Spartans lacrosse chasing 3rd straight state championship

Members of the Mountain Brook High School boys lacrosse team formed a circle in the middle of Spartan Stadium on a Monday night in early February.

As they began practice by performing a series of stretches, music from decades past radiated through a portable speaker. Although it kept moods light and spirits high, it didn’t distract the Spartans from the task at hand.

Not much will.

The Mountain Brook boys entered the 2020 season as the two-time defending state champions and are determined to extend their streak.

When asked what he hopes the legacy of his class will be, senior Jay Rucker deadpanned.

“Three-peat, three in a row,” he said, “first Mountain Brook team to ever do it.”

The Spartans bested Spain Park in the 2018 Greater Birmingham Youth Lacrosse Association state final and held off Vestavia Hills last season. Their 12-10 victory over the Rebels in May 2019 avenged a loss sustained earlier in the spring.

That regular-season defeat at Vestavia Hills’ hands was the only blemish in Mountain Brook’s 15-1 campaign, the first of head coach Thacher Worthen’s tenure.

“It was a very exciting time for me,” Worthen said.

Worthen graduated 10 seniors from his 2019 squad and is now relying more heavily on younger players. But he still feels confident in his roster.

“We’re very, very solid on defense. We’re solid on attack,” Worthen said. “Midfield is where we don’t have a lot of depth and we have a lot of young kids.”

Rucker anchors a defensive unit resembling the one Mountain Brook deployed in last year’s state final, and Henry Tynes is back in goal.

Tynes, a senior, signed in February to play lacrosse at Berry College in Georgia.

“With Henry in goal, we have one of the most experienced goalies, if not the most experienced goalie, in the league, so we’re given a great advantage on the defensive end of the field,” Worthen said.

Added Worthen’s son, Kade, in regard to Tynes: “He’s a brick wall,” he said.

While Tynes keeps shots out of the net, Kade Worthen does his best to sneak them in. The senior attackman set Mountain Brook’s single-season record for points and assists last year and is now eyeing another mark.

He’s shooting for the career points record set in 2017 by former standout Zachary Carroll.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to beat that by the end of the season, which would be amazing given the player Zachary was,” Kade Worthen said.

Mountain Brook is thinner in the midfield than Thacher Worthen anticipated due to an injury sustained by one of the team’s top players. Logan Brewer, a senior, suffered a season-ending knee injury at the outset of the 2020 campaign.

“I mean, it was terrible — so sad — because he was really excited about it,” Thacher Worthen said.

In Brewer’s absence, the Spartans are relying on younger players such as Max Calloway to step up as they navigate the GBYLA schedule.

The team knows it has a target on its back.

“Practice is tough, but once you get out in a game, you’re playing for the guy next to you,” Rucker said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As of press time, high school sports have been postponed indefinitely due to the new coronavirus.