1. Dalton lacrosse opens with a loss, excited about future
By Jeff Rancudo
sports@daltoncitizen.com
Some day, Logan Cole will be able to tell the story over and over.
As the first Dalton High School player in history to score a goal for the Catamounts lacrosse squad, Cole’s
memory of the event on March 2, 2016, will likely become more clear as time passes. Wednesday night, his
head was still spinning after the magic moment.
Cole took a pass from Colton Fromm and launched his shot into the Signal Mountain goal with 1 minute, 56
seconds to play in the third quarter at the Dalton High practice field. Fans erupted. At the time, Cole’s goal
trimmed the Signal Mountain (Tenn.) High lead to 15-1 and the contest finished with a 19-1 win for Signal
Mountain in Dalton’s first lacrosse game in school history.
Temperature at the opening faceoff was in the low 40s and the sinking sun offered little help. Still, 100-plus Big
Red fans showed up early, cheered loudly (though some admitted they weren’t sure what they were watching at
times) and stayed until the final horn. Dalton supporters, especially the rowdy student section, cheered on the
Cats through the contest and went crazy when Cole’s shot was true.
“It’s a great honor,” Cole said of his goal. “I kind of don’t remember it because I was in the moment. It’s
something I will remember forever. I saw Colton Fromm passed it to me. I was calling for it. I just remember
closing my eyes and lettin’ it rip.”
Dalton High is fielding a junior varsity team this season and is expected play a varsity lacrosse schedule next
year. Wednesday’s game was originally scheduled for Harmon Field a few blocks away, but was moved to the
nicely-turfed practice field due to weather issues. You can bet neither the players nor fans cared about location.
Cole loved the atmosphere and the game itself saying, “Lacrosse has the physicality of football. The running
like in soccer. It’s like hockey, basketball. It’s like everything in one. It’s a lot of fun. I wasn’t expecting so
many people. Maybe like one or two friends or family, but we had a great turnout of fans.”
Right after the game, Dalton coach Brian Maskarinec and community coach Mike Sanderson were ecstatic and
posed for photos with the Cats players.
“Nobody sat the entire game,” the Cats coach of getting all of his players in. “We had a few guys who didn’t get
as much time as I’d like. We love playing here. We love playing at Harmon. We just love lacrosse.”
Signal Mountain scored 12 of its 19 goals in the first two quarters. As the game wore on, Dalton seemed to gain
confidence and their fans responded.
“It’s a great experience for our guys,” Maskarinec said. “They can see what a real seasoned, experienced team
can do. It’s really hard to get that in a practice situation. (Lacrosse) has been here (in Dalton) for several years.
None of these people in the stands have ever seen lacrosse before but you heard the screams and cheers.
Everyone’s really excited. We just hope we can give them a little more to cheer about next time. Long-term
wise, we just need to get people as many reps in practice as possible to develop those little skills. So we can
then push our offense to do more, our defense to do more, push those ground balls off the face-offs.”
Think these new terms are mind-boggling? Ground balls. Stick skills. The crease. Faceoffs. No, we’re not at an
NHL game. High school lacrosse has four, 10-minute quarters and a halftime. But the public, players and fans

2. still have much to learn. That’s fine with Fromm, a middle linebacker for Dalton High’s football team, who can
(and did) put his head-crunching spirit to work in lacrosse.
“It was really cool. It was pretty interesting to see how a real game actually is,” said Fromm. “The game didn’t
go how we wanted it to, but it feels good being the first to lead the way for a team that can only get better. I
think this is going to be a good year, even though it’s going to be a building time for us. Most of us haven’t
played before.”
Next Wednesday, Dalton High travels to Soddy-Daisy, Tenn. Cats goalie Eli Hasselberg isn’t looking too far
ahead, however, because he was so happy to get the first time completed.
“It was fun. I definitely look forward to next week,” said Hasselberg. “I trust in my defense and most of the
time they cover for me. I think I could have made some saves that I didn’t. I kind of expected Logan to score.
I’ve been playing with him for a long time. He’s got a fast shot and really accurate. I think we’ll win at least a
few games. We’ll get better and better as the year goes on.”
Signal Mountain coach Paul Fagan enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm among the Dalton players. He said the future
is bright for the Cats lacrosse program as they learn the game and the community rallies around the sport.
“The future is fantastic for Dalton,” said Fagan. “As many kids they’ve got playing. That’s what it takes. It’s a
different sport. Everyone’s got to be able to catch and throw the ball. Everyone’s got to be able to play in space.
It’s not just something you can pick up right away. You’ve got to be able to do it all the time. And when kids
start playing when they’re (young) and then they play middle school and high school. You know, five, six years
from now, if Dalton keeps going, they’re going to be a team to beat.”