Photos by Joe Kline / The Bulletin Freshman Brantley Biondi is one of a group of young Redmond players looking to contribute this season.

Dustin Williams is excited for the future of Redmond High boys lacrosse — and for good reason.

Although Williams’ expectations are low this season, the Panthers program’s ninth season, the first-year Redmond coach and his squad feel optimistic about what they can accomplish in 2015. Although 18 of his 24 players are handling a lacrosse stick for the first time ever this season, Williams, among others, sees opportunity for growth.

A focal point this season for Redmond, and especially for Williams, is building a lacrosse program for younger kids. Without a local youth program, Williams expresses concern for the sport’s future in Redmond. “We will not be competitive with established programs in the area,” he contends.

Jared Steele, the second-year coach at crosstown Ridgeview High, agrees, adding, “Youth is something that’s very important for development.”

That is where the two coaches will begin.

Steele, who has already started introducing lacrosse to local middle school kids, and Williams say they expect to field a unified Redmond team next season, one composed of seventh- and eighth-grade athletes that would compete against other Central Oregon squads. The youth team would be a combined effort by Williams and Steele, and it would be affiliated with the Bend Park & Recreation District with no connection to either Ridgeview or Redmond High.

This, the coaches insist, is the groundwork for a successful lacrosse future in Redmond, and it is its neighbor to the south that has set the example.

In Bend, interest in lacrosse has exploded in recent years. The Bend park district sponsors a youth program, and Bend’s three high schools all field lacrosse teams. And this year, for the first time, the city of Bend boasts two high school girls lacrosse teams.

Steele says he would like to see lacrosse in Redmond eventually expand as it has in Bend.

“We’d like to get it there,” he says. “We know it’s a long process, though.”

“A youth program that connects kids from Redmond with kids from Bend and Sisters would be ideal,” adds Williams, who also praises Sisters’ lacrosse program. Williams notes that at least 100 youngsters in the Bend park district’s youth program hail from the small town of Sisters.

Steele recalls from last season, and Williams has grown to understand now, the importance of fielding players who have already been exposed to lacrosse. In 2015, each coach is seeing the ramifications. Ridgeview is 3-5 so far this season, while Redmond, with just two players with more than a year of experience, has dropped its first six contests.

The Ravens can empathize with their intracity counterparts. Last year, Ridgeview, which played a JV schedule, struggled to attract seasoned lacrosse players, Steele remembers. Now, the Ravens boast 12 returners from last season’s squad and another three with playing experience.

It is an exciting change from Steele’s first year at Ridgeview, and one that Williams would like to see happen at Redmond High as well. For the Panthers, who Williams says might compete in a JV-only league next season, all they can do now is play.

“Go into it as a team,” the Redmond coach says, “and gain real game experience.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0307, jgeenen@bendbulletin.com.