Coach Jamie Knight Happy With Red Devils Win
When it comes to wins for the Wallaceburg Red Devils Junior B lacrosse team, none have come bigger recently than Saturday’s 14-13 comeback over Guelph according to new Red Devils head coach Jamie Knight.
“I would have to say that was the biggest win for boys in years. We are famous for losing games like that historically, so for the bench to remain positive throughout the game was huge.”
In terms of the players on his bench, Knight praised Jordan Durston not only for his 11-point offensive outburst in the game, but for the leadership he showed,
“Durston coming down the bench telling the D guys that if they got stops, the O would come through. Our O is on fire, seriously pick your poison, we have a lot of weapons!”
Offensive weapons is no exaggeration. After three games, Wallaceburg has several players among the league elite in scoring. Durston has 26 points, while Jordan VanDamme has 19 points in 3 games. Veteran Rob Pollock has 15 points in 2 games, while Reid Miller and Clint Lamarsh have also been key contributors.
Knight understands however that it is more than just his top scorers that have come to the table to play for the Red Devils early on in the season. Saturday, it was captain Joel Shepley who scored the game winner with less than a minute to go, among others who stepped up their game,
“Great for our young captain to get the game winning goal, he has worked so hard all spring,” said Knight about Shepley.
“Dillon Lapointe was huge on draws for us all night. It’s awesome for me as a coach to ask a kid like Mike Myers to play a couple shifts at the back door for us and he says, “I’ll play D all night for you coach.”
With two wins and a one goal loss under their belt already, expectations are high for the Wallaceburg Red Devils, and the optimism and energy has become contagious in the Red Devils dressing room says Knight,
“The atmosphere is incredible in room, the boys want to win and are buying in and the coaches are loving the positivity.”
Wallaceburg will travel to play the Sarnia Pacers on the road Wednesday night, who they easily defeated last week. The Red Devils will then travel to Welland on Saturday and Sarnia Monday, before returning home Wednesday, May 9 to host Windsor.