Hillsboro lacrosse set standard in Metro Nashville despite state championship loss

NOLENSVILLE – Hillsboro's lacrosse team has come a long way since its group of nine seniors first joined the team four years ago.

Lacrosse was just a fun, recreational sport when the nine first started playing together as freshmen. The Burros were far from a state contender. 

Several of those seniors player lacrosse together in middle school and wanted see Hillsboro taken seriously as a lacrosse program across the state. Those dreams were realized last season when Hillsboro won its first state championship.

After experiencing the highest of highs with the championship last season, the Burros experienced the other side of that losing to Soddy Daisy 8-6 in the TSLA Division I-A championship Friday night.

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Their high school careers may have ended with a loss, but the Burros' group of seniors feel like they're leaving an impact that will last regardless of the result. 

"This has been four years in the making," Hillsboro senior Gavin Douglas said. "Me and the other seniors came to the program four years ago and it was kind of in shambles. The coaches put so much hard work into all of us since then and they really made us who we are today.

"We set the standard last year with the championship and while tonight didn't end how we wanted it to, I believe everyone on this team put everything they had into that game."

Douglas, like the rest of his teammates, said that he hopes to see lacrosse become the next TSSAA sanctioned sport. 

After first discovering the game in middle school with his friends, Douglas said he had hoped to have seen it become a TSSAA sport by the time he graduated. While he's disappointed that it didn't happen, Douglas said he is happy with how much the sport has grown within the Metro Nashville schools and that more people are taking an interest in it since he first got involved. 

"It's a great opportunity for kids," Douglas said. "I held a clinic over the summer for kids in under-served communities just to try and grow the sport and spread it to more people. It would mean a lot to me to see every school in Metro Nashville to get the chance to play the sport that I've really fallen in love with."

Hillsboro senior Bryan Brown said that he's also happy with the growth of the sport and that he only expects it to continue to grow in the upcoming years.

"It seems like every year we play a school that I didn't even know had a team," Brown said. "It's nice to see that more people are really enjoying this sport. The support within the school has been really nice to see too."

Reach Joe Spears at jspears2@gannett.com or 731-343-4923. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @joe_spears7.