The Pascack Valley Boys Lacrosse team has started the season strong with an undefeated record. A big part of the team’s success is junior Donnie Duffus. To go along with an undefeated record, Duffus recorded his 100th point of his career during the first game of the season in a 16-5 win over West Milford.
Duffus recorded 24 points as a freshman, 68 as a sophomore, and has put up 29 points so far in his junior campaign. Duffus is proud of his accomplishment of reaching 100 points, but he wanted to reach it last year and could not get it done. Yet, his main focus is on team success rather than individual.
“More importantly, my goal is to win the league this year,” Duffus said.
Pascack Valley Head Coach Matt Will praises Duffus not only for his ability to score points but also for his ability to see the field on another level.
“Donnie [is a] coach on the field. He sees the game the way the coaches do,” Will said. “He understands the strengths and weaknesses of the teams that we’re planning, and we trust him to make the right decisions and get everybody in the right spot.”
Duffus gives credit to his coaches for allowing him to play with freedom and trusting him to do the right thing.
“On the field, they let me play freely and create offense the ways I know how,” Duffus said. “He [Will] lets our offense find what’s working and use our IQ to recognize matchups and opportunities to score.”
Duffus’ success so far has correlated to the success the team has found. Duffus’ goal of winning the league this year can be a reality, as the boys are currently undefeated in the league with a record of 3-0.
“He’s played a lot for us and [has] played well,” Will said. “When he is playing well, we are very good.”
Duffus started his lacrosse journey in second grade, but was almost not allowed to play. According to Duffus, the only way he would be allowed to play was if his dad was the coach, so his dad took the helm without knowing a single thing about lacrosse.
A big reason why Duffus wanted to continue playing in high school was because of the overall creativity of lacrosse.
“It’s a creative game. It’s high intensity, and has a lot of physicality,” Duffus said.
Duffus is hoping to continue his lacrosse career after he graduates from high school. Whether it be at the D1 level or a high end D3 program, Duffus is set on playing at the collegiate level.
