Lacrosse returns to High Desert with coronavirus restrictions

New fall season gives high school seniors a chance to showcase talent to college recruiters

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Lacrosse players took the field in Bend Thursday night for the first time since mid-March. Thanks to the pandemic, their spring and summer seasons were canceled. That left all the high school upperclassmen without a way to showcase their talents, until now.

"Feels really good to get back out here, and it'll feel great for these guys to play with each other again,” said Tarin Denney, executive director of Thump Lacrosse.

There are more than 200 athletes in the program from all across Central Oregon, all of whom have been away from the game for months.

The current class of seniors took the biggest hit, as they didn't have any game film to send to college coaches.

So dreams of playing at the next level are in jeopardy for players like Cody Collins.

"It was really tough, knowing that that opportunity's sort of just not there for you, but it was for the people before and those after you, hopefully," said Collins, who’s a senior at Summit High School.

That's also why fellow Summit senior Zach Jepson understands the importance of this all-new fall season.

All the games will be filmed, giving the older players one last opportunity to get recruited.

"High school season is still up in the air,” Jepson said Thursday. “We really don't know what we'll get. So playing each game like this could be one of our last games."

Denney told NewsChannel 21 he calls these players the All-Stars of Central Oregon. He invited 22 freshmen and sophomores, along with 22 juniors and seniors, to be part of this fall season.

Both age groups are split up into two teams. They'll play six games against each other in October.

"Which is what we put together as a response to not being able to safely attend club tournaments and still get our players out playing safely during the coronavirus pandemic," Denny said.

The safety measures include adding a face shield to each player’s helmet, having players wear face masks walking on and off the field and socially distancing on the sidelines.

While the game looks a little different now, Jepson speaks for many players when he told NewsChannel 21, “Just to be out here playing lacrosse -- it's awesome."