10, Drip squared off against the Katy Cavaliers. Sunny and humid mid-70s weather just hours earlier began to give way to stiff breezes forming along the edge of an imposing evening thunderstorm, darkening the landscape mere miles to the north. Dramatically cooler winds gusted from west to east as the sun set in the minutes leading up to gametime.
Katy’s fast and dominant FOGO kicked off the first of many nearly guaranteed offensive opportunities all night long. However, the first goal of the evening was a beautiful assist from junior midfielder Max Kort (1A) to junior attackmen Coyt Packer (2G). Minutes later, junior midfielder Ty Wittenburg (6G) contributed his first of what would become an avalanche of scoring. In early action, Drip’s defense was doing their job and the offense was delivering.
But early points from Drip didn’t phase Katy. They fought back to close out the first quarter with three quick goals of their own, taking the lead by one.
Minutes into the second, senior attackman Noah Booth (2A, 1G) hit junior attackman Austin Garza (3G) for a beautiful step down shot for the tie, one of many ties throughout the back-and-forth match.
Cold, wet, and gusting winds seemed like a cruel metaphor as Katy again answered with two more goals in quick succession, prompting the first Drip timeout. To no avail, Katy would follow Drip’s timeout with three more quick succession goals, leaving the Drip D repeatedly huddled, looking for answers.
The answer was more Drip offense.
To close the half, Drip ripped off four goals, including an assist by junior midfielder Jake Stockton (2A) to junior midfielder Jackson Kinley (2G), a face-off fast break from Ela (2FO, 1A) to Garza, and more goals from Witttenburg and Kinley to bring the game to a 7-7 tie.
In the second half, the back and forth would continue. Booth scored first with 11:16 in the third, only to be clapped back at with two more by Katy.
With 9:25 in the third, Wittenburg would then kick off a 6-0 Drip scoring run, including four more seemingly unstoppable goals for the evening. Wittenburg ended the night with six goals, the first ‘sock trick’ of the year. Also contributing to Drip’s scoring run was another Booth-Garza combo and another unassisted goal from Garza for his first hat trick of the year.
With 8:04 remaining in the fourth, Drip was up 14-9, but Katy would not go gentle into that good night. Once again, the Cavs stormed back with another incredible 4-0 run of their own, nearly tying the game.
In defiance of Katy’s last tempest, a final Stockton-to-Coyt dagger would prove Drip the ultimate denier of mortality and creator of a truly ‘good’ night. Some anxiety-ridden long possessions by Drip, another Katy score and a final runout of the clock by Wittenburg sealed the deal with a final score of 15-14 for the win.
Drip (3-4) will take to the road once more, facing Austin area’s Anderson (3-4) on Mar. 13 at 8:15 p.m.
