Last modified: Saturday, July 5, 2008 1:04 AM EDT
King Philip’s Matt Schairer. (Photo by Mike George)

Half-dozen KP laxmen are all-stars

In the rather recent, but highly successful seasons of lacrosse played by the King Philip Regional High boys' team over the past decade, there may not have been a more productive group of Warriors than those assembled on Macktaz Field in 2008.

Six members of that record-setting King Philip High team were selected to The Sun Chronicle's Boys' Lacrosse All-Star Team for the 2008 season, including All-America selection Matt Schairer, who fired in a Warrior single season record 61 goals.

The Warriors highlight the All-Sun Chronicle roster with four members of the Mansfield High Hornets, four members of the MIAA Division 3 Tournament-qualifying Tri-County Cougars, four members of the MIAA Division 2 Tournament-qualifying Foxboro High Warriors and a pair from North Attleboro High's second-year program.

Schairer, King Philip's lightning rod of an attacker, is joined on the "dream team" roster by 49-goal scorer Kyle Lasher, 31-goal scorer John Cuozzo, 173-time faceoff winner Mike Saulnieer, 119-time ground ball winner Chris Pellichero and 111-time ground ball winner Andrew Sutton.

Sutton is a two-time all-star selection, joining repeat selections, Kyle Bainton (51 goals over two seasons) of North Attleboro High, Foxboro High goalie David Santos (a 7.9 goals against average over two seasons) and attacker Tim Mogan (35 goals over two seasons) along with Mansfield High's Mike Morrill (56 goals over two seasons).

Also selected were North Attleboro High midfielder-attacker Mike Curran, Foxboro High attackmen Matt McCarthy and James Saunders along with 50-goal scorer Brendan Clist and 75-goal scorer Mike Cavanaugh of Tri-County along with Cougar teammates Andrew Gregg and Kevin Hart.

While both Foxboro (the winner of 11 matches) and Tri-County (the winner of 13 matches) both lost opening round MIAA Tournament matches, Schairer and the King Philip Warriors produced a single-season record 18 wins and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Division 2 East Sectional.

Coach Dan Warren's Warriors won its first 18 matches over the regular season and finished with 20 overall, beating No. 29 seeded Cape Cod Tech and No. 20 seeded Wayland in the tournament, netting 16 goals in each match before nearly overcoming an eight-goal deficit in losing to Reading in the quarterfinal round.

What with Bishop Feehan High about to join the mix of varsity teams and formulative plans underway at several other area high schools, along with the NCAA Division 1, 2 and 3 Championship Tournaments to be staged for a second straight year at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, lacrosse is on the map locally.