June 8, 2008 - GOLDEN BEARS STIFLE KILBUORNE, WIN FIFTH STRAIGHT STATE TITLE

Defense wins championships. It might be one of the most well worn phrases in sports and with good reasonThe Upper Arlington Mens Lacrosse team put the clamps on rival Worthington Kilbourne Saturday, stifling the Wolves prolific offense en route to their fifth straight Division I Ohio High School Lacrosse Assocation title. The UA victory was its third over
Kilbourne this season.

The Bears led 3-0 early thanks to goals from Cal Case, Alex Drake and Eric Hanover. The score was 4-2 at halftime but Kilbourne's talented senior attackman Nick Beattie scored his second and final goal in the third quarter to cut the lead to 4-3. Drake, who has a knack for scoring timely goals, gave the Bears a 5-3 lead with 1:52 left in the three quarter and started a run of four unanswered UA goals to end the game. Senior captain Adam Donahue had two in the spurt, Nolan Kleinhenz the other as UA won 8-3 to finish its championship season 19-3.

Ohio Player of the Year Grant Oliver was matched up with Beattie while fellow senior captain Alex Benedick was a wall in goal, finishing with 11 saves. "It's hard to beat a team twice and a third team is even harder so we had to make the right adjustments and we got it done," said Benedick, who was named the Defensive MVP of the game.

Wolford agrees with the axiom of defense wins championships. "There's no doubt about that and that's really how we have lived all of our years," said the 17-year UA Head Coach who captured his 11th state title. "Guys like Grant and Alex really stepped up big, doing the right thing and playing hard. It was a hot sticky day and we were constantly under the gun but we kept coming back and shining the whole time."

Kilbourne Head Coach Mike Riffee credited the Bears defensive scheme for limiting his team to its lowest goal output of the season. Oliver and Beattie offered mutual respect post-game. "They're a great team," Oliver said. "We came and played real hard today and came out with a win." Beattie tipped his cap to UA "It's a really big game every year...Upper Arlington is a great team. They deserve all the credit. They did a really great job playing against us and played a flawless game."

Amid the post-game jubilation there were hugs and team pictures with the championship trophy and former players congratulating the caretaker of the program. "It's not about me or the coaches," Wolford said. "It's new for a lot of our guys. It's all about them anyways. You get rewarded as we say every year with smiles. To see them smile and jump up and down that's the payoff right there."