Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Loss in final game deprives Warriors of boys lacrosse playoffs

Had Fallbrook High School's boys lacrosse team won the Warriors' final regular-season game May 18 at home against Mission Hills, the Warriors likely would have been selected to participate in the CIF Division II playoffs. The Grizzlies' victory caused Fallbrook to be omitted during the May 22 playoff selection and seeding meeting.

"We unfortunately didn't get in," said Fallbrook coach Mike Zinniger.

The Warriors had a 5-9 season record and were 1-4 in Valley League competition. "We had a pretty decent season," Zinniger said.

Because Fallbrook did not have a junior varsity team this year, the varsity roster included 10 freshmen and eight sophomores. Only eight seniors were on this year's team. "They just struggled a little bit," Zinniger said. "This year I'm not disappointed."

Zinniger planned his non-league schedule before knowing that he would have such a young team. "We had a pretty tough schedule because I scheduled some Division I teams," he said.

The young players were often outmatched against those better teams. "I don't regret it," Zinniger said of his non-league schedule.

Although the seniors may have been deprived of closing their high school careers in the CIF playoffs, the younger players obtained the experience against higher-level competition. "Now that they've seen it, they know what to expect," Zinniger said. "They got some great game experience."

The seniors accepted the focus on the future of Fallbrook's program. "The seniors I think were great mentors," Zinniger said. "They knew it was going to be a struggle, and they stepped it up."

A playoff berth was still at stake when the Warriors played their regular-season finale against Mission Hills. "We got off to a strong start in the first quarter, and slowly they started coming back," Zinniger said.

The game ended as a 9-4 Mission Hills victory.

"Just a lot of growing up this year," Zinniger said.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 02/27/2024 06:53