Manheim Township's Tim Stratton becomes just the fourth lacrosse player in the nation to score 500 career points in Tuesday's victory over Lampeter-Strasburg.
Tim Stratton tries to catch a pass against Lampeter-Strasburg.
Tim Stratton is mobbed by his teammates after recording his 500th career point.
By JEFFREY REINHART
Updated Apr 25, 2007 12:37
It is an ultra exclusive club.
In fact, before Tuesday afternoon, there were just three members.
Now there are four.
Manheim Township senior attacker Tim Stratton needed seven points in the Blue Streaks' Lancaster Area Lacrosse League match against Lampeter-Strasburg to reach 500 points for his career.
And when he secured a pass from Nick Baron and whistled a shot into the top corner of the net with 5:12 to go in the first half, Stratton had it. He is the first player from Pennsylvania to join the ultra-exclusive club.
His fellow members are:
• Max Quinzani, a Duxbury, Mass., native who is the career leader with 577 points. He's a freshman at Duke.
• Casey Powell, a Carthage, N.Y., native who had 553 points. The Syracuse grad is now playing for the U.S. National Team.
• Jim Connolly, a North Andover, Mass., native who had 523 points. He's a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts.
Stratton, who will continue his lacrosse career in college at Towson University, finished the game with five goals and three assists, pushing his career total to 501 points.
He has 40 goals and 37 assists this season, good for 77 points. He needs 77 more to pass Quinzani. The Streaks have five regular-season games to go, plus the league playoffs, the Central Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association district playoffs, and the state Keystone Cup playoffs.
The further the Streaks go, the better Stratton's chances are of eclipsing the national mark.
Township, which won the league crown and the district title before falling in the Keystone Cup championship game last spring, improved to 15-0 with its 19-7 victory over L-S on Tuesday in Neffsville.
The Streaks have outscored their opponents 206-63 this season, and Township is ranked sixth in the state, 48th in the East and 90th in the country by laxpower.com.
But the number that mattered most on Tuesday was Stratton's magical 500th.
"That's like scoring 5,000 points in your high school basketball career," said Township senior attacker Jay Ridinger, who will continue his lacrosse and football careers at Franklin & Marshall.
"Four people in the whole world have done this. That's it. That's just phenomenal."
"It's amazing … 500 points," said Township senior attacker John DuBois, who will join Stratton at Towson in the fall.
DuBois scored a team-high 74 goals last spring and scored six goals against L-S.
"I don't even know what to say," DuBois said. "That's just so impressive. He's one of four kids to ever do that. It's a great accomplishment."
When Stratton reached the milestone, the officials stopped the game and Stratton's teammates rushed the field.
Someone handed Stratton the game ball, and he headed directly to the bleachers on the far side of the field, where he hugged his parents — Dennis and Pat Stratton — and handed the game ball to his mom, who was celebrating her 50th birthday.
"I really wasn't expecting all of that," Stratton said. "I didn't think they were going to stop the game. I turned around and everyone was running toward me and I was like, 'Oh no!'"
Oh yes.
"Tim has done this very quietly," Township coach Rich Lefever said. "He really doesn't worry about records and those sorts of things. He downplays everything. Like with the 500 points … all the kids were talking about it, and I think Tim just wanted to get it over with and move on."
Stratton got it over with on Tuesday, moving into some elite company.
"Back when I was a freshman, I never thought this would happen," Stratton said. "I wouldn't have done any of this without my teammates and my coaches. The seniors started playing together in fifth grade, so we've all been a part of this."
