ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — High School lacrosse is officially coming to Rockford. Boylan High School officials say they’ll be starting an IHSA program for boys next spring.

Up until now, the only local lacrosse opportunity for high schoolers has been club lacrosse which is run by the Rockford Razorbacks. Boylan students have been competing within that club for the past several years. The Razorbacks’ coaches and directors, who have been a bit overwhelmed with a large number of players, have been hoping local high schools would start up teams, so that the Razorbacks can focus on developing young players and serve as a feeder program for local schools.

Razorbacks’ coach Bob White will be Boylan’s head coach and Razorbacks’ assistant Danny McGee, a 2018 Boylan graduate, will be assisting. Boylan will be starting with only a JV team in the 2023-24 school year in order to build up to a varsity team.

“We hope the addition of the Boylan Lacrosse program will further increase our students’ athletic involvement at our school,” says Boylan Athletic Director Paul Heitkamp in a news release. “We have had Boylan students playing lacrosse outside of Boylan for years, so it will be great to finally have them playing under the Titan name and wearing the green and white.”

Since there currently are no other local high schools with lacrosse teams, Boylan’s team will be facing mostly schools in the Chicago area.