‘Generational Goalie’ Hank Johnson leads Webb LAX past CAK; next up: the Boston Marathon?

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BY DAVE LINK

Webb School of Knoxville goalie Hank Johnson was focused on two things Friday night.

First, Johnson wanted to win the lacrosse game against visiting Christian Academy of Knoxville.

Second, he wanted to stay healthy so he could run in Monday’s Boston Marathon.

Say what?

Yep, the Webb senior is running the Boston Marathon on Monday with his father, Jonathan Johnson.

“It’s right around the corner,” Hank Johnson said after the 9-2 win over CAK. “My one thought was, ‘Just please don’t get injured.’ The rain didn’t help, the slickness. I was just worried, but I got out safe.”

Johnson leaves Saturday morning for Boston with his father, who’s been an assistant coach for Webb’s lacrosse team since it started 20 years ago.

Webb head coach Rico Silvera, who started the program, set his team’s schedule around the Johnsons’ marathon run Monday.

Hank will be the goalie for Webb’s next game Friday.

“We built the season around it,” Silvera said, “because I’m kind of in awe of the kind of dedication and leadership it takes to train for the Boston Marathon while you’re in season. He’s an amazing young man.”

Hank Johnson, who will play club lacrosse at SMU, has been Webb’s goalie since the eighth grade. He’s a two-time all-state goalie and last year was an Academic All-American.

“My goalie is a generational goalie,” Silvera said.

Johnson finished with eight saves in Friday’s game.

CAK senior goalie Eli Etherton also had eight saves.

Webb (8-2) clinched the annual Kelley Cup, a competition between area teams from Catholic, West, Farragut, Roane County, and CAK.

The Spartans, who beat all those teams this season, have losses to Father Ryan and Ravenwood.

“CAK played us tough,” Silvera said. “They always do. It’s a rivalry game. We’re 3 miles apart. Coach (Drew) Wassenaar does a great job getting his guys ready. I just thought our guys played solid tonight. (CAK) jumped out on us in the beginning. We settled down and shut them down the whole second half. It was just kind of methodical. It was Webb lacrosse. We like to play a real blue-collar brand of lacrosse.”

Freshman attack Sam Osborne had three goals and one assist against CAK (6-3).

Osborne was all-region last year as an eighth grader.

“We play about eight freshmen and Sam’s one of them,” Silvera said. “Last year playing against CAK, they beat him up pretty good. Sam proved today you don’t have to be this tall to play on this ride. It ain’t Dollywood. He’s a player. He’s tough. … We were able to turn the ball over on them a lot, which is like a full-court press in basketball.”

Also scoring for Webb was Leo Pollock, Brody Taylor, Bryce Hooker, Ned Delozier, Baxter Johnson, and Colton Williams. Adam Weston had two assists.

Baxter Johnson, a freshman and all-state player last year, is Hank’s younger brother and one of the Spartans’ top players. Baxter, a running back for Webb’s football team, had an assist against CAK.

“(Baxter) draws a lot of attention,” Silvera said. “The thing we have is balance, so when you put your best player on Baxter, then Sam has a great game, or Adam (Weston) had  a great game.

“We had goals from about (seven) different guys. Balance is a key. We run an offense that distributes the ball. We assist on about 80 percent of our goals. It’s great to have a superb athlete like Baxter who can take over a moment, but we know you can’t take over a season with one player in lacrosse.”

Webb’s Noah Garcia won 6 of 10 faceoffs and teammate Tristan Connors won 3 of 4.

CAK junior Sloan Helton scored in the first minute of Friday’s game off an assist by Will Kelley. Helton is a wide receiver for CAK’s football team.

Then the game was stopped for about 30 minutes due to lightning.

When the game resumed, Pollock tied it at 1-1 with 7:20 left in the first quarter.

Helton’s second goal gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead with 5:03 left in the first.

Osborne’s first goal with a two-man advantage tied it 2-2 with 47 seconds to go in the first.

“To go down 2-1,” Hank Johnson said, “everyone was like, ‘OK, this is real. Let’s lock in and let’s get it done,’ and that’s what we did tonight.”

Johnson credited his defense for shutting out the Warriors for the last three 12-minute quarters.

“I think for sure the defense played a big role in that,” Johnson said. “Cooper Everett, Marcus Roberts, Spencer Perry, and John Thome, they all stepped up big time, as well as our midfield, playing that zone. We did really well on defense, that’s for sure.”

Taylor, Osborne, and Hooker scored in the second quarter for a 5-2 halftime lead.

Delozier scored the only goal of the third quarter.

Osborne got his third goal with 8:23 left to play, followed by goals by Baxter Johnson and Williams.

“We started off pretty hot,” Wassenaar said. “I don’t know if we came out as fast as we could have (after the lightning delay). We spent a little bit more time in the penalty box than I’d like. Penalties were a little lopsided in terms of how many penalties we had and they had, and that’s always going to put you in a tough spot when you’ve got less guys than the other team.

“They did a good job defensively. They’re a big zone team this year. They’ve got a really good goalie in net, so it forces you to shoot it a little bit better, a little more accurately. They had a good game plan and they stuck to it. I think we just started to play a little bit more individually than we needed to.”

Webb/CAK LAX PHOTO GALLERY … view here.