Reinson thrived in latest role
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Josh Reinson’s final season of football was a comfortable one.
The Montgomery High School senior played his role and served as a solid example to the younger players on the Cougars.
And while he would have liked to do the same come lacrosse season, he knew that wouldn’t be possible.
”It’s that whole aspect of I had to step up and be a leader,” Reinson said. “I’ve been a starter and been on varsity for four years. I knew I had to be more vocal.”
Being vocal was only one of the changes that Reinson had to employ this spring. He also had to change the way that he played. He had been comfortable and thrived as a stand-still shooter out of the midfield.
”I knew this year was a building year, but for me, I had to change my way of playing,” Reinson said. “Not only for myself, and going onto next year, but for the whole team. We basically lost our whole offense. We had two true returning starters coming back from last year including me. Everyone that hadn’t played got a lot of the playing time. It was cool to see everyone step up, and people I wouldn’t have expected to step up, stepping up and doing a great job of it.”
Reinson’s example helped an inexperienced Cougars team. He became a tougher offensive player with more movement and the ability to shoot on the run with better results. And he became a better leader.
”Matt Stagnitta said it best,” explained MHS head coach Tim Roy. “He said, ‘In football, I never heard Josh say more than two words.’ He became a vocal leader. He was a leader on the field. He developed into an all-around threat. He was the highest scoring pure midfielder in the state. Josh never played attack once this year. He scored all his goals from the midfield.”
In a program that has grown in leaps and bounds over the last decade, Reinson cemented his spot in the history books with one of the best all-around individual years that they have had. In addition to taking faceoffs when the Cougars really needed a possession or even a quick goal, he finished with 64 goals, almost half of his career total 129, and 20 assists to go with 125 ground balls, just two off the school record. His 64 goals ranked fourth all-time in a season for the Cougars, and it came despite not having as much veteran talent around him as many previous MHS teams. Reinson helped the Cougars go 10-11 in a rebuilding year while serving as their top offensive threat against constant defensive attention.
”I’ve always had people around me that did that,” Reinson said. “There were always people that could dodge and shoot the run. This year, I didn’t have that. I had to be that kid.”
Josh Reinson is the HiTOPS/Princeton Packet Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year.
”For Josh, this year was a culmination,” Roy said. “He’s always been a pretty good goal scorer. He has 195 career points, and he had 64 and 20 this year. That was top five in the school history and he was top 10 in the state with goals.
”I had him three seasons — two seasons at Montgomery and one in the summer. He was a give me the space and time and I’ll make it. We really needed him to evolve. He needed to be more than a time and room kid. He needed to be able to dodge and shoot. He needed to become a more complete midfielder. This year is the end result of that to some degree.”
Roy would never be surprised with anything that Reinson can do. A terrific athlete, Reinson had committed to play for ACC and national power Maryland after his sophomore year at MHS, the year that Roy came to the Cougars. MHS put more on Reinson than he had ever been asked to do and he responded.
”He was our main focus, but he wasn’t just catch and shoot,” Reinson said. “He would come off picks. He did a lot of things that he wasn’t used to. I credit Jason Carter, who came from Princeton. He worked with our offense.
”He really is a very skilled kid,” he added. “We wanted to make him ACC ready. That was our focus, and put him in spots where he’d be competing all the time and become a more complete athlete.”
The challenges were unique to Reinson. He’d been pretty comfortable in his first three years in what could best be considered more of a support role. He was one part of a well-oiled machine for his first three years. This year, he was the engineer.
”It was definitely good for me,” Reinson said. “But at first it was so different. It took a while to adjust to. There were so many expectations on me. I’ve always had kids just as good or better than me around me. This year, I was that kid that everyone was looking to.”
Defenses knew it too, but the Cougars made sure that he was harder to guard.
”What was most impressive about Josh this year is he really did a lot as the primary focus,” Roy said. “Every time he was on the field, he was getting the best pole and the defensive scheme was geared toward him. Everyone knew where No. 9 was. That was one of the most impressive things, he was as good as he was and Matt (Stagnitta) was the only other primary focus. We were very midfield driven.”
The Cougars tried to help Reinson by moving him more than he ever had, and with his new shooting skills getting honed every game, he was more effective as a big-time scorer out of the midfield.
”It was something that had to be done,” Reinson said. “It was just a matter of time before it would happen. This was the perfect time for me to get working on it with (college) next year. It helped me as a player and helped the team. It added another element.
”It was a good thing for me to add. It was something that every other team had to worry about, not just me being a standstill shooter. They had more things to worry about.”
Reinson recognized the differences immediately when the season began. He wasn’t given much time to shoot when he had the ball and the openings weren’t as big for him. It’s more like what he will see at the next level.
”Going to Maryland, I have to be able to shoot on the run,” he said. “I have to be more diverse. Preparing myself for next year, making myself more diverse will make me better in the long run.”
It was a new challenge for a player that has all the tools to be special. The Cougars coaching staff challenged him to improve and he responded.
”When he steps on the field, he’s the best athlete probably every time,” Roy said. “He’s a really fast kid when you see a sprint. He was at offseason workouts all the time. He really tried to make a change from the last day of last year to the first day of this year. I think he did change.”
It’s a change that is promising for his future. Reinson will be challenged further in college.
”Not having to concentrate on football and everything else, I do think his best days are ahead of him at Maryland,” Roy said. “He can play there, maybe some D middie first year. They’re extremely excited to have him for his athleticism and his upside.”
Reinson surprised himself when he saw the final statistics from the year. He never would have predicted that he’d be among the program’s all-time leading single-season scorers. Having surprised himself in his final season at MHS, he heads to Maryland ready for the next level.
”Honestly, I’m going in there real open-minded,” Reinson said. “I know it’s going to be a lot different. I’m going to be playing with seven to 10 All-Americans. Everyone will be as good or better than me catching and throwing. I don’t know what to expect from myself.
”I’m going to go in there and do what they ask me to do. I’m just going in with a real open mind, not expecting myself to do what I did in high school. I’ll do whatever they ask, maybe defensive middie, offensive middie.”
Reinson will be back in a more comfortable role of fitting into a team, though he proved he could be quite a leader as well in his final season with the Cougars lacrosse team.
”There still was good talent around me, but there were more eyes on me than past years,” he said. “Kids stepped up and did what they needed to do. That helped to take some pressure off me. When they stepped up, I did what I had to do.”
Josh Reinson had been a solid and at times brilliant part of the Cougars program for three years. The spectacular was more on display than ever in his final year, the culmination of his years of development.
”I definitely did what I wanted these four years,” Reinson said. “There are still things I’m working on and getting better at. There are some things I could have done better, but I’m pretty satisfied with what I did.”