A love of lacrosse — and landscaping
Franklin attackman Luke Coleman runs business every summer
When Luke Coleman plays for Franklin lacrosse team, he puts on a show for fans with his dazzling moves and high-scoring potential.
In the offseason, he puts on a different kind of performance.
When he’s out of school during the summer and not playing for his Koopers club lacrosse team, he likes to show off the lawns he has groomed for neighbors through his landscaping business.
“I started one when I was a little younger,” Coleman said. “It wasn’t too much, it was just like older people around my community, but I did a lot of advertising. I have a couple shirts, business cards. It was just Luke’s Lawn Service.”
Coleman, who will play lacrosse at Division I Jacksonville University next season where he plans to major in business finance, has put his landscaping business on hold, but he won’t forget about it.
“I have truly built a love for landscaping and when I get older I would hopefully like to own my own company along those lines,” he said. “I’ve always just loved being outside and cutting grass and looking back at the final job. It’s always interested me and it’s a little different from the other jobs my friends have.”
His job on the lacrosse field is not unlike any other standout attackman and he has fulfilled the role admirably.
Franklin is off to a 4-0 start and Coleman leads the team in scoring with 19 goals and 11 assists to go along with more than 20 ground balls.
“He’s just such a dynamic player,” coach Anthony Burgos said. “He can just create so much offense, he’s just so unique with his stick skills and he’s playing like a college student playing in high school.”
Coleman started playing lacrosse for Reisterstown recreation when he was 5 years old, and he played for a club team in the sixth grade before moving on to play for Koopers.
“I really fell in love with it,” he said. “I had a coach that said I was never going to be any good, and that stuck with me. So I really turned it on and left that club team, and I found Koopers and they welcomed me and it went uphill ever since.”
His coach said Coleman has intangibles that go beyond his on-the-field play and benefits the Franklin program as a whole.
“He’s just an all-around great kid, he has a great attitude,” Burgos said. “He wanted to accomplish all his goals being a public school kid and he’s done that and I’m very, very proud of the kid.”
Coleman knew he belonged at Franklin during the postseason of his freshman year, as he recalled one of the most memorable games of his career.
“It was to put us in the second round of playoffs and we beat Howard by two goals,” he said. “I remember it very distinctly because in warmups I had broken my main stick and it was like all in my head, and I turned it back around and I didn’t have a ton of goals, but we all came together and it was a gritty game and we all fought hard and we walked away with a win.”
Assistant coach and offensive coordinator Keith Reitenbach has seen tremendous growth in Coleman since 2019.
“When he was a freshman, he was a raw athlete with a great shot and we encouraged him to develop all of the skills that go into making a great attackman. And the last two years he’s really been everything that we have asked of him,” Reitenbach said.
His unique skills included a behind-theback goal in a 17-1 win over Loch Raven on Monday and Reitenbach wasn’t surprised.
“We encourage Luke to be creative in his shooting,” Reitenbach said.
He is also getting more opportunities off the ball to score and feed his teammates.
“There is no doubt that we have a great group this year and Luke is being a great leader,” Reitenbach said. “It’s a really exciting attack unit we’ve got going with Luke — the senior — sophomore Adam Komenski and the freshman Emerson Manser.”
Franklin opened the season by outscoring its first four opponents 66-25, and Coleman is optimistic as the season unfolds.
“We’ve really been coming together,” he said. “I’m really looking to go really far in the playoffs and hopefully get a championship.”
The schedule ramps up for Franklin in the coming weeks. The Indians will face their toughest stretch with games at Catonsville on Thursday, at Towson on April 19 and home against Dulaney on April 21.
“We are really excited about playing the traditional county powers,” Reitenbach said.