Date: Fri 17-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Heinzer-100-Goals

Full Text:

Charlie Heinzer Scores 100th Lax Goal

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

It must be nice to start your own club.

Charlie Heinzer knows how it feels.

He became the charter member of the Newtown High School lacrosse 100-GOAL CLUB

on Saturday afternoon when he scored his 100th career goal - not to mention

his 101st, 102nd, 103rd, and 104th - in an 18-4 rain- and lightning-shortened

win over New Fairfield at Bruce Jenner Stadium.

Charlie, 17, needed two goals that day to break Todd Stampp's school record of

97 career goals and he got both of those before nine minutes had elapsed in

the first period.

Then he needed two more to become the first player ever to reach 100 goals in

a career and with more than seven minutes left to play in the first half -

7:15 to be exact - he had them.

" It's nice to have that record, " said Charlie, who, two days later etched

his name in the No. 1 slot on the all-time points total list, " but it's over

and done with now. I want to concentrate now on what we have to do to win a

state championship. It'll be nice to later look back on that, and the points

record, but the most important thing is winning. "

Mike Bowers, who had a career-best game with four goals and five assists,

dealt out three of his assists - including the critical one in the second

period - to Charlie as as the senior chased the century mark. Ryan Thompson

dished an assist on one of Charlie's early goals and then added another assist

on a Heinzer goal later in the game.

It's the work of guys like Bowers and Thompson who have made Charlie's chase

for the record easier. It has been a common scene, seeing one of the two

attackmen centering a ball from behind the net to Charlie, who has been

double-teamed, only to see Charlie snatch the ball out of the air and score

just milliseconds before coach Scott Stampp shouts from the sidelines, " Don't

force it! "

" He works to get open and he's usually open, " said Thompson, who scored

three goals and assisted on three more in the game. " If his stick is in the

air and he wants the ball we usually get it to him. "

Charlie added, " They are unbelievable feeders. They have so much confidence

in me when they feed it. They think every time they throw it I'm going to

catch it and score. "

Charlie's eight-goal, two-assist barrage against the Rebels also left him just

four points short of breaking Stampp's school-record of 155 career points set

just two years ago, but two days later, in an 20-3 win over Newington, Charlie

scored six more goals and recorded three more assists to eclipse Stampp and

push his own career points total to 161.