As they head into the playoffs, the Seneca High School boys lacrosse team certainly is not lacking in the leadership department.
Kevin Gray may be the only player in the history of lacrosse to break 200 points in his career and not even know he did it.
“I knew I was approaching 200,” Gray said. “I was more worried about getting a big win that would really define what kind of team we have.”
With a few games left in his senior season, Gray has surpassed the 200 total career point mark with a chance to possibly hit 250 by the time he hangs up his Seneca jersey for good.
He officially achieved this feat recently against Moorestown in dramatic fashion.
Moorestown entered the matchup as a top 10-ranked team in New Jersey and a team Seneca has never beaten in its history.
Down by one as the clock ticked under one minute, Seneca was going to need a miraculous finish to get that signature win that Gray was looking for.
“We came into the game with our backs against the wall from a playoff standpoint,” Gray said. “We needed a spark.”
Little did he know, he would provide that spark.
Gray scored the game-tying goal with 14 seconds left to send the game to overtime and scored the game-winning goal in overtime with 10 seconds remaining.
As a senior captain, Gray is undoubtedly the leader of the Seneca attack unit, but he is not the only Gray on that unit.
“It’s awesome playing with my brother,” Kevin said of his younger brother Ian.
This is also not the first Gray brother Kevin has played with. As a freshman, he played under his older brother, Sean, who is currently playing at Wagner College in his junior season.
“Playing under him as a freshman and learning some of his skills was an awesome experience, and now it’s kind of the other way around. I have to take Ian under my wing and help him with the transition from lower level lacrosse to the high school level,” Gray said. “I knew he could do it, and he’s been playing great lately.”
This is the first time these two have gotten to play on the same team, and it has been quite a season for the two of them.
Ian has already contributed 15 goals as a freshman, also scoring in the huge win against Moorestown on May 2.
After losing a couple tough games early in the season against district schools, Seneca has come roaring back with a 12–2 overall record.
Following the memorable Moorestown victory, Seneca found itself in a dogfight with a Haddonfield team it had already beaten earlier in the season.
With a 2–2 tie at halftime, captains Vaughn Butler and Gray had to get everyone refocused.
“We told them to forget about Saturday, that’s over now. We need to start making our push to the playoffs,” they told the team.
The team went on to score seven unanswered goals to put Haddonfield away by a final score of 10–3.
Heading into the playoffs as conference champions, some might argue this team has a giant target on it, and considering its recent playoff history, this will just add some extra pressure.
Seneca has reached the sectional championship four years in a row but has come up short, losing to Somerville every time.
“We all believe that this is the year we break through. We’ve been through a lot of adversity. We’ve been going all-out at practice, and the whole team has their eyes set on the same goal,” Gray said. “No one’s scared this year.”
As for the future, all three Gray boys will continue playing. Sean will be playing his senior year at Wagner next year, Kevin is going on to play at the University of Tampa next year, and Ian will be keeping the legacy alive for three final years at Seneca.
“I am a proud dad,” Sean Gray Sr. said.
