I was there and there are two sides to the story. For the record, I have no dog in the fight. I was there watching another team. Also for the record, the club owner you reference is one and the same. Both teams in the game were Team 91. One from MD and one from NY. Once club owner is ultimately responsible for both team's behavior. That said, I saw both games the two teams played. The brawl as you call it started with the referees and not keeping control of the game. One cross check to the head, ok, but two and three without blowing your whistle? That is how this escalated and blaming one team and not the other is silly. This is a fast moving, passionately played game. If officials do not control the kids, things are bound to go off the rails. First punch definitely thrown by #9 from MD, BUT only after he had been deliberately hit in the head multiple times, the last leading to his helmet flying off. At that point, the officials had lost control and it was every man/kid for themselves. The kid reacted as most would and cracked the guy. Then things were a mess. Sad for the game that so many love. Many, many things wrong with the game at this level. Coaches, parents, tournament directors, college coaches, etc. But don't put all of the blame for one incident on one coach and team. It was a group effort. Again, I was there and I heard plenty of chatter coming from both benches and both coaches, so signaling one out isn't fair. To be honest, one of the positives I saw come out of this incident was the following day. As luck would have it, these teams would meet again 24 hours later in the semifinals. The officials did set the tone early by calling a penalty right off the bat. He said I'm not gonna have it today. Not gonna happen. The game was physical and aggressive, but played within the rules. It was high level lacrosse played the way it should be. Again, no dog in the fight, but you have to give credit to the team from MD. They were on the road after an ugly incident, which did include a lopsided loss in which the better team won. They were composed, played their jerks off, were physical and made a statement WITHIN the rules. They dominated a team that had done the same to them just 24 hours earlier. Great show of courage by those boys. Smash took the defeat with class as well. So even though it was an ugly situation, there was some positivity that followed. I hope we don't see these incidents in the future, but chances are they will continue. It's an aggressive sport played by players and coaches that care. Passion sometimes leads to stupidity, but I believe inside the players and most coaches have good intentions.
The officials frequently lose control of games where Millon is coaching because he is yelling at them the ENTIRE game. Last year at NLF his son popped up throwing punches and was tossed from the game. Millon has been tossed from many youth lacrosse games in recent years, just like last weekend. His behavior towards refs, toward opposing players and towards his own players when they do not live up to his expectations is totally unacceptable. He chased away at least 2 players AGAIN this year by focusing his rage on them. It happens EVERY year with this guy. People who come on here and make excuses for it over and over are doing youth lacrosse a disservice. If you really know him and have dealt with him, you KNOW you are wrong. Trying to shift the argument to overlook his behavior for his "coaching abilities" no longer works. His offense has averaged 6 points for as long as 91MD has existed, while that team sits on 2-3 of the best defenders at 2022 and some other incredible local/fly-in players. His son gets abused because every player and coach at the 2022 level is smart enough to know they can easily win by playing aggressive defense on #9. He will lose his cool and start handing the ball back to the other team! #9 is allowed to do that, while all the other players get yelled at or benched for turning the ball over. If #9 doesn't take a thousand bad shots trying to satisfy his dad, then dad coach will unravel and get his share of bench penalties, or mentally beat the team down until they play with their tail between their legs. Pretty simple formula when you know every play is designed to go through 1 player and that the coach is a stick of dynamite waiting to explode on the team. Glad to see he calmed down long enough to win on Sunday, which is usually the case when he takes his hands off approach after going berserk the day before. Love how he rushed to social media to play the victim. His teams always have big wins right after one of his explosions because he has to calm down and let them play on their own until the magnifying glass over him goes away. Classic narcissism.
