Fallston boys lacrosse wins third Class 1A state title in four years, routing Liberty, 15-2
Chris King and Ian Swartzendruber each scored three to lead a balanced offensive attack as Fallston routed Liberty in the 1A state title game.
Four Fallston seniors stood shoulder to shoulder, one of them clutching the Class 1A state championship trophy, and thought back. They were maybe 7 or 8 years old playing rec lacrosse the first time this group shared the field. Chris King lowered his hand closer to his knees, referencing old pictures of the young men who were once boys drowning in oversized helmets facing outmatched competition in their Sunday league.
That’s where the chemistry germinated for this Cougars team. And it continued up through high school –– this senior class knowing nothing other than a state final run. King said this championship, “just felt natural” because of their long history together.
The program won in 2021, 2023 and hoisted its third trophy in four years after Wednesday’s 15-2 blowout win against No. 6-seed Liberty at Stevenson University. At no point did the fourth-seeded Cougars’ title defense appear in jeopardy. Wire to wire, they outmuscled the Lions defensively and netted one swaggering goal after another from every angle around the cage.
King and Ian Swartzendruber each recorded hat tricks. Jacob MacMillan added two with a pair of assists. And seven other Cougars helped run up the scoreboard, enlisting a running clock with a 12-point differential late in the third period.
“It’s been a special four years,” MacMillan said. “It’s pretty rare to be able to go to four consecutive state championships, so it’s really cool.”
Senior defenseman Owen Karantonis added: “It’s like the cherry on top.”
The unique feeling of this trophy celebration is also because the senior-heavy group (13, five of which are signed to play in college) were all freshmen when coach Pat Mull was hired. They have been around for nearly every bit of what Mull has built — a misleading phrase considering Fallston skipped any semblance of a rebuild.
What Mull has forged for Fallston boys lacrosse is nothing short of a dynasty. Under his tutelage, the Cougars have captured four straight regional championships and have at least appeared in every state final since Mull left Aberdeen to coach at his alma mater in the summer of 2020.
No group is repeatable and no months-long journey is the same. Mull makes that clear in differentiating state final runs. But his philosophy and approach have largely been steadfast.
“We talk all the time about peaking in May,” Mull said. “It was cool to see it all kind of funnel towards that moment and then once the playoffs hit, we played our best lacrosse. Toward the end of our season, we really started to see the fruits of our labor.”
Fallston hasn’t lost since April 15 (3A state finalist Towson) and hasn’t played in a tight contest since April 8 (Hereford, who will play in the 2A final Wednesday night). That’s 37 days since a competitive lacrosse game. But playing the Towsons, Herefords and before that losses to Christchurch (Va.) and South River, is the reason they peaked in May.
If each of the four runs to the final is different in its own right, when did they see this group had the juice to get here? When did they foresee a chance at dumping a water jug on their coach and flinging pads and sticks into the air as the clock wound down in late May? Mull and his four seniors beside him at Wednesday’s postgame news conference — King, MacMillan, Karantonis and goalie Landon Mills — all agreed it was likely the Hereford win.
Hereford is one of Fallston’s biggest rivals. The two schools are just across county lines from one another. The Bulls are perennial state champion contenders, a good litmus test for the Cougars, Mull said, despite playing in a different classification.
“That game the last two years has been a dogfight,” Mull said. “We came on the better side of that this year and I think we were injected with a ton of emotion and a lot of positive energy that spring boarded us the rest of the year.”
It’s the same premise as King’s reflection of getting run over on Sundays as little kids. Fallston is at its best emerging from adversity. It’s the sole reason Mull draws out his team’s schedule with a bolstered nonconference lineup. In this instance, it left them bereft of much adversity in the state playoff.
Once May came around, “it felt like we were unstoppable,” MacMillan said.
Mull first saw much of the now senior class as eighth graders. He was hired after the scratched COVID season and saw them take the field together on a club team called FLC. Mull got a glimpse into the future of the program he’d be inheriting both in visiting practices and standing off to the side of a few fall ball games.
“I remember these guys in particular and a few other seniors really stood off the page,” Mull said. “I was like, ‘Man, we might have something here.'”