The Lambert Longhorns are a longtime perennial power in lacrosse, winning five state titles dating back to 2011, including last year’s 6A-7A title, when they beat Centennial 17-9 to cap a 22-1 season. This season is no different – the Longhorns are off to a 10-0 start – however, there is a significant difference. Longtime coach Josh Sagel, who’d founded the program in 2009, left after last season and is now the wrestling coach at Loganville.
Not to worry. The program has a stable of community coaches who’ve been with the program for years, headed by Lambert’s director of lacrosse Rich Wehman, who has held that title since 2008 – the year before the Longhorns’ first season. Another community coach, Rick Lewis, is now the team’s head coach after serving as an assistant the previous seven seasons.
Having an established staff in place made for a seamless transition after Sagel left. Also helping is that the Longhorns return attacker Danny Kesselring, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s lacrosse player of the year for 2021, for his senior season.
Kesselring, committed to Albany, is the team’s unquestioned leader. On Saturday against 1A-5A’s top-ranked Blessed Trinity, he scored the game-winning goal in overtime, lifting the Longhorns to victory in their closest game to date.
He has 20 goals and 15 assists this season.
“Danny has a real laid-back attitude,” Wehman said. “Sometimes, when you’re as talented as he is and contribute to a team the way he does, it can get to your head. That doesn’t reflect in his relationship with his teammates. He’s a phenomenal teammate. When he scored the winning goal against Blessed Trinity, he was yelling, ‘I love my team,’ the entire time. That’s the kind of kid he is. He’s talented, and he can do a lot of things we as coaches who’ve played before either couldn’t do or can’t do, yet when we point out ways he can improve, he always listens.
“He’s been great, and he has a great work ethic. Other kids can work with him.”
Since the pandemic, the Longhorns have been unable to make their annual trip to North Carolina for what is usually their most challenging regular-season event of the year. The last time they were there, a week before the GHSA canceled all spring sports, they won both of those games by one point in overtime. This season, they’ve beaten every team and, aside from Blessed Trinity, their only other challenge came from No. 5 Roswell, which they beat 10-7 on Feb. 22.
Wehman said he’s not worried about their non-region schedule.
“We’ve played some close games this year,” he said. “Are we playing as many of those as we have in the past? Probably not, but given our blend of youth, we’re probably in a pretty good spot, schedule-wise.”
Aside from Kesselring, the Longhorns are led by junior attacker Evan Suh (26 goals, 15 assists), who is drawing the interest of D-I programs. Midfielder Chris Harper (18 goals, nine assists), midfielder-attacker Brent Starcher (15 goals, three assists) and defender Liam Sweeney are also juniors, and sophomore Dylan Ferrer has developed into one of the team’s best defenders.
The Longhorns don’t lack senior leadership outside of Kesselring, either. Midfielder Josh Huntington and goaltender Hunter Klosterman – who, with a 65% save percentage, has been outstanding in his lone season at Lambert after transferring into the program – are seniors.
Lambert has seven games left between now and when the postseason begins, with the regular-season finale scheduled April 23. Three of those are against competition from Area 6, where the Longhorns are 4-0. Remaining ranked opponents include No. 2 Pope and 1A-5A’s No. 3 Lovett, No. 7 Starr’s Mill and No. 8 Westminster.
Wehman characterizes the Longhorns as “still developing” but believes they have what it takes to win another title.
“One thing I know is it’s going to be hard,” he said. “There’s never an easy road. I know we haven’t lost this year, but it’s funny — sometimes losing in-season isn’t so bad because it makes you face your shortcomings, whereas if you’re getting by, maybe you just keep going. We’re not good enough to win a state championship right now, so we’ve got things to work on. How far we go will depend on how much we can improve. We talk to the kids about that every day.
“I think if we can do that, then I like our chances.”
About the Author
