DLN ALL-AREA: West Chester East’s Greiner completes long climb to the top

EXTON >> Jacob Greiner doesn’t get caught up in labels. In fact, he kind of relishes his earlier status as a ‘B’ level youth player.

Greiner wasn’t a candidate to go to a private school like Malvern Prep coming out of middle school. He was actually a skinny youngster that wasn’t on anybody’s list as a potential future star.

“I was always kind of tiny,” Greiner admitted. 

Four years later, he’s an all-stater, an All-American and the 2019 Daily Local News All-Area Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year. And the senior from West Chester East will be playing Division I college lacrosse starting next fall.

“He maximizes everything he’s got genetically by his own will and determination,” said Vikings’ head coach Jim Schorn. “Jacob doesn’t go to a physical trainer or a lacrosse trainer. He gets out of school and he hits the gym, is on the field shooting, he’s working on his footwork with ladders and running hills. And it’s usually by himself.

“I’ve driven by school on a snow day and he’s out on the field shooting. That is the kind of kid who wants greatness.”

And it certainly happened this spring. Greiner poured in 53 goals and added 36 assists in 2019 in just 17 games, and his numbers were muted.

“I pulled Jacob out early in a lot of games, and he knows we are not going to run the score up,” Schorn pointed out. “If I let him go, he could have doubled his scoring. But he likes to share the ball. He is not a ball-hog.

“He’s a complete player and he makes everybody around him better.”

A southpaw attacker, Greiner boasted a lethal shot that he could summon from a wide array of angles. A first-team all-league pick for three seasons, Greiner capped off his high school career by being the unanimous top attacker in the Ches-Mont as voted by league coaches. First-team all-state and All-American accolades soon followed.    

Not bad for a kid who was branded a ‘B’ level player as a youth.

“The ‘B’ level kids typically don’t practice as much, they don’t play the competition level and they don’t have the best coaching,” Schorn explained.

“It is a little surprising,” Greiner acknowledged. “You don’t expect ‘B’ kids to play Division I lacrosse, but it was always a goal to play in college.”

A feat that is quite rare has actually become almost commonplace at West Chester East. In the last few years, the Vikings have sent three ‘B’ level youth players to the top ranks of the college lacrosse. The others are Jesse Roth and Collin Murray.

“It’s pretty much unheard of except under (Jim Schorn). All the credit goes to him,” Greiner said.

A resident of Exton, Greiner didn’t start playing lacrosse until fourth grade. And he only gave it a shot because a lot of his friends were playing.

“I wasn’t very good at all,” Greiner recalled.

“Until seventh grade, football was my favorite sport. Then it flipped and I fell in love with lacrosse. It’s mostly due to the fact that I was playing with my best friends.”

When he showed up at East in 2015, Greiner weighed well under 100 pounds. During his freshman season in ’16, Schorn saw potential but decided to put Greiner on the junior varsity team in order to avoid injury. For the playoffs, however, Greiner was elevated to the varsity and he promptly scored three goals and added two assists in his debut.

Greiner started every game since and was a two-time team captain. And it all culminated this spring as the Vikings captured the program’s first outright Ches-Mont crown in three decades. 

“It was satisfying to leave our mark as a team,” Greiner said.

“All of the seniors were all-in 100 percent, keeping everyone on-task and putting in extra work. That’s what separated us from previous seasons. I’ve never been on a team with such strong senior leadership. I don’t think our talent was, necessarily, greater than in 2018.”

As a senior, Greiner played at 5-foot-10, 160-pounds, which represents a big jump from four years ago, but is still on the small side for such a physical sport. 

“But he’s a strong kid for as small as he is,” Schorn said.

“We believe we can take a kid that wants to be good, and make him good. In Jacob’s case, he’s not just good, he’s elite.”

Thanks to a lot of hard work, Greiner’s game has developed into much more than a shooter with great velocity and accuracy — even though he admits that it is, indeed, one of his strengths.

“We just work a lot on our stick-work and our shooting,” Greiner said. “We’ve put in so much time, and it shows.”

Greiner’s speed and maneuverability is impressive, his skill level is unquestioned and his imagination on the field is limitless. In short, he plays with a kind of undefined flair that catches the eye.

“We weren’t crazy but we were definitely creative in our game,” Greiner said when asked about East’s explosive attack.

“If Jacob has to take a side-armed, underhand or behind the back shot, it’s probably going to go in because is so skilled,” Schorn said. “He has one of the most elite sticks I’ve been in the high school level.”

West Chester East went 14-2 in the regular season and beat two-time state champion Bishop Shanahan and 3A power Avon Grove on its way to the title. The Vikings, however, burned out quickly in the District 1 Playoffs, falling to Upper Dublin in round two after earning a first round bye.

“I still have nightmares about that,” Greiner said.

According to Greiner, it’s been an advantage going through it all with his fraternal twin brother, Jeff. He also credited his mom, Tracey Greiner.

“She does everything,” he said of his mom. 

“And with Jeff, having each other definitely contributed to both of us getting better. If one of us decided to get up early and workout, the other would have to go too.”

Greiner originally committed to play Division I lacrosse at Bellarmine University in Kentucky, but changed his mind following a coaching change. He eventually settled on Jacksonville (Fla.) University.   

“I had some interest from a number of schools and Jacksonville was one,” he reported. “I really liked the coaching staff and when I visited I fell in love with the area. I sure am excited to get down there.”

Greiner leaves as one of W.C. East’s best-ever players.

“In my 30 years, he’s in a very small group of guys who are elite,” Schorn said. “He helped build our program to where it is.”