Trending

Advertisement

LAX: Hodge earns Player of Year honors

Share

Three years, two section championships. It doesn’t get much better than that – unless your name is Zach Hodge.

The Poway High senior boys lacrosse player not only completed a second consecutive banner year, he was also recently named the San Diego Section Player of the Year. Not a bad way for the final curtain to fall on a prep career that ended with two Open Division championships in three years with the Titans.

“It is a real honor to be named player of the year,” said Hodge, who spent his freshman year at Cathedral Catholic before transferring to Poway. “I could not have done it without all of my teammates. They really pushed me hard in practice and encouraged me to get better.”

Hodge, a midfielder, is the second straight player from Poway to earn San Diego Section Player of the Year honors. Jake Fiske was named the player of the year last season. The Titans went 18-3 this year and were ranked No. 3 on the west coast. The program is quickly becoming one of the best in the country and Hodge has been a big part of it.

“I just think all of the hard work we put in is the reason we are so successful,” Hodge said. “The saying goes, ‘hard work beats talent.’ I think that is the main key for us. Everyone just works super hard.”

Hodge proved to be clutch all year for the Titans, who beat Torrey Pines for the second straight season in the Open Division championship game. He scored 29 goals and had 20 assists in his final stanza with Poway.

“He was at his best in the biggest moments,” Titans coach Zack Burke said. “When the game was on the line he earned my respect and trust and I wanted the ball in his stick and it always worked out. He is fearless. He looks right down the barrel of a gun and goes right after it.”

The next chapter for Hodge will begin at Cleveland State, who will be in its inaugural season with a mens lacrosse program next year. Hodge, who plans to major in nursing, is hoping to stick in the midfield at Cleveland State. He leaves for college in August.

“It is going to be awesome,” he said. “It is a new program and they are Division I so it is going to be rough the first year, but we will be great. We will build it up and create a really good brotherhood there. I think it is going to be awesome.”

Burke thinks Cleveland State is getting a great goal-seeker.

“I don’t think there is a smoother shot in the county,” he said of Hodge.

Advertisement