Call it the 74% solution for both town and gown men’s lacrosse teams in Happy Valley. Let’s do the Nittany Lions first:
Jeff Tambroni’s Penn State men’s lax team is on a roll — again, after a few speed bumps— and are off to a 6-1 start in 2024. Last season, the Nittany Lions were 11-5 and made it all the way (back) to the national semifinals, before losing 16-15 to Duke on a very controversial Blue Devilish goal.
That 17-6 string — a .7391 winning percentage — is further punctuated by the team’s current 13-2 run. Penn State is definitely back to where it was in 2019, when the Grant Ament-led Nittany Lions went 16-2 and also made it to the semis, where they lost to Yale.
Meanwhile, a dozen minutes away from Panzer Stadium is State High’s North Turf Field. Just head south on University Drive, and take a right and head an oxymoronic west on Easterly Parkway.
That’s the home turf of a new Centre County lax hotbed — that of the Little Lions boys’ lacrosse squad, which is starting to look like a chip off the blue and white block. State High is on a three-season run of 10-5, 13-3 and 14-5 records from 2021-23. (That’s 37-13, a .740 winning percentage).
But it’s much more than the numbers. Inspired by the success and leadership of the Nittany Lions, and buoyed by a new culture of winning and freshmen-to-senior respect and teamwork, the Little Lions are coming off their best-season ever, in 2023. Penn State’s lax shadow is big, but it is also motivating.
“We get 10-15 of the guys on our team going to Penn State’s games at Panzer,” says State High junior middie Cooper Brushwood. “It’s great for us, as high school players, to see the highest level of lacrosse on multiple occasions in our backyard.”
The Penn State-State High connection is a relationship that Tambroni fosters and State High head coach Tyer Kaluza, a townie and Penn State grad who has a family history of successful coaching at both places, greatly appreciates.
“Jeff is always open and helpful with us, and free with advice,” says Kaluza. “Our offense is very similar to what Jeff runs. Our kids go to Penn State’s sports camps, and that is a boost to our growing youth programs — which are at an all-time high — and what we are doing, too.”
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Kaluza’s roots run deep in State College, Penn State and coaching. He played center for the Little Lion football team and was a Penn State football manager, as I wrote about here in 2015. He’s in his sixth year teaching social studies at State High and is also a line coach for the Little Lions football team.
His dad, Rick, is a senior associate athletic director for finance at Penn State, and is the longest-serving top exec in Penn State intercollegiate athletics. Tyler’s grandfather on his mother Jennifer’s side, the late Jim Williams, was head football coach of the legendary 1973 State High football team that went 10-0 and won the state championship behind Paul and Matt Suhey. With Williams, who played for the Little Lions himself while in high school, at the helm, State High won 36 straight football games from 1970 to 1974. Williams later went on to coach at Penn State under Joe Paterno.
“My grandfather always preached about knowing your role on the team,” Kaluza says. “He helped establish my own core values, along with my parents. As a coach now myself, I have tried to carry on what he did — create teams with good players, who are even better people.”
As Kaluza said that, he was sitting across a lunch table in The Corner Room from Brushwood and Carter Williams, a four-year State High lax letterman and two-time team captain who is now a Penn State student and a manager for…yes, you guessed it: Nittany Lion lacrosse. Kaluza said he wouldn’t sit for an interview unless he could bring a pair of his players, past and present.
“These two guys personify the culture we are trying to build with our program. Actually, culture they have brought to the program,” said Kaluza, starting his fourth year as head coach. “A couple of years ago the group that became last year’s seniors asked for a better culture — and they made it happen. They worked hard to get rid of the LaxBro attitude. The players themselves led that change.
“And our assistants, Carl Kielbasa and Pete Hraba, who have coached many of the kids since they were young, have played a big role in that, too.”
Those changes have manifested themselves on the field. State High’s 14-5 record in 2023 marked the most wins in State College High School boys’ lacrosse history. Among the leaders of that group were Williams, who had 105 career assists (always the team guy), and goalie Zack Paterno, who made 574 career saves, with a 66% save rate. Paterno, whose legendary grandfather Joe was Jim Williams’ boss, now plays goalie at Wagner.
Kaluza & Co. welcome back a seasoned group in 2024, led by junior attack Ty Salazer, who has scored 74 career goals. Salazer plays a bit of football, too, and holds the all-time receiving record for the Little Lions football team, with 66 receptions for 1,079 yards. (Salazer also has deep PSU sports ties; his dad, Jon, is associate director of athletic training services.) Other key players for State High this season include seniors Maddox Leitzell, Alex Malick-Smith, Eli Espinoza and Nate Price, as well as junior Owen Kissinger.
“We’ve established a team identity of accountability and leadership,” says Carter Williams. “The thing is, everyone leads — not just the captains and the coaches.”
The Little Lions open their 2024 season on Friday at Hershey High School; they beat the Trojans 8-2 last season. And circle Thursday, April 4 on your lax calendar, as the State High and Penn State lacrosse worlds collide. The Little Lions play Cumberland Valley at Panzer Stadium, with the JV game at 6 p.m. and the varsity contest under the lights at 7:30 p.m.
