In their crosstown rivalry matchup on April 24, the Pioneer High School men’s lacrosse team took down Skyline High School’s team by a score of 20 to five. They were able to control the pace with a strong first quarter, in which they outscored Skyline nine to one.

Jett Laatsch is a senior on Pioneer lacrosse. He was proud of his team for their win and the effort they put in.

“We had great momentum coming out of the Father Gabriel Richard game we had yesterday,” Laatsch said. “People brought it to this game in the first quarter. We played excellently.”

Pioneer has generally been able to outscore their opponents, but this game was an especially successful one for its offense. Laatsch felt that the game went well not only for himself but the rest of the team as well.

“I think I controlled the game, directed the offense very well and got the other people involved to spread out the defense,” Laatsch said. “ When the ball came back around, I was able to finish my shots and set up my teammates when needed.”

While Skyline was able to slow down Pioneer’s scoring after the first quarter, it was not enough to turn the game around.

Skyline was also playing with multiple players out, which the Pioneers were able to take advantage of during the game.

Isaac Meadow, a goalie on Pioneer, felt that hard work was a priority going into the game. He believes they did a great job of keeping that up for the whole game.

“Man, we just grinded. kept going, kept pushing. Yeah, never let up,” Meadow said. “Let’s just go out and fire.”

They hope to keep up this level of play to finish out the season and reach their goals.

The Pioneers have had some accomplishments this season, but they are hoping for even more. They are hoping to win the rest of their conference games to set themselves up to win championships.

“So we have mainly SEC games to finish out the season, and we want to go undefeated in those to take home the SEC Red Championship,” Laatsch said. “At the end of the year, we have the Ann Arbor cup, and we want to finish off strong there and bring home that championship.”

It won’t be easy, but Pioneer Lacrosse hasn’t just been working hard in games. Their success has come from a lot of hard work in practice, which will help them out a lot in games later down the line.

If they are able to achieve all of that, they should be a team to watch during the State Lacrosse Tournament in late May and June.