Photo By Michael Alexander

The St. Pius X High School boys lacrosse team closed out the last game of the regular season with a 15-4 victory over Marist School. The win gives St. Pius the number one seed for area 2 in the upcoming Georgia High School Association’s state playoffs.

St. Pius came out aggressively as senior attacker Philip Costas scored the first goal 19 seconds into the first period. St. Pius scored six goals in the first 5:03 of the match, and they held an 8-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Marist sophomore Riley Snider scored their only first-quarter goal. Marist senior Chris Pilkey scored the team’s second goal midway through the second quarter, but St. Pius added three more second-period goals to take an 11-2 lead at halftime.

Costas led off the third quarter with his fifth and final goal of the game. Senior midfielders Patrick Quigley and Lee Hendee provided two more goals in the third quarter and junior midfielder Pat Riley capped off the team’s final goal with 8:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.

St. Pius X freshman attacker Rick Lewis (#35) scores one of his four goals in the match to help lead his team to a 15-4 victory over Marist. Lewis leads the team in goals with 37. Photo By Michael Alexander

Junior Jake Helman and senior Anthony Hiffa provided the last two fourth-quarter goals for Marist, who ended their season 3-10.

Commenting on the game, St. Pius head coach Scott Carter said, “We came out fired up, which is the attitude that you need going into the playoffs. We played well, moved the ball well and made some really good looks that will help as we go up against tough defensive teams in the playoffs.”

Costas, the team’s second leading scorer behind freshman Rick Lewis, had a different incentive behind winning. “My brother Andrew went to Marist. He was a senior when I was freshman. I just wanted to shut him up.”

Ranked seventh in the state with a record of 11-4, St. Pius will play its first round playoff game against Etowah High School, Woodstock.