Chiefs go down fighting as Cherokee falls to Ridgewood in Group 4 final

EWING — The Chiefs fight never left. That's just not Cherokee's way.

The secret to the success this team had all season was never in doubt. Or even a secret, to be fair.

"Just the grit that we have, I mean, you even saw it today," Cherokee junior Abby Ball said. "We were down big in that third quarter. We said great and kept working with each other. These are the girls we've been playing with since second grade when I first started. To be able to end it with this group, it was great. It was a great season."

Ridgewood had the final say in the ending, a 12-4 Maroons win at the College of New Jersey for the NJSIAA Group 4 girls lacrosse championship.

The Chiefs never allowed the plot of the story change.

Ball scored the game's first goal. Ridgewood tallied the next eight. Senior Lyla Clark stopped the run with her 42nd goal of the season. Clark finished her career with 140 goals and 115 assists, for 255 points.

"This team has a lot of fight," Clark said. "We have a lot of heart for the game. It shows through all of our hard work at practice. Each game we each put in the work. Our pregame hype, and everything that gets the team going."

Ball finished the game with three goals. Ball led the Chiefs with 67 goals this season, 180 for her career, with a season to go before she moves on to play at Coastal Carolina University.

Ball will return next spring to continue her career. Seven players listed on the roster have only graduation to look forward to. Their time playing for the Chiefs ended on a hot June day at TCNJ.

"Lyla is one of my best friends," Ball said. "To play our final game together, it's bittersweet."

Another senior, Addy Schramm was introduced with the starting lineup before the game. Her season ended just over a week earlier in a South semifinal win against Lenape. On crutches, with her knee tightly wrapped, Schramm didn't play.

"Addy, the way she's been still supporting us, showing up every day with the most energy out of everyone," Ball said. "She's a senior and can't play in the state championship game, I give her so much respect for being this big a part of this."

Schramm's contribution didn't surprise anyone. It is part of what make the Chiefs, Chiefs.

"Addy's a great player, let alone a great person," Clark said. "She always comes with energy. She brings such a brightness to the team. It meant so much for her to show up from the day after it happened. She's always just a great person."

Before this spring the Chiefs had fallen short in four straight South Group 4 championship games. The year before that, 2021, Cherokee won its second state title. This team was determined to get the chance to play for another state title.

"This season was great," Ball said. "We had a great group of seniors led us the whole way. This is just what we wanted. We made it to the big stage for the first time in what was like five years. Just to be here is an honor."

Tom Rimback grew up reading the Burlington County Times and Courier Post sports sections and began writing for the BCT in 1996. He has covered everything from Super Bowls and Final Fours to Tri-County Swimming but he’s happiest on a sideline interviewing South Jersey scholastic athletes. Follow him on twitter @Rimbacksports. Email him with story ideas at tomrimback@gmail.com and, most importantly, support local journalism with a subscription to the Courier-Post.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Cherokee girls fight to end in finals loss to Ridgewood