Manchester Memorial-Central boys lacrosse ready to take a step forward this season

There was a lot of uncertainty around boys lacrosse a year ago in Manchester.

Going into the spring of 2021, the Manchester Memorial High School team was going to have a co-op team with players from Manchester West, but on the first day of practice, coach Jordan D’Onofrio saw he only had kids from Memorial.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Manchester Central was going through its first practice of the spring with a small enough group, it looked unlikely the Little Green were going to be able to field a team.

"Three or four days in, we decided to put in for a co-op with Memorial and Central," D'Onofrio said. "They started practicing with us at that point and we went until about three days before the first game, not knowing if we were going to be approved or not. The kids stuck with it."

This season is already off to a much different start.

Since the first day of practice, D'Onofrio has had over 50 kids in attendance, giving the Crusaders a chance to have a junior varsity team this season. While there is a mix of red and green helmets and practice jerseys, the players have been coming together with one goal in mind.

"Last year, I was kind of excited because we were looking at not even being able to have a team at Central," Central senior Gavin Lins said. "I’ve been playing for my whole life and I just wanted to be able to play the season. When we combined, we saw the numbers increase, and the guys just wanted to come out and play. We love the rivalry, but when we’re all together, we’re cheering for the same team."

Lins played soccer for the Little Green and is a co-captain along with Braden Hafeman, a senior from Memorial who was also the quarterback for the Crusaders' football team. Both played lacrosse before getting to high school, with Lins playing for 4 Leaf before focusing more on soccer while Hafeman had a much different path.

"I played (Manchester) PAL for a few years, but then that collapsed," he said. "I had to go to Litchfield to play my eighth grade year. I played Tomahawks for a few years. Then played in high school all four years.

"We still don’t have a feeder program in Manchester, so most kids don’t play until freshman year in high school. We’ve got 60 kids and like 50 of them didn’t play until high school."

D'Onofrio, who is also an assistant football coach and the athletic coordinator at Memorial, was one of those kids. A 2011 graduate from Memorial, he switched to lacrosse after growing up with baseball, and even in a little more than a decade, the sport in the city has changed.

"The programs weren’t stellar when I was here, but they were competitive," he said. "There were youth leagues. There’s no youth leagues in the city right now, and as a coaching staff, that’s something we’ve discussed. That’s the one thing I’ve seen from lacrosse, every kid who plays it, no matter when they start, they always say I wish I’d started earlier. I was the same way. It was so much fun. I think the potential is there."

After the 2021 season ended, D'Onofrio had a mission for the returning players that involved more than improving their stick skills.

"You guys have got to start recruiting your friends," the coach said. "Kids from Memorial know, every kid I see, I tell them they should come play lacrosse.

"The players did an unbelievable job. They kept coming to me, saying they got kids to come play. They like all the coaches we have here. It’s exciting to be here every day. It’s been fun so far and I commend my players for bringing their friends in."

Hafeman felt playing lacrosse should be required for any football player who doesn't yet play a spring sport.

"It’s a great way to stay conditioned," he said. "This is the perfect sport for it. There’s running, there’s hitting. We’ve got four or five senior football guys who we got to play lacrosse, it’s their first year playing. They’re loving it and say they wished they’d played freshman year."

The Crusaders had enough kids willing to participate in the offseason that they had a team in both sessions of the New Hampshire Tomahawks indoor league. While that was great for helping players work on their stick skills, D'Onofrio has also seen a big step forward with overall knowledge of the game.

"I have a lot of great coaches on staff," he said. "They’re doing a great job and the kids are locked in for the entire practice and they’re asking questions. They’re taking the coaching points. Our lacrosse IQ more than anything has incredibly improved over last year. That is more important to me than the stick skills. That takes time to get, but the IQ is the big thing I’m seeing and is making me very happy."

That has Lins thinking that the team could make a run to the Division II playoffs this year, but even if the Crusaders don't, the opportunity to keep playing is what he really wanted.

"With this, and with D’Onofrio behind it, I think he could definitely build something with the numbers we have now," Lins said. "To let us be able to do this, it just means a lot. It lets us play, which is what we all want to do."

Memorial-Central opens the regular season Monday at 7 p.m., when it hosts Hanover at Memorial's Chabot-McDonough Field.