For years, they’ve been playing alongside each other, but Tuesday they’ll face off

The Whatcom Warriors’ high school lacrosse program was forced to split in two for the 2017 season – creating a team of players from Sehome High School and one from Bellingham, Ferndale and Squalicum, combined.

For the first time, those two squads – made up of players that have been playing together for years – will face each other at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Whatcom Community College’s Orca Field.

Sehome enters with a 3-1 record this season and is led by John Gannon’s 15 points (nine goals, six assists), Will Henkel’s 12 points (four goals, eight assists) and Connor Hoemann’s 10 points (seven goals, three assists).

Bellingham/Squalicum, which does not have any players from Ferndale this year, enters with a 2-1 mark and is led by Jackson Zerba’s 17 points (eight goals, nine assists), Garrett Sorenson’s 13 points (eight goals, five assists) and Rylan Nauta’s 12 points (12 goals).

This story was originally published April 10, 2017 at 3:19 PM with the headline "For years, they’ve been playing alongside each other, but Tuesday they’ll face off."