Midwest Player of the Year Marek Tzagournis a Humble Record Setter

Marek Tzagournis prefers to pass.

It’s no coincidence the bulk of his Ohio high school boys’ lacrosse record 447 career points came on assists.

“I like getting other people wide-open shots,” Tzagournis said. “That’s the best thing is just to get people in position for easy goals, making it easy for other people, because there’s a point where you can make it easy for yourself, but I think making it easy for people on your team makes your team that much better and makes you that much more successful.”

Asked about that state record, Tzagournis did what he does best.

The Dublin Jerome senior passed.

Tzagournis readily passed the credit on to his coaches and teammates.

“It just shows the success of not only me, but the entire team over the past three years,” Tzagournis said. “I think it especially helped with the style we play. We played super fast, and our coaches let us play freely.”

Rather than talk about his stellar work commanding the field for the Celtics, the Denver commit immediately credited his record to the fact that their high-octane attack looks to take 60 shots per game. Still, regardless of Dublin Jerome’s pace, what Tzagournis has done is remarkable, and his state record is even more incredible given that the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out his entire freshman season.

Per Celtics coach Andy Asmo, Tzagournis would have started that year and likely racked up another 75 points. Instead, Asmo had to wait a year for Tzagournis’ debut.

It was worth the wait, as Tzagournis helped Dublin Jerome capture its first Division I state title. This year, Tzagournis and the Celtics captured another.

Tzagournis is the USA Lacrosse Midwest Boys’ Player of the Year.

“It was super cool,” Tzagournis said of Dublin Jerome’s 2021 and 2023 state titles. “The first state championship, when we came out of the locker room and we saw so many people there, the entire stadium, one side of the field, and after winning that, you could see the happiness.”

How exactly did Tzagournis break Ohio’s career points record without having a freshman season? Well, he quickly made up for lost time, including a whopping 150 points (62 goals, 88 assists) as a sophomore. Just like that, Tzagournis was on pace to make history.

His early success shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Tzagournis was born into the sport. That includes his older brother, Chase, starring for the Celtics and earning Ohio High School Midfielder of the Year honors in 2022. That also includes myriad older cousins, uncles and his father, Mike, playing for neighboring Upper Arlington.

That gave Tzagournis a head start, literally, as he began playing the sport a year earlier than most Dublin kids as he played up on his older brother’s teams.

The lacrosse that surrounded him from an early age helped build the IQ that allowed him to immediately take over the X position at Dublin Jerome.

Equally important, per Asmo, was Tzagournis’ humility.

“He was always the first one to be on the wall, the last one to leave after practice,” Asmo said. “[He] worked harder than or as hard as anybody as a freshman and sophomore, and that earned the respect of the upperclassmen that then very quickly learned, ‘OK, he’s the best kid. We’re going to protect this guy.’”

While Tzagournis’ older teammates protected him, the young phenom was always looking out for them, distributing the ball throughout his career.

“I usually just let the game come to me,” Tzagournis said. “I’m always trying to go to the net, and then, if I see the slide, I’m passing it.”

Still, there were times this season when the Celtics needed Tzagournis to be more of a scorer. That included an early season trip to Florida when a couple of Dublin Jerome’s leading attackmen were injured and Tzagournis rose to the occasion with a bevy of goals.

“When we had our other two attackmen both hurt in the beginning of the year against two top teams in Florida, he just did everything,” Asmo said. “Everything ran through him.”

Tzagournis was similarly dominant in his high school finale, notching five of Dublin Jerome’s 12 goals in its 12-10 state title game win over St. Xavier. As the postseason wore on, more and more defenders were waiting back on defense, playing the pass rather than the shot.

So Tzagournis did what he had to do and fired away.

“He’s our best shooter and probably our best scorer, but he just tries to get everyone else involved,” Asmo said. “When we needed goals, he would find it, and he knew when to take over. He knew when he needed to take over and score goals for us.”