To the untrained eye, the storyline from the fall scrimmage between Johns Hopkins and Ohio State was the Blue Jays' dominance, but the real story of the game was the two team's participation in the second annual Michael R. Breschi Buckeye Classic.

Buckeyes' head coach Joe Breschi created the game as part of a series of events to help raise money for the Michael R. Breschi Scholarship Fund, an endowment set up in the name of coach Breschi's late 3-year-old son Michael. In March 2004, Michael was accidentally struck by a vehicle backing out of a space in a parking lot at the preschool he attended in Columbus.

“For teams to come and play, it's just a wonderful gesture by the lacrosse community to rally around my family and our tragedy,” said Breschi. “It's nice to get a marquee name out here like Hopkins and play under the lights - I think it's just awesome.”

On a brisk evening under the glow of an all but fully lit moon beaming above the banks of the Olentangy River, over 600 fans were on hand at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium to witness the game held in honor of this one of a kind cause.

The two Division I powerhouses duked it out for four quarters and a ten minute bonus period. According to Breschi, the goal of the event, aside from the obvious purpose, was to play more of a regular-style game in efforts to see where his team is two weeks into their season.

“The guys are really excited and an event like this creates the opportunity for freshman to get their feet wet and for us to play a lot of guys,” said Breschi. “It also helps us to gauge where we are compared to another big time team, as well as where we need to get to.”

While score was not kept in the scrimmage, Hopkins scored early and often on their way to what would have been a 13-5 victory.

Leading the way for the Hop was senior attackman Jake Byrne who netted a hat trick, two of which came on man-up opportunities. The most impressive of his goals came on a right-handed rip that beat OSU goalie, junior Stefan Schroder up high in the first quarter.

Schroder played the entire game for the Buckeyes, and for the Blue Jays, senior Jesse Scwartzman stood between the pipes until freshman Michael Gvozden relieved him from duty very early in the second half.

Schroder had to be the highlight for the Buckeyes, making a very strong 10 save performance, including a number of incredible foot and off the helmet saves throughout the game to rob several members of the JHU squad. Schwartzman gobbled up 5 shots while directing the Blue Jays' defense. His counterpart Gvozden tallied 6 in a very solid outing as well.

As could be expected being so early in the fall, the game was a little sloppy with both teams turning the ball over numerous times in transition while attempting to make clears. That and a little chippy-ness aside, both teams looked to establish long possessions on offense early in the game, before finding the match-up they wanted for isolation dodges up top and with inverts.

Hopkins proved to be a little stronger in their attempts, scoring the first of seven unanswered goals about five minutes into the first quarter on an unassisted wing dodge by sophomore midfielder Mark Bryan.

The Blue Jays' defense looked solid flying around on slides, forcing the Buckeyes to take low percentage outside shots that Schwartzman had no problem with.

OSU finally landed on the board with just over four minutes remaining in the first half on a crafty sneak by sophomore attackman Jeff Ryan from `X.' Off a rollback dodge and feed from junior midfielder Kevin Buchanan, Ryan took the pass, threw a fake and beat Scwartzman high-to-high inside.

The Buckeyes quickly tallied another less than a minute later, again from Ryan on a beautifully executed unassisted goal. Wrapping around the `X' off of a dead ball whistle, Ryan threw a fake pass that got his defenseman's feet moving and then tiptoed the crease on Schwartzman's stick side before throwing it past the 6'1” netminder to put a positive note on the end of the half.

Ryan led Ohio State in scoring on the night with the two goals and an assist he added later on in the game on a goal by sophomore attackman Joel Dalgarno, who also scored twice.

After the game, Breschi had a few words with Hopkins' head coach Dave Pietramala, a former teammate on the 1994 U.S. National Team. Breschi then addressed the Blue Jays to thank them for making it such a special night for he and his family in honor of his son.

JHU stayed the night and also attended the Ohio State football game held the next afternoon at the storied Ohio Stadium against in-state rival Bowling Green State University.

Last year in the event's inaugural playing, the Buckeyes hosted the University of Maryland, Butler University and from the collegiate club ranks, the University of Michigan.

The other events held in honor of Michael Breschi to help raise money for the soon-to-be fully endowed scholarship included a raffle for a signed Buckeyes jersey the night of the game, a raffle at a local lacrosse store for a pair of Kyle Harrison's USA National Team gloves, as well as the Third Annual Michael R. Breschi Memorial Golf Outing that took place the morning of the game.

All proceeds from the two raffles, the golf outing and from ticket sales at the game will go toward the Michael R. Breschi Scholarship Fund, which will help a future Buckeye lacrosse player with the increasing costs of tuition at OSU.

To learn more about the Michael R. Breschi Scholarship Fund, or to make a contribution, visit www.thumbsupmike.org or check out the men's lacrosse page at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com

photos: Tony Hunt