By Walter Scott Jr.
Life is different now. It’s affected everyone, and the Thomas Dale’s boys’ lacrosse team is no different.
The team was poised to have what the school hoped to be a championship season, but COVID-19 ended the run before it started. The roster, loaded with 18 seniors, will never know what could have been. The brotherhood of athletes may never share the same field again.
“It’s really heartbreaking to have so many players lose out on such a special season,” said coach Paul Amos. “The one thing about the players that stood out is not that they were worried about winning games, it’s that they worried about the relationships they were missing out on. The fact that they’re such a tight-knit unit is something that they’ll always have moving forward.”
Coronavirus, scientifically known as COVID-19 is an illness that attacks the lungs and airways of the affected person. On March 23, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that all schools in the state of Virginia would be closed for the remainder of the school year, effectively ending the high school sports season.
“I think the team had the potential to be both regional and state champs,” Amos said.
The team, armed with 18 juniors, finished 9-7 in 2019 and the improvement shown in practice gave Amos a reason to get excited. Coupled with a great performance over Midlothian in an early scrimmage, that looked even better. One of the main reasons for Amos’s excitement is team captain and standout Jonathan Pope.
“He’s [Pope] the toughest competitor that we’ve had in our six years of the program, and one of the toughest competitors I’ve seen in my 20 years of working with high school kids,” Amos said. “Pope refuses to lose, and doesn’t go down without a fight.”
A phenomenally skilled player, he developed from primarily a defensive player into both a defensive force and the team’s leading scorer. Last season, Pope netted six goals in a first round playoff victory over Riverbend, making him known as one of the best in the state. His play on the high school field earned him a roster spot at Hampden-Sydney.
“Pope is going to compete for playing time as a freshman at Hampden-Sydney and could very well achieve that. His upside in college is that he is a great athlete and tough kid.”
Another interesting and skilled figure on the team is Zack Jones. An athlete by trade, he earned first-team all-region honors in football and was a state qualifier in the hurdles and has good size at 6-1 and 220 pounds. He’s so athletic that Amos called an old friend, Virginia Wesleyan coach J.P. Stewart, who gave Jones a roster spot despite the fact that he hadn’t taken the field as a high school lacrosse player.
“He [Jones] had been doing great in practice, doing homework, going to all the workouts, and constantly texting with questions on how to get better,” Amos said. “He has shown meteoric improvement. He would have been a fantastic high school lacrosse player this year, but he is getting a chance to play next year at Virginia Wesleyan.”
“He works hard to get better at everything he does, he’s a leader, he’s thoughtful,” Amos said. “He has the work ethic and talent to become a Division III All-American.”
With a group of 18, many team members have known each other a long time, and wanted to achieve bigger and better things as a team.
“It was really sad missing out on moments with teammates, and not being able to achieve goals as a team.” said Pope. “We wanted to be the best Thomas Dale team ever, and get over the hump and get out of the regional tournament.”
With no season to keep his skills sharp because of the pandemic, Pope has made his chimney and the trees in his backyard his teammates and opponents, and he has the help of man’s best friend.
“I throw balls off my chimney [to practice]and use trees as obstacles,” Pope explained. “My dogs Cudi (a Black Lab) and Rosie (a golden doodle) chase them [the balls]and bring them back so I can throw them again. But, I have been able to stay conditioned through various activities in my home gym.”
Every day, things remind Pope of what this season could have been, even the little things like checking the calendar and remembering a game was supposed to be that day, or driving by the school. The team was like a brotherhood, and they often did different activities together.
“We’d go together to different events, whether it was a basketball game or show choir,” Pope said. “We had inside jokes. We were all good friends.”
One of those friends was fellow team captain Connor Sullivan, who has been affected by the pandemic and missing the season in his own way.
“I’ve known these seniors for so long, ever since elementary school, and we all decided to pick up lacrosse.” said Sullivan. “I’ve been working out as much as I can around the house, and in the yard, working on cardio and bodyweight exercises, using dumb bells and different things. I use the trees and practice different approaches as if it’s a defender.”
His practice partners and conditioning should serve him well as he suits up for Lycoming College (Williamsport, Pennsylvania) this coming fall.
The program as a whole had humble beginnings.
It started out small as a club team under the Chester Athletic umbrella for its first two seasons. But prior to that, the very first interest meeting held only drew four attendees. The sport gained popularity rapidly, as they had 25 players for their inaugural season. Eventually, numbers warranted the start of a junior varsity program, and this year, over 70 kids came out to try to earn a spot on the teams. Lacrosse gave students that maybe didn’t play a sport a chance to participate, or gave others that played sports a chance to excel at a new one.
“The same people that said we may not make it as a program now say we are in the group of teams competing for a regional championship,” Amos said.
In the program’s first year, they produced six wins. The following season, they were conference finalists and made the region semi-finals with a record of 9-6. The following year, 2017, they won a program high 12 games. Two more winning seasons followed in 2018 and 2019.
Although this is a tough time, like other things, it will pass and soon enough, these seniors will be going their separate ways. In a program where the culture has been built not to solely rely on wins and losses as a way to judge success, relationships mattered the most.
It’s not the losses, or the missed season that will be the most discussed when this group reaches old age. They’ll remember the people involved and how good they made each other feel.
