7th Consecutive Championship for the Lacrosse Cadets

4/22/2026

Savannah Morning News: Dennis Knight

The Benedictine lacrosse team closed out its regular season on Tuesday against Savannah Country Day as the Cadets celebrated Senior Night, while presenting the No. 10 jersey honoring the late Cadet standout Ricky McAllaster to a junior who will serve as the team captain next season.

At the same time, the Cadets seemed focused on the task at hand as they rolled to a 15-0 win over the visiting Hornets in a dominating performance in all aspects of the game. Nine players found the back of the net in the win, while the Cadets pitched a shutout with Reef Leonard looking solid in the net behind a strong defensive performance in the field.

At halftime, the Benedictine tradition of passing along the No. 10 jersey for a junior to wear next season as a team captain was held. The jersey is worn in honor of the late Ricky McAllaster, the Cadet standout who died in a car accident at the age of 15 in 2010.

Senior Wyatt Estabrook chose junior Hobie Leonard to wear No. 10 next season.

"Hobie is a 3-year starter and the backbone of our defense," said Estabrook, who had a pair of goals and three assists in the win over SCD. "He's a vocal leader and the backbone of our defense. He's humble, but he's a beast on the field and I think he'll be a great captain wearing No. 10 next year."

Leonard was a key in the stellar defensive effort against the Hornets, and he said he was honored to be picked to wear No. 10 next season.

"I'm very happy to step into that role," Leonard said. "I've learned the values you need to have from all the No. 10s that I have played with and feel like I'm ready for it."

Leonard says he thinks this team has the talent to take the next step after reaching the GHSA Division II quarterfinals the last two seasons, the deepest playoff runs the Cadets have had.

The scorebook reflected the talent in the win over SCD. Mac Headley dished out five assists and scored a goal, while Baylor DeWitt scored twice. Estabrook had the three assists and two goals and Wiley Chandler found the back of the net twice with an assist.

Cooper Callejas had a hat trick and Sean Adams had a goal and an assist. Ace Twoguns had a goal and assists, Avery Allen scored a goal and Charlie Heimes scored a pair.

Hobie Leonard and Joe Joe Mahfet played excellent defense in front of Hobie's brother, junior keeper Reef Leonard, who posted the shutout and earned the moniker "Great Barrier Reef" from the Cadet PA announcer.

Reef, the starting center on the Cadet football team, moved over to goalie from his role as a second team attackman when Omar Ali was injured early in the season. He has adapted quickly to become a standout in the net.

"Reef had to hop in and hadn't played goalie since he was in middle school," BC coach Dustin White said. "But everyone got behind him and rallied. We stayed positive and he's just gotten so much better."

Ali has come back from his injury and is also seeing some playing time now.

White, a BC alum who was a star in his playing days with the Cadets, is in his fifth season leading the team. He thinks this team is special and unique from his past squads.

"Our offense and defense are really working well together," White said. "We're playing very fast and moving the ball around very well and shooting hard."

White said that defense was the concern entering the season after the graduation of standouts Walker Groves and Tyler Redmond.

"Those were some big shoes to fill, but we knew we had two defensive middies in Colin Dionne and Sean Adams, but Joe Joe Mahfet, Hobie Leonard and Grady Ward have all stepped up, along with Michael Ward, who has really come on strong after three years on the junior varsity."

The Cadets improved to 13-4 on the season and 6-0 in region play with the win over SCD and haven't lost to a team from the Greater Savannah area this season. They received a bye for the first round of the Division II State playoffs and are set to host the winner of Woodward Academy and Chamblee in a second round matchup on May 1st or 2nd at a time to be announced.

"The goal is always a state championship, but we'd like to get to the Final Four because no team from the southern part of the state has ever made it that far," Estabrook said. "We've got a great group of young guys who are playing well with our older guys ― I think we have the chemistry to make a deep run."

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7th Consecutive Championship for the Lacrosse Cadets

Benedictine Military School