The 8-1 Upper Arlington Golden Bears, coming off a 7-6 win over Dublin Jerome, will get busy this week with 3 games on the schedule including a special Friday night home game at Jones Middle School against Indian Hill. Road trips to Hilliard Davidson Wednesday and Toledo St. Johns Saturday surround the games at Jones.

The 7:30 faceoff Friday will be Alumni night for the program as former Golden Bears now playing on the collegiate level will be honored including Corey Bentine, Ben Drake and John Trapp according to Game Day Coordinator Jim Lathrop.

"That will be special going back to Jones," said UA Head Coach Ted Wolford who played for and coached at Jones Middle School and recalled, "going into the stadium and shooting all the time." Wolford grew up on nearby Essex Drive. "It's a great atmosphere there. You can hear the voices echo through the place. The fans are right on top of the action."

Jim Evans has been the public address announcer for Golden Bears lacrosse for 15 years and will call his first game there Friday night. "It's good to get back to the roots of Upper Arlington lacrosse," said Evans, who will christen the school's new press box.

The mere mention of the game at Jones had Wolford taking a trip down memory lane, recalling some of the great wins and memorable plays there. "I can remember playing Brother Rice there in the early 90's and the weather was horrible. We had to put down 50 bags of kitty litter to get the field playable. It rained the entire game." UA won the mudfest.

A 1996 game against St. Ignatius there also came to life in Wolford's description. "Michael Kern caught a guy running up the sideline and hit him just right. The guy flew five yards in the air, into his own bench. It was a slobber-knocker type of hit." Kern is the son of former Ohio State quarterback Rex Kern and went on to captain the Penn State lacrosse team.

As for Friday's opponent Indian Hill, Wolford said the team from Cincinnati played Dublin Jerome very close. "It was a 7-7 game in the 4th quarter and they end up losing by two at Jerome," said Wolford. "They have good size, they're athletic and have a good goalie."

Wolford has seen his own club play "good against Brother Rice and not so good against other teams. We're a young team and we have to focus on ourselves and stay within our own parameters."