OKEMOS - The Okemos boys varsity lacrosse tops Portage Northern, 19-8, on Tuesday night.

Okemos head coach Sean Grady said the goal difference gave guys, who don't usually play, time to get out on the field and feel the pressure of teams closing in.

'Well it's awfully hot today, so our kids were getting pretty fatigued and we did get to get a lot of our guys in, which I think it's always good," Grady said. "And we had some of our younger players up for the tournament - JV players. They got some time and they got to see what was like at this level, so that was nice."

The first quarter is a little like ping pong, with an Okemos goal followed by a Portage Northern goal.

The Chiefs start dominating in the second quarter when they start playing little defense and keep the ball on Husky territory.

Okemos' Bennett comes from the side, sliding past the Portage Northern defense.

He finds a spot right in front of the goal and taps it above the goalie, putting the Chiefs on top, 6-2.

Sherman bounces the ball and it hits the back on the net, scoring another goal for Okemos.

Harrison Ramsey catches a pass and shoots to put the Chiefs up, 11-3, at halftime.

With a goal by Sebastian Carried puts Okemos up 12 goals in the middle of the third quarter, and it's a running clock in favor of the Chiefs.

Fourth quarter starts and Okemos takes it easy by playing defense and wasting time when they get the ball.

Portage Northern wastes no time in getting back to the Chiefs and being aggressive.

Time keeps rolling until there's less than three minutes left on the clock, when the Huskies dominate possession of the ball cut the difference to 11, scoring eight goals.

The effort paid off to slow down the clock and show that they can play until the very last second, but it was't enough to clinch the win.

Okemos takes this one, 19-8.

Next up, the Chiefs will travel to DeWitt for regionals.

"We will probably see pretty good teams, maybe Vicksburg, they're a good team," Grady said. "We may end up with the rematch with Notre Dame Prep out of Pontiac, and they're very tough, so it gets tougher every step of the way now."

Grady also said he wants to get the older guys healthy to be able to come out strong in the playoffs.

"I think when we play our game we're fine. We fall off of it sometimes and we're just not sharp, but when we're sharp I like our chances," he said.