Troy’s lacrosse program is getting back to where it was when Brian Johnson left it.

Johnson, who is now the Colts’ head coach, has the team riding a 10-game winning streak after Friday’s 15-2 win against Eisenhower in a Division 1 regional first-round game.

“We’re just happy to see the growth of the kids,” Johnson said. “We had a little rough patch at the beginning of the year, but after putting 10 wins together we’re a pretty strong team and in the hunt. We’re finally putting ourselves back on the map where we were in the 2013-14 era.”

That’s when Johnson and assistant coach Jake Parry, who graduated from Troy in 2015, were on the team before embarking on college careers.

“I graduated in 2013,” Johnson said. “It’s great to get back to the high school I went to. It’s something special, especially having a home playoff game and getting a big win.”

Troy’s players can sense their coaches’ love for the program.

“Just seeing them be able to continue that Troy High culture is great,” said senior midfielder Michael Lim.

Troy lost consecutive games to Rochester Adams and Bloomfield Hills in mid-April before the turnaround that gave the Colts a 6-0 record in the Oakland Activities Association White Division.

“We didn’t have the right mindset,” Lim said. “After a couple losses we learned from our mistakes and started improving — every day, every game. At the end of the season, we’re still improving.”

Johnson said that the maturation of the younger players on the team has been instrumental in the Colts’ resurgence.

“It was a lot of the young guys stepping up,” he said. “We have a good amount of seniors but we also have a good sophomore class that contributes a lot. They’re stepping up into a leadership role and it’s cool to see the growth they’ve made.”

Among the 10th-graders, goalie Joey Clark played a strong game, Jack Horvath scored four goals and Caleb Regner scored two.

There’s good balance in the Colts’ attack.

“We share the ball a lot more this year,” Lim said. “I have a lot more options to look to.”

Johnson gives Parry credit for the offensive system.

“It’s an unselfish offense,” said Johnson, who works with the defense that has allowed an average of just under four goals a game during the win streak. “We’re always looking to put our teammates in a better position to score.”

Ben Sumner collected four goals for Troy, Lim and Reece Lariviere each scored two and Michael Piraino and freshman Parker Barlow added one apiece.

Eisenhower finished 8-8 for its first season of .500 or better since 2019.

“The team came together more, played more as a unit and played more team defense,” said coach Ryan Swiatkowski. “They’ve been moving it down and playing more possession on offense. They took a big step from last year.”

The program has grown from 19 players two years ago to 50 this season.

“It’s growing. It’s getting better,” Swiatkowski said. “We see good things in the future. It’s not quite there right now but we’ll see it.”

Swiatkowski mentioned three players that have made key contributions this year and two of them are juniors.

“Matt Engelhardt, our goalie, has been fantastic,” Swiatkowski said. “He’s been a great wall back there helping us through some tough games. Luke (Mastronardi) is our attack man. We run our offense through him and look at him as our go-to guy who can score the goal. Cody Raymond is someone we can consistently rely on defensively.”

Raymond, who will play football at Wisconsin, is the only senior in the group.

Eisenhower’s goals were scored by Gavin Boyce and Chase Martin.

Troy advances to the regional semifinal at Stoney Creek on Friday at 7 p.m.