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WHEELING - Zack Stahl has gotten plenty out of the sport of lacrosse - almost as much as he's put into it.

And yet, he wants more.

''I've got (a state championship) in hockey,'' Wheeling Central's senior standout said, ''and I'd like to get one in lacrosse. It means more to me than any other award I could get.''

He'll have that chance Saturday, as the second-seeded Maroon Knights will face top-seed University on Saturday at Bridgeport in the West Virginia State Lacrosse Association's title game.

The individual awards have piled up for Stahl, who is the state's leading scorer - by a mile.

He's scored more than 300 points in his career, with more than 100 of those, including four goals in last weekend's 18-8 state semifinal victory against Fairmont Senior, coming this season. Putting that in perspective, the next guy has 60 points.

Among those who report their statistics nationally, Stahl trails only one Florida player in points this season.

That's why he's believed to be the first player from a West Virginia high school to be named an All-American by the U.S. Lacrosse Federation, a nationally known governing body of the sport.

''I've been pushing myself for four years,'' said Stahl, who's been in the program all four years it has existed at Wheeling Central. ''I come out early almost every day before practice and shoot, work on little things.''

Andrew Paulus was one of the guys who helped get the sport off the ground at Central, and he's now an assistant coach at the school working under head coach Kevin Maloney, a former Wheeling Jesuit standout.

Paulus was a senior, Stahl a freshman, during the program's first year.

''First year, he was good,'' Paulus said of Stahl. ''He worked hard, never quit, listened to everything Coach told him, busted his butt, and he deserves everything he's gotten.''

Maloney said it's almost unheard of for a still relatively new program like Central, compared to the veterans like Morgantown, Fairmont Senior, and University, to reach the state's pinnacle.

Fourth-year programs typically don't even make the playoffs.

The fact that the Maroon Knights are where they are suggests Stahl has plenty of help in guys like Brian Felton and Alex Gompers, Tucker Wilkinson and Mike Felton, Chase Miller and Matt Blust.

''I have great teammates on my side that push me to make me the best I can be,'' Stahl said.

Each of those guys, like Stahl, has come a long way, considering the sport was mostly foreign to them prior to meeting Maloney at Wheeling Central during those early knee-weakening days during their freshman years.

''Most of the kids come out, they don't know the sport; they've never seen the sport,'' Maloney said. ''We spend a lot of time on the fundamentals, working with the kids, and basically let them know that as a freshman they could start if they hit the drills hard enough.

''It's not just a sport for the upperclassmen. It's a sport that if you practice and you work hard, you can easily get good and make a difference on this team.''

To that end, there are six freshmen listed on the 23-man roster at Wheeling Central, and, indeed, some of them are difference-makers.

By the time they're seniors, lacrosse might be played at twice the number of schools statewide it is right now (14), maybe three times, and Wheeling Central might be talked about in the same breath as the Morgantowns and Universitys.

That would satisfy Paulus, who was sitting at T.J.'s Sports Garden and Restaurant one day watching lacrosse on television when he came up with the idea to organize some pickup games. They played them in the field behind the Sheetz gas station in Woodsdale and fell in love with the game. The next year, school officials gave them their blessing and they were playing it as a club sport at Central.

''It's awesome, knowing that I helped start this thing, seeing that after four years, we're No. 2 ready to contend for a state title,'' Paulus said. ''To see how much these kids bust their butt all season, not getting any exposure, it's awesome.''