Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/6/19
The 8th Annual “Drew Bauer City Championship Memorial Game” will be held Tuesday (7:00) when Henderson hosts West Chester East in a Ches-Mont League boys’ lacrosse game that also will decide the league champion.
Drew Bauer died eight summers ago in a boating accident in the Sassafras River on the Chesapeake in Maryland. Drew played at WC East and was a popular and beloved coach for many years in the West Chester Youth and Keystone Games as well as a player on men’s teams in the county.
WC East coach Jim Schorn, a close friend to Drew and his family, created the memorial event to recognize Drew’s many contributions to the sport and to youth lacrosse with West Chester’s strongest rivalry (Drew played at East and his brother, Nate, was an East graduate while his brother, Sam, graduated from Henderson).
Schorn’s club team, “Team ManUp,” also donated a Cascade Pro7 helmet that shows East’s colors on one side and Henderson’s on the other to honor the game and the rivalry. Henderson grads and supporters Ryan Cranston and Sean Evans – both of whom were coached by Bauer in post-collegiate leagues – donated time to develop the helmet.
The trophy goes to the winner of the game every year to display in their trophy case. Also, a player who best exemplifies Drew’s commitment to the sport will be recognized after the game as the “Bauer Blue Collar” recipient for exemplifying the many attributes Drew showed as a player, coach and person.
Henderson has won the game all seven years, but most years the game has been tight.
This year, WC East is the favorite as it guns to clinch its first Ches-Mont title since 2005. East is 13-2 overall and 10-1 in the league; two of its wins are over Bishop Shanahan (one loss) and Avon Grove (one loss) so the title would be outright. If East loses, the Tuesday winner between Shanahan and Avon Grove moves into first place. Henderson is 10-4 overall and 7-2 in the league.
The first two years the honoree has been Henderson’s Owen Evans; in 2014 the honoree was Warrior junior Nosh Joseph; in 2015 it was Jack Twohig; in 2016 there were four winners, Henderson’s Kyle Dampman, Jason DePhillips, Cody Pascale and Nick Mascetti. In 2017 it was Henderson defenseman Steve Fuller and in 2018 it was Henderson’s Joe Saulino.
Wayne Sporting Goods will donate custom shorts and Team ManUp will give a $100 donation to the Blue Collar winner this year. Also, Mid-Atlantic Limousine donates a dozen balls.
Drew began coaching youth lacrosse when he was a sophomore at West Chester East High School and continued coaching after attending college at St. Joseph’s University. He coached several years for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Penn Stars youth team and had been coaching in the West Chester Lacrosse Association since 1998.
Drew, the son of WCLA President Mike Bauer, also coached for many years with the Chester County U-15 team at the Keystone Games as the defensive coordinator. He was to serve as an assistant for the team that competes last summer in the annual event at State College. Drew, along with Schorn, coached Chester County to the gold medal at the Keystone Games in 2010.
