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Kenny Brower felt about as good as he possibly could about last year’s Massapequa team.
The Chiefs were loaded at every position and off to a hot start, then got hit harder than almost anyone by the injury bug. Brower was one of the major ones, with the Team 91 2019 Orange defenseman felled by a torn ACL that wiped out his season five games in and erased his chance of playing in his final summer of club ball.
“Depending on the doctor, a torn ACL takes up to a year of recovery, so you just have to have patience and listen to your body,” Brower said. “I had to work twice as hard to get back. We had a really good team and then we had a bunch of guys get hurt. (’19 Orange attackman and Hofstra commit) Sam Lutfi tore his labrum, too. It was upsetting to see what happened, but we still won the county. Our goal this year is to win the Long Island Championship and get to states.”
There’s plenty of business left to handle for the now-healthy Chiefs, but Brower’s play over the past few years didn’t go unnoticed. Tuesday, he was named to the prestigious Under Armour All-America Game in the first wave of selections, reserved for the country’s top 11 players. Inside Lacrosse‘s No. 2 prospect in the Class of 2019, the big lefty defenseman was almost a no-brainer, but the Duke-bound Brower was just ecstatic to be chosen.
“You can’t expect it, and coming off the injury, I didn’t know if it put me behind in the selection process. I’m just happy that I got chosen,” Brower said. “I’m not a huge individual guy and I just look at it as playing with my team. My team helps me play well and brings everything along. Playing for 91 was a huge help with all of the exposure and everything that the coaches taught me, like Brian Spallina, Nicky Polanco and Jimmy Mulé.”
“Kenny tore his ACL last year, but he’s back at full strength and been a big part of Massapequa’s success as a senior,” Inside Lacrosse Director of Recruiting & HS Content Ty Xanders said. “He’s a big, tough lefty who has been an animal for Team 91, and facing that kind of competition has helped him project really well in the ACC. Duke has had some good defensemen come in, but I think that he can compete for minutes right away.”
Brower will suit up in the game, which will be played Saturday, June 29 at 8 p.m. on Johns Hopkins‘ Homewood Field. Before that, though, he wants to bring home a state title for Massapequa, and he’s in fine form.
“The lacrosse aspect and the timing might take me a little while, but physically, I feel good,” Brower said.
Bad news for any attackmen on Massapequa’s schedule.