2015 Season Highlights: 200 Wins

2015 Senior Captains (Matt Cohn, Garrett Burns, Josh Haith and Bailey Sarp).

Prior to the 1990’s, the sport of lacrosse was all but a hobby for some snowbirds in Florida.  Floridians would garner a glimpse of America’s First Sport once a year on ESPN watching the NCAA Championship on Memorial Day and then forget about it for the next 364 days.

 

However, some local high schools in Central Florida began fielding club programs for the sport and a handful of teams were beginning to pop up.  In 1994, West Orange High School fielded one of the first such club programs.  The Warriors compiled a 5-6 record in its inaugural season while learning the ropes to a sport that was a new experience for virtually all players.

In just two years, under the direction of head coach Tony Williams, the Warriors emerged as the top club in Central Florida, winning the club championship on the back of a 12-1 record with a team that averaged 10-more goals a game compared to its maiden voyage.  Seniors on that 1996 squad such as Brian Barros, Bobby Brannan and Travis Wallick along with junior Jerry Servino would set the standard for future club teams to aspire. 

The time at the top did not last long for the Warriors, however.  The graduation of the class of ’96 coupled with Coach Williams moving on hurt the program through the rest of the 20^th century.  Coaches came and went, and with that came losing records.  Over the next nine seasons, the Warriors would only reach double-digits in wins on three occasions. 

There was an up-tick in success with the hiring of Greg Dailer as the head coach in 2001 as he led his Warrior squad to its first district title.  Chris Brannan, younger brother of Bobby, led the 2001 team and would graduate in 2002 as the school’s career leader in points. 

Dailer’s best season came in 2003, leading WO to a 12-3 record and second-place finish in the district.  It was the program’s most wins since 1996 at that time.  Asendorf, Gleason, Jones and Perry are a few from that squad whose names are still found in the record books; the Warriors’ best since 1996. 

In 2005, Dailer stepped down and handed the reigns over to his assistant coach, Bobby Brannan.  After securing a winning record and district runner-up finish in his first year, Brannan entered the 2006 season with a strong senior-heavy team.  He found success with that group, compiling 11 wins (second-most at the time) and earning the program’s second district title while tutoring one of the school’s most prolific goal scorers, Reed Reynolds. 

2006 was also a year of a milestone for the program: 100 wins.  Brannan’s squad reached the century mark for the program with an 8-6 victory over Tampa Catholic on April 8^th.  It was poetic in how it came to be:  One of the program’s first captains and all-time greats returned to lead his team to a district title and its 100^th win. 

In total, after 13 years of existence the Warriors had secured 100 wins, two district titles (2001 & 2006) and won the equivalent of a state title (1996).    The direction of the program was up in the air following the departure of Brannan and the hiring of his assistant, Bill Baker – someone with a limited background in lacrosse, to say the least.

Since Baker’s taking over of the helm in 2007, however, the Warriors have been on its most prolific run in school history, including five district titles and two West Metro Conference titles.  Impressively, on March 4^th of this year the Warriors reached their next milestone, earning its 200^th win with a 14-5 victory over rival Apopka.  The goal was achieved through the program’s hard work, which has seen WO win in double-digit figures in seven of the last nine seasons, including six-straight.  Just last year the Warriors set the school record for wins with 15 after earning 14 the previous two years. 

While the 2015 squad may not set a record for wins this year, they have accomplished a lot to go with the 200^th victory in school history; most notably securing the program’s four-straight district title, another program-first.  Not bad for a program with 15 sophomores and freshmen on the varsity roster.