Lacrosse fever

When Will Browne told his mother last year that he wanted to play lacrosse, her response was fairly typical for this area.

"My first reaction was, 'What is lacrosse?'" Nancy Browne said. "I had no idea what it is. I'm still learning."

The Brownes are knee deep in lacrosse this year. Will, a junior, and senior Pierce Yates are co-captains for the 2-year-old lacrosse club formed by students at Central High School. They are picking up on the work done by 2003 Central graduate Andrew Morton, who organized the group last year.

Browne and Yates show their love of the game by putting in time and effort beyond many high school activities.

Yates and his father drove to St. Louis to sit in on the coaches meeting for scheduling the 2004 season.

Browne secured the paperwork from the players -- permission slips, conduct codes, liability waivers, proof of insurance -- with some legal assistance from his mother, an attorney in Cape Girardeau. He also coordinates transportation for away games and made the initial approach to Southeast Missouri State University to secure the team's home field, located near the university's tennis courts at the intersection of Sprigg and Bertling.

"It's a lot of responsibility," Yates said. "We have to keep everybody motivated to show up for practice, which was tough over spring break."

But, they say, hard work pays off at game time.

"It's a fast-moving sport that's just exhilarating," said Browne, who plays football at Central. "It's supposed to be the fastest sport on two feet."

Added Yates, also a football player: "It just blends so much of other sports - the fast pace of hockey with the good stuff of soccer and the hitting of football."

The roots run deepLacrosse, which traces its roots to the Native Americans, is played on a field about the size of a football field with two goals within the field of play. Two teams of 10 players -- three attackers, three midfielders, three defensemen and a goalkeeper -- use sticks (called a crosse) to scoop, carry, throw and catch a baseball-sized rubber ball with the goal of shooting the ball in the opposing team's goal.

The sport hit the St. Louis area high schools in 1990 and has grown slowly but steadily. Twenty of the 31 clubs listed in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association's Web site are in the St. Louis area.

Columbia has two clubs and Kansas City has a few, including 2003 MSLA champion Rockhurst.

The sport does not come cheap. Equipment such as sticks, helmets and padding start at about $300. In addition, Central's club members cough up another $150 in dues to cover transportation -- which usually means two vans heading north to St. Louis -- and other costs.

"We're charging about one-third or one-half of what a lot of teams charge," Will Browne said. "It costs money."

Good numbers despite expenseStill, Central's team, which plays in the MSLA's junior varsity division, boasts about 20 players.

"The numbers fluctuate but it's usually about 18 to 20," Will Browne said. "We were kind of hoping for more numbers this year, but it is an expensive sport. It was a good turnout."

Southeast Missouri State senior Greg Kintz, 23, is charged with coaching the club. Kintz, who played on four state championship teams at DeSmet, and fellow members of the 3-year-old Southeast club team try to work coaching in around their own schoolwork.

"They're getting there," Kintz said of his players.

"Most teams in the state have freshmen teams to play on when they're freshmen and sophomores. Here, we have to put them on JV."

Central played its first home game of the season Friday. After road losses last Wednesday and Thursday to DeSmet (11-3) and Parkway North (7-4), Central held off Eureka for a 2-1 victory.

Nick Popek scored in the first half and Chase Tobin trickled a shot past the Eureka keeper in the second half to give Central a 2-0 lead. Eureka, after taking 20 shots on Central's Kyle Schuessler without being able to sneak one past him, finally scored with 16 seconds to play. Eureka's last-second bid to tie was denied.

"Honestly, that's a good team," Eureka coach Josh Walz said of Central. "They could do well in St. Louis. They have a bright future."

Eureka, a school in the Rockwood district with the state's first lacrosse power, Lafayette, is in only its third year and still fields only a JV program.

Walz believes the sport's growth will continue in Missouri.

"I think it's spreading like wildfire," he said.

"Every boy I know who picks up a stick is addicted to it. The more exposure it gets, the more it will spread in the state."

That may not be altogether good news at Central.

Currently, the club's relationship with Central High School is in name only. It is not recognized as a club by the school.

Operating independently has advantages and disadvantages. Under MSLA rules, it could have players from surrounding schools, "but we don't this year," Will Browne said.

But with a distant relationship with Central and liability issues to consider, the club had to seek out a relationship with Southeast Missouri State for a home field. Part of the agreement is the liability waivers from the players and their parents.

The team does practice on the Central campus immediately after school, in a public-access area.

"It's just like kids taking a Frisbee out there and throwing it around," Central athletic director Darrick Smith said. "There's no reason to stop them. They're just kids using public ground that's not roped off. Someone could go out there and fly a kite."

Will Browne said the club may approach the school at the end of this season in an attempt to get more support.

But if lacrosse someday becomes a sport sanctioned by the Missouri High Schools Activities Association, the cozy relationship required between a school and a team -- most importantly, the funding -- may bring the end of Central lacrosse.

"Because there are so many programs in St. Louis, there's a movement toward the MSHSAA sanctioning," Nancy Browne said, "and it may happen in the next two or three years.

"For schools like Cape, that's probably not the best thing. To add another sport right now. ... Anytime there's talk about budget cuts, sports is where they look, and they aren't about to add any."

Smith agreed.

"With the budget the way it is, it'd be a tough call," he said. "We have to cut things the way it is now. It'd be tough to add one."

For now, the Central lacrosse team is willing to look at the positives. The team now has equaled its win total of last year and plays another home game at 6 p.m. Friday against Hazelwood Central.

The club may put together a fund-raiser or two such as a car wash or a sale of T-shirts. The players also hope to compete in the junior varsity state tournament in Columbia in mid-May.

Yates, who will move on to Southeast Missouri State next year, hopes to play on the university club and help coach the high school team.

"I'll be here another year," Will Browne said, "and we have some freshmen and sophomores out here. We're putting up good games against teams that have had programs for six, seven, eight years, so I'm pleased."

Browne is pleased, but as one of the captains, he's not resting.