Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/24/22
From Press Release
Downingtown West Lacrosse has a 16-year history hosting the Brian Houshower Lacrosse Festival by bringing together some of the top Philadelphia area lacrosse programs for a Fall Event.
After a 2-year disruption of the event due to COVID-19, Downingtown West created a connection to the future of lacrosse in the Downingtown community and last weekend hosted the 17th Annual Brian Houshower Lacrosse Festival as a Youth Clinic.
The Clinic was presented by the family and hosted by the Downingtown West Coaching Staff (Head Coach Billy Davis and Assistant Coaches Ray Beneke and Will Loftin). Former college and professional players joined the Downingtown West team in providing instruction to over 60 local lacrosse players broken out into three different age groups.
Downingtown West received great support from the Philadelphia Wings and Wings mascot “Wingston” even made an appearance. “It was a great day for Downingtown area lacrosse,” said Coach Davis, “We wanted to find a way to continue the Houshower Lacrosse Festival legacy and I couldn’t be prouder of our DWest Lacrosse Team for growing the next generation of lacrosse players.”
In addition to hosting the Youth Clinic, Coach Davis and Joan Ferree (Brian Houshower’s mother)
awarded Brian’s #8 Jersey to senior midfielder, Michael Straub. Coach Davis borrowed a page out of
Penn State’s playbook in honoring former player Connor Darcey. Penn State annually award’s Darcey’s #16 jersey to a deserving returning player.
After much thought and discussion with her family, Ms. Ferree thought the time was right to carry on Brian’s legacy with a new tradition by issuing the #8 jersey for the first time since Brian’s good friend, Nick LaBricciosa, last wore it.
“This is a happy-sad moment for my family and me,” said Ms. Ferree, “We wanted to honor Brian by awarding this jersey to a player like Michael who embodies the spirit of Brian – kind, giving, and being a teammate who helps others up when they are down, and we saw this as an opportunity to continue Brian’s legacy within the DWest lacrosse.”
DWest plans to host the Youth Clinic annually each Spring to kick off the youth lacrosse season while honoring Brian Houshower.
