Caden Paradine ’25 could not find an angle to shoot as the clock was winding down Saturday.
His pass looked to be rolling out of bounds when Cole Boyer ‘24 scooped it and immediately found an outlet. Parker Abernethy ‘27 was standing a few feet away from the spot at the top of the crease where RJ Fox ’25 scored his last home goal.
Twelve goals for No. 12 with only 1.6 seconds to spare.
Christ School players celebrated Parker’s goal and cried like they had just won a championship – because it felt even better to honor their fallen brother by matching his jersey number with a 12-5 win over Greater Atlanta Christian.
Saturday was unlike any game in the 22-year history of the lacrosse program. The Greenies did not commit to even playing until about 24 hours beforehand as it came just one week since RJ passed. Christ School and GAC players formed a prayer circle following the game.
“How do you do it? That’s the question we asked ourselves all week. And the answer is together and one step at a time,” Christ School coach Patrick Haley said.
“All week it was about how can we be together? How can we honor, love, and respect, and be there for RJ and his family and how can we walk forward with that weight of grief on our shoulders? It was one step at a time and together. I’ve said it more times than I can even imagine, but I am just so proud of those boys and how they carried themselves all week, the sacrifices they made to be there for teammates when they were struggling. They put their teammates first and it's a beautiful sight to behold. They’re a special group of boys.”
Senior captains Parker Beiland ’24 and Lucas Little ’24 each held a sleeve of RJ’s jersey as the Greenies walked to the field Saturday for their pregame warmup. The coaches wore pins that had a fox on them and RJ’s number. Associate Athletic Director Duncan Parham P’13 painted a 12 on the field, in the same area where the Greenies pray before every game and huddle afterwards.
Scoring leaders were Parker Beiland (three goals, two assists), Caden (two goals), Nate Wilberding ’25 (two goals, two assists), Bowen Scheurer ‘26 (two goals, two assists), Parker Abernethy (two goals), and Cole (one goal).
Carter Sherwood '25 won 15 faceoffs and Lucas stopped 65 percent of the shots taken by the Spartans (10-5), who were as gracious an opponent as the Greenies (6-4) could have asked for given the circumstances. GAC senior Tyler Bragg has made more than 400 career saves and did his part to keep Christ School in check for much of Saturday’s game.
“The boys worked together, especially on the offensive end. Their passing led to a lot of good shots and I thought (Bragg) was phenomenal,” Coach Haley said.
“To get to 12 goals was a moment that had the whole sideline in tears. You couldn’t have drawn that up any better.”
The next game for the boys is Tuesday at Rabun Gap (Ga.).