Sachem North Lax Playing as One in Summer

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J. -- Unlike the All-Star collections that made up their competition, Sachem North traveled together under one helmet.

Maybe it's because the Flaming Arrows themselves are an All-Star team.

Unified under a solid black helmet design, four Sachem North boys' teams played in the annual Tri-Lax National Summer Lacrosse Festival, held in Princeton Junction, N.J. The varsity squad, the oldest of the teams, lost in the semifinals to the eventual "Senior A" bracket winner, while the junior-high team won their event.

All four teams came out improved.

"Our kids don't play on All-Star teams, they play for us," Sachem head coach Jay Mauro said. "Anytime they can play together and get better as a team, it helps them improve them for the [spring] season. We have become one of the better teams on Long Island because we play together all year round."

Fresh off a spring season in which Sachem lost to Connetquot in the county semifinals -- ending the high-school careers of nine seniors who will continue playing in college, including University of Massachusetts' Michael Andreassi and Brandon Gamblin -- the 17 Class of 2012 members began their push.

Part of that process is skipping family outings to Lake Ronkonkoma Beach and sweating in 95-degree heat, running against All-Star teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and their native New York on Day 1.

"We've all been playing with each other for a long time, so there's a lot of team chemistry, instead of kids coming from all over the place," senior Eric Talbot said. "They've some better players, but know each other better, so we can get more wins because of that."

The Flaming Arrows were eliminated on Day 2 by another Pennsylvania team, the eventual winners, Team Philadelphia Elite. The outcome won't lead to a quiet drive home.

"Coming out here, we're just trying to do the same things and get ready for next season," said Cody Petillo, who will head to Rutgers in the fall of '12. "I love playing with these guys. We've been playing together all our lives."

"C.P." then smiled at fellow senior-to-be Jack Gannon, who will join former teammate Tim Lang at University of Maryland, Baltimore County next fall. Gannon is known to teammates as "Doug Funnie" because of his resemblance to the cartoon character.

"They got me an action figure to put on my bag because I look like him," Gannon said. "There's nothing I can really do about it."

Why would he want to, since Funnie is part of the team's personality?

Mauro, who took over the program in 2005 after Sachem split into two schools, and has built it into a team that has advanced to the Suffolk County Division I quarterfinals for three straight years, producing many collegiate athletes along the way.

"We changed the uniforms, changed the helmets and came up with a new identity," Mauro said. "Playing in the summer continues what they do in the regular season and helps their maturation. "I don't care about winning or losing in the summer, because you don't win a state tournament by winning a summer lacrosse tournament. Playing hard and listening is the most important thing for us as a program. We get so much experience here."