Ralston Valley and Green Mountain boys lacrosse victorious at NAAC

ARVADA — Ralston Valley boys lacrosse is off to its best start in the program’s history.

The Mustangs — varsity program began in 2017 — improved to 6-1 on the season with a 12-9 victory over Chatfield on Friday night at the North Area Athletic Complex. It was the Class 5A League #2 opener for both Ralston Valley and Chatfield (3-5, 0-1 in league).

“It was a big win,” Ralston Valley senior Aidan McCarron said. “We came in knowing what we had to do and executed. We made our plays. Had good stops on defense. Good attacks on offense. Everything was flying.”

McCarron had a team-high four goals in the third straight win for Ralston Valley.

Chatfield held a 5-3 lead in the second quarter, but Ralston Valley’s offense started heating up with a 3-goal run to close out the first half to grab a 6-5 lead. McCarron scored a pair of goals during the key run and junior Joey Rillos added another.

“We play as a team and have a lot of guys who can make plays,” Ralston Valley coach Steve Annest said.

Seniors Jack Stiles and Payton Hevers pushed the lead to 8-5 early in the third quarter. Rillos, Stiles and sophomore Colby Kurtz each had two goals for the Mustangs in the win.

Chatfield junior Brody Anderson (3 goals) and senior Camden Driscoll (2 goals) led the offensive charge for Chatfield.

“All the teams in league are good,” Annest said after the conference opener. “I think every single game can be won or lost. We just have to keep positive and thinking about making the play in the moment.”

The Mustangs and Chargers both came into the 5A League #2 opener with some positive momentum. Ralston Valley was coming off back-to-back wins over Denver South and Mullen. Chatfield had just defeated area-rival Dakota Ridge earlier in the week to give the Chargers a 3-game winning streak.

“This year we are making a run at league,” McCarron said.

The Mustangs have had to deal with some injury issues. Ralston Valley’s starting goalie Griffin Niedzieleski went down with an injury, but senior Luke Kellogg has stepped in nicely to fill that role. Junior Collin McLaughlin is another key player who has been out due to injury.

“It has provided an opportunity for other guys to step up,” Annest said of the injuries. “We have had more of team and sharing the ball approach.”

Ralston Valley steps out of conference play to face Kent Denver on Monday, April 15, back at NAAC.

Chatfield will have another tough league match-up on Wednesday, April 17. The Chargers travel north to face Mountain Range (6-1, 1-0).

Green Mountain 12, Resurrection Christian 11

In the opener of the triple-header of boys lacrosse action Friday at NAAC, Green Mountain erased a halftime deficit against Resurrection Christian on the way to a 12-11 victory for the Rams.

“I feel like lacrosse is just a game about runs,” Green Mountain senior Luc Meyer said of five unanswered goals in the third period that gave the Rams the lead for good. “Our goal is to go on bigger runs than our opponent. That is what we did to stay on top.”

Meyer had a 6-goal game to lead the way for the Rams’ offense. Rez Christian (5-4 record) held a 7-5 lead at halftime, but Green Mountain rallied by outscoring the Cougars 6-3 in the third quarter.

The Rams bounced back from a rough third quarter in their loss to Windsor on April 10. The Wizards outscored Green Mountain 5-0 in the third on the way to a 11-7 win for Windsor.

“It is a game of swings and momentum,” Green Mountain coach Nate Hallahan said. “I’m really proud of the guys how they responded after halftime.”

Seniors Quinn Johnson, Caden Jantzer, Ryan Bourne, Meyer, along with junior Ryan Beckman all scored in the third quarter for the Rams. Rez Christian did close out the quarter with a pair of goals to cut the lead to 11-10 heading to the fourth quarter.

However, Meyer made it a 2-goal lead early in the fourth quarter. Green Mountain’s defense limited the Cougars to just a single goal in the final 12 minutes to hang onto the win. Senior Bohdan Tabor picked up the victory in net for the Rams (5-3).

“I think our goalie (Tabor) is playing really, really well,” Hallahan said. “He is playing a way where he give us a chance. The defense in front of him are playing really, really hard. I’m proud of the effort.”

Junior Zander Adfield scored his fourth goal with 4:09 left in the fourth quarter to trim Green Mountain’s lead to 12-11, but the Rams controlled possession for the majority of the final minutes to preserve the win.

“We do that a lot in practice,” Meyer said of the Rams running out the clock in the final minutes. “We do that 2-minute drill all the time. Doing that all the time really helped us out tonight during the game.”

Green Mountain has a non-league game at Rangeview on Monday, April 15, before getting into the Class 4A Foothills League schedule.

“Getting these types of wins gives us confidence going into those league games,” Meyer said.