Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year

Yetter consistently good for Cougars

By: Justin Feil
   Mike Yetter has always played a major role for the Montgomery High School boys’ lacrosse team.
   Even as a freshman, he was the Cougars’ second-leading scorer. He repeated the feat in 2005 and then he was the leading scorer for MHS last year as a junior.
   Throughout those seasons, Yetter was surrounded by a familiar cast, one that had helped him grow as a player. After last season, many of his familiar surroundings changed.
   "We lost a lot of good players," Yetter said. "My brother (Jim), Tim Santye, Ryan Butler, Joe DiGangi, guys like that who have been playing since youth league. I was a little nervous. I never played with any of the other attackmen before."
   This spring, it was Yetter who was the oldest and most experienced of the Cougars. It showed as he led the Cougars to the best season in school history.
   "One of the best parts was watching him this year," said MHS head coach Tim Sullivan. "All three years, he had his older brother and Tim Santye, who he worked with for three straight years. It was nice to watch how he was able to make the three other attackmen who worked with him fit in and feel comfortable, especially his brother (Mark). Watching the chemistry between Kevin Hover and Kevin Watson was great. The number of points the three were able to put together was phenomenal. It was amazing when you add up the four of them and throw his brother in."
   The Cougars became known for their high-scoring offense. In 21 games last year, Montgomery scored 216 goals. This year, while playing two more games, they scored 298. And whether it was a goal or assist, Yetter was a player that Montgomery could depend on in any situation.
   "That was key," Sullivan said. "When the opportunity was there for him, he was definitely able to put away his opportunities. It’s just the type of person he is. He knows how to focus. His focus helped him become a great player in hockey and lacrosse."
   Already the all-time leading scorer in Montgomery hockey program history, Yetter also took over the all-time lacrosse lead from his brother Jim in 2007. He did so with three goals and three assists in a win over the Hun School that gave the Cougars the Bianchi Division title. Two days later, he scored the game-winning goal as MHS won its second-ever Somerset County Tournament title. Less than two weeks later, Yetter scored the go-ahead goal on a rocket shot as the Cougars beat Randolph for their first Group III state title before advancing to the Tournament of Champions semifinals.
   This year, Yetter did something he never had before. He played some midfield toward the end of the year. He contributed defensively as well as offensively for the Cougars. Yetter finished second on the team with a career-high 52 goals on just 118 shots, the second-best shooting percentage behind his brother Mark among the Cougars’ top 10 goal scorers. He was second with 36 assists, also a career high, and finished second to Hover in scoring for MHS, which finished a school-record 19-4.
   Mike Yetter is the Princeton Packet Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year.
   "He knew how to handle pressure," Sullivan said. "He wasn’t the person that was going to fold under pressure. That’s what helps win games. Mike has been very consistent for all four years in that situation.
   "As we’ve been saying the whole time, his consistency is important. Year in and year out, he was the person you could count on. One thing we do is create a lot of opportunities. Mike has been able to put himself in position to get the ball and put it away. Mike was able to make the most of every opportunity in front of him."
   Yetter insists he never thought that it was up to him to score the game-winner or to come through in the big situations. The competitor in him just seemed to come out at those times.
   "Sometimes you just have to do something," Yetter said. "It doesn’t have to be a goal. Against Randolph, I was thinking, ‘We’ve been here before and lost. We were down, 6-3, and we lost to them in hockey. There’s no way we’re losing to them again.’ The Ridge county goal, I was going to dodge and I got a shortstick and it just went in. You get the feeling you can’t lose with stuff like that. It doesn’t have to be me scoring. It can be me picking up ground ball or making a check or a pass."
   While playing midfielder over the final third of the season, Yetter was able to have even greater influence on games. It was a move that cut into some of his pure scoring ability, but it made MHS stronger.
   "He knew how to play his position well on offense," Sullivan said. "He surprised us a lot with his defense. A lot came together with playing hockey.
   "He knew how to put himself in the right place at the right time. At the midfield, we were able to get better matchups. One thing Mike is good at is getting open and putting away the shot when he’s open. At the midfield, we were able to get better matchups for him which opened up other people."
   Added Yetter of the change: "I got to play a little defense. It was fun going both ways. I think it’ll help in college. Have to do whatever I can to get on the field."
   Yetter will attend Salisbury University next fall, where he will join a Sea Gull squad that this spring won its fourth Division III national championship in five seasons. Yetter will go there with an individual scoring record.
   "It’s good. He’s happy for me," Yetter said of his brother Jim. "The important thing is me and his class and the class before that, they put Montgomery on the map. Before that they were the kids that got beat by Hun and Princeton, 15-2. We went up from the youth program up to the high school. It’s us kids that put the program where it is."
   Even better than the individual achievements he leaves with, he is proud to leave with three titles from his final scholastic season. The Cougars won the Bianchi, county and state titles, one year after they narrowly missed winning any of them.
   "I don’t know if it’s vindication," Yetter said. "It feels good. We did what we needed to do and what people said we weren’t going to do. All the North Jersey naysayers, in the state championship, we showed them. All the doubters, we showed them. When I look back, it’ll be a good feeling. We accomplished every goal we could. Every realistic goal, we got it done. Nobody else can say in Montgomery history they won a state championship."
   Certainly Mike Yetter played a large role in bringing the Cougars their first state title. It was the culmination of one of the best careers in MHS program history.
   "He makes other players around him better," Sullivan said. "He’s not the fastest kid. He doesn’t have the hardest shot. He just makes people around him better. With the number of assist and goals he’s been able to produce, it’s helped the whole team out."