Surging Port Huron United lacrosse team eyes shot at league tourney title

Paul Briggs was anxious as he leaned into the microphone.

The Port Huron Northern High School senior isn't a singer. He's a long stick midfielder on the Port Huron United boys lacrosse team.

But on Friday, it was Briggs who sang the national anthem before a 7-5 win over Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.

"It was very nerve-racking," Briggs said. "But, at the end of the day, I had a lot of fun with it."

"That's what happens when you forget your helmet (at practice)," said United midfielder Nate DeLand. "You have to sing in front of the team."

When the microphone went out during the final verse, Briggs' teammates even carried him the rest of the way. Then Port Huron United resumed its promising season.

"Three years ago, we were practicing with a bunch of young kids who were just picking up the game," United coach Brad McDougal said. "Well that's this group. Our 2024 class of juniors have been playing together since the day they picked up a lacrosse stick. So those guys are firing at a level that we've been waiting for for years … (this team) is something special."

The team, which represents both Port Huron and Port Huron Northern High School, is 8-4 overall and 2-3 in the MAC Red. After three consecutive league titles (one in the White, two in the Blue), United was promoted to the MAC's top conference for 2023.

"We started off a little rocky with our communication," Briggs said. "But over the games, we've definitely gotten it better. Our communication (has been key). And everybody has their head in the game, always. That's just what we need every game — communication and everyone being focused."

"I'd say our chemistry is a big part of it," DeLand said. "Because a lot of these guys have been playing together for three or four years. So, it's nice having everyone out here who knows what they're doing and when to do it."

While most of United's roster consists of returning players, contributions have been made by the new faces as well.

"(Lacrosse) is a hard sport to pick up," McDougal said. "But we've got two upperclassmen that've come in and instantly made an impact in their first year — (senior) Roman Borowiak and (junior) Paul Chenault."

Borowiak is a force on defense, which has been the team's calling card as of late.

"He started the season at close defense but we moved him to short-stick defense," McDougal said of Borowiak. "He's basically just done anything that we've asked him to do. He's a really tough player — probably has the most penalty minutes on the team — but he just does what we ask him to do and he gets stuff done."

As for Chenault, his first sport is hockey. And that translates well to this arena.

"Hockey players normally pick up the game faster than anybody else," McDougal said. "(Chenault) picked (lacrosse) up in January and he's out there in a two-goal game late in the season. That's impressive."

McDougal was referring to Friday's win over Notre Dame Prep. United trailed 5-3 with less than 10 minutes remaining before scoring four unanswered goals.

"Our offense played well in the fourth (quarter)," DeLand said. "Our defense led down in the fourth and a big thing was our faceoffs by Charlie Morrison. He did really well on those to help us win the game."

"I've just been asking for grit out of these guys," McDougal said. "We've played a couple really close games. We had a game similar to this where we had some looks and we just didn't capitalize. So, just that little extra heart to will the team to victory is what we needed (Friday). That's going to really pay off moving into the playoffs."

The MHSAA state tournament begins May 18. Until then, United has some business it wants to take care of.

"At the beginning of the season our goal was to win the MAC tournament, which is next week," McDougal said. "It's going to be really tough. Three of our losses are to (teams) we're going to have to face in that tournament. They were all close games, so we know we can win. But it's going to be a fight."

United will face Utica Eisenhower in the first round at Grosse Pointe North High School on Monday. Game time is 5:30 p.m. United won the previous meeting between the teams, 8-1, on May 3.

"We don't have a quit in us," DeLand said. "We don't like losing — we hate it. We're competitive like that. It's a grind everyday in practice. So when we come out here (for a game), it's easy for us (to handle pressure) because we're already going against each other every single day."

Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper.