San Mateo Daily Journal Boys' Lacrosse Player of the Year: Tommy Barnds

It was so much more.

The SHP boys’ lacrosse team was positioned to do big things in 2018. With the Gators moving into the West Catholic Athletic League, Barnds at midfielder highlighted an array of extraordinary depth slated to complement 2017 Daily Journal Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year, attacker Jack Crockett. The team was looking to earn its fifth consecutive league championship, and certainly its most challenging, as it would now be competing against the likes of national power St. Ignatius.

It was all systems go as the Gators started the season on a tear. But in their fourth straight victory out of the gate, a 20-6 non-league victory over Redwood-Larkspur, the Gators’ season seemed in jeopardy when Crockett suffered a back injury that would keep him out of action for the remainder of the regular season.

“When Jack got hurt, we had just played our best game, I think, I had ever seen our team play,” SHP head coach Chris Rotelli said. “… I knew we’d continue to play well. But I was cautiously optimistic we’d continue to do well.”

Rotelli faced an impossible challenge in compensating for the team’s leading scorer over the past three seasons. To add to the challenge, Rotelli turned to Barnds, a junior midfielder who had never served a regular role as attackman in his life, not even growing up.

Still, Rotelli knew the spark Barnds brought to the midfield could translate to leading the charge toward a destiny of greatness.

“Tommy is the kind of player who will do anything to help the team win,” Rotelli said. “He’s very competitive. So, when I approached him about playing attack, he just smiled and said, ‘sure.’”

The smile was genuine. Off the field, Barnds is as reserved as they come — mild-mannered, more of the strong silent type — but between the lines he doesn’t lack for confidence. And he jumped at the chance to lead SHP.

“Yeah, I was excited,” Barnds said. “It’s always fun to try something like a different position.”

Through two previous varsity seasons, Barnds demonstrated a knack for finding the cage. He totaled 23 goals as a freshman, and better than doubled that total as a sophomore with 49.

In 2018, he had his best output yet, and in more ways than one. Not only did he lead the Gators with a career-high 65 goals, he was also a valued assist man and figured into approximately half of SHP’s goals on the season, according to Rotelli.

“I knew he would do a great job because he’s able, even as a midfielder, he’s able to be productive even against the other team’s best defenseman,” Rotelli said. “So, I knew he would be a good attackman filling in for Jack. He did better than I expected. I didn’t know he was going to be as well-rounded a player so quickly.”

With SHPs’s first game after Crockett’s injury being its WCAL opener, Barnds admittedly struggled. The Gators still won, but only by virtue of their exceptional defensive play, by a score of 6-3. Next time out against St. Francis, however, Barnds and the attacking Gators were ready, taking it to the Lancers 16-4.

But the Gators’ toughest test was yet to come. They knew St. Ignatius was waiting. And when the two teams met for the first time in Barnds’ high school career, April 26 in San Francisco, the Wildcats proved up to the challenge, winning a closely contested 7-6 overtime match.

It was the first loss in WCAL play for the Gators. And while they’d go on to wrap up the WCAL regular-season championship one week later against Serra, all roads now led back to an inevitable postseason rematch with St. Ignatius.

“We were really upset that we lost but we knew that we could beat them,” Barnds said. “And we knew we could have another shot at them if we won out. So, it was more looking forward to the next time we played them.”

Boys’ lacrosse isn’t recognized by the Central Coast Section, the governing body that oversees the postseason for just about every other official varsity sport in San Mateo County. So, while many sports in the WCAL preface the CCS playoffs with a league tournament, local varsity boys’ lacrosse finishes its postseason with the WCAL playoffs.

SHP cruised through the opening round against Serra, then gutted out an 8-6 victory over Bellarmine in the semifinals. The reason to celebrate the semifinal win was twofold. Not only did it send SHP to the championship game for a rematch with St. Ignatius, it also marked the return of Crockett to the lineup.

In the WCAL championship reckoning, though, it was Barnds who led the charge with a game-high five goals in a 12-5 victory over St. Ignatius.

Now that it’s all said and done, Barnds admits he felt no pressure in stepping into the Gators’ limelight. His first instinct upon being named SHP’s main attackman was the same way he summed up the season of destiny — with a smile.

“It wasn’t pressure for me to take over, exactly, what [Crockett] was doing because we had a lot of people that also improved with the opportunity,” Barnds said. “Also, we both play really differently, so there wasn’t a lot of pressure.”