SALAMANCA — Before his first varsity lacrosse game as a Salamanca Warrior, Keelan Seneca already had a Division I scholarship in hand.
While Seneca grew up here, he moved away to North Carolina in the fifth grade and attended Heritage High School until last summer. But he moved back before his senior year, returning as an accomplished prep lacrosse star and signed his National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Albany in November.
That brought a level of expectation with his teammates before Seneca ever played for the Warriors this spring and he’s tried to embrace a leadership role with the team.
“A LOT OF the guys look up to me. It’s my first year back at Salamanca and (they) expect a lot out of me,” Seneca said after a playoff win Thursday night against Medina. “So I just try to help the team so that everybody contributes to one goal … we all try to improve as one. I feel like when everyone’s together, we’re unstoppable. When we’re all of one mind (with) one goal, we can’t be stopped. That’s what’s cool about this team.”
By team or individual measurements, the Warriors and Seneca have lived up to those expectations. After a 17-10 win over Medina, the No. 1 Warriors (13-2) are headed to the Section 6 Class D championship on Wednesday against Eden at Williamsville East (8 p.m.). After a five-goal, three-assist performance against the Mustangs, Seneca has a team-high 57 goals along with 61 assists for 118 points.
Remarkably, Seneca’s assist and point totals rank second on the team to sophomore Amos Whitcomb, who has 55 goals and 64 assists for 119 points. The nearly identical numbers place Seneca and Whitcomb in the top three for goals and top two for points, according to stats reported to wnyathletics.com.
“WE HAVE a good duo,” Seneca said. “I’ve played with Amos ever since I was a little kid, like four years old, we have the same chemistry. We grew up together playing box, so I know where he’s at on the field, he knows where I’m at. We have good chemistry on the field, I can do any pass and he’ll catch it, he can do the same with me.”
Thursday’s playoff win marked the Warriors’ last home game of the season, and the last in the careers of seven seniors, including Seneca. Salamanca held its Senior Night ceremony before the game, which brought out one of the team’s best crowds of the season, including cars lined up around the field at Veterans Memorial Park.
“Just look at the crowd,” Seneca said. “It’s huge here. It’s a good playoff game, the first playoff game (here) in a long time so it was good seeing the whole community come out. It was really special. Plus it’s senior night to top it off, so it felt pretty good.”
The cars kept honking in celebration every minute or so through an 8-1 run when the Warriors took control of the game.
“It’s the best,” Seneca said. “Everybody’s honking when we scored, like cheering, it’s the best feeling you can have as a player, playing at Vets Park. Everyone honking their horns, it’s really cool.”
Salamanca coach Jamie Pierce said the Warriors know opposing defenses will focus on Seneca and Whitcomb, but “unselfish” play helps the team produce offense regardless of the extra attention.
“He’s just unselfish, puts the team before anyone,” Pierce said of Seneca. “He knows with the scholarship to Albany, what comes with that, but other guys like Ben Miller, Nate Kettle, they all stepped up today and that’s what we expected.”
What did Seneca bring to the team this year?
“All of the leadership skills you can think of, that’s No. 1,” Pierce noted. “He’s just a total, top-to-bottom, student, scholar-athlete.”
Seneca said as a leader, his goal was to “combine the chemistry of the team.”
“Just get more comfortable with what we have and get all the guys that don’t play as much, everyone, going on the same goal,” he said. “We’re all like one common goal now, we’re one solid team. It feels good going into the championship and hopefully we’ll go far and deep into the playoffs.”
