Morris County lacrosse teams fired up by pregame playlists, goal songs

Girls lacrosse: Morris County Tournament 2026 bracket, schedule, scores

The Randolph girls have one of those too, mostly curated by junior midfielder Riley Minerley – and played on Boyko's speaker off the cellphone of whoever pays for Spotify Premium to avoid ads.

Years ago, West Morris turned to teachers' assistant Melvin Travis to add DJ to his multi-hyphenated list.

The pastor at River of Life Church in Long Valley for 25 years, Travis has also been working at West Morris since 2017. As the site manager, he sets up and breaks down events, and serves as announcer and scoreboard operator.

Melvin Travis, a West Morris teachers' assistant and pastor for River of Life, is also a DJ for athletic events, like the boys lacrosse game against Caldwell on April 20.

Travis said it started four years ago with Wolfpack field hockey. He'd play "Shipping Up to Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys when West Morris scored.

Travis' duties have expanded to other teams.

The Wolfpack wrestlers have individual intro music. For lacrosse, the West Morris boys have a pre-game playlist, and then Travis cues up the national anthem – which is usually sung live by a student.

Boys lacrosse: Morris County Tournament 2026 bracket, scores, schedule

During pauses in play, he'll pick snippets from every genre from the 1950s to now: M.C. Hammer, Heavy D, "Are You Gonna Go My Way" By Lenny Kravitz, Michael Jackson, TLC, "I Just Want to Celebrate" by Rare Earth, Queen. Though Travis' taste leans more old school, he'll "play the younger stuff because that's what the kids want."

"For me, it's serving the community," said Travis, who has driven school buses, coached middle school wrestling and directed traffic during his career in the West Morris Regional District.

"The music fires them up. It's like taking water from them if you say you're not playing any music. They're accustomed to it. All the kids, when they come in, they expect it."

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Morris County lacrosse teams fired up by pregame playlists, goal songs