Note: For more photos from Paul DiSalvo, click here.
One week from tonight, the boys lacrosse postseason will be in full swing.
With the regular season set to wrap up Saturday, the Class 5A and 4A seedings for the 24-team playoff brackets are slated to be released Sunday. On Tuesday, the 4A first round gets going, with 5A following the next night.
With a handful of matchups still taking place in the next few days featuring teams ranked in the CHSAANow.com Coaches Poll – not to mention those teams still fighting to make the field of 24 – some shuffling is likely to take place before Sunday’s bracket release.
Cherry Creek continues to lead the 5A field. The Bruins (14-0, 7-0 in 5A League 4) wrapped up the league title with an 11-7 victory over No. 8 Colorado Academy on Tuesday night. Cherry Creek still has one regular season game remaining Friday at No. 3 Regis Jesuit.
The Raiders (10-2, 5-1 in League 3) also visit No. 4 Legend on Wednesday. Those two teams are just behind No. 2 Valor Christian, which was attempting to run the table in league play going into Tuesday’s game with Rock Canyon.
In 4A, top-seeded Cheyenne Mountain has the top spot in the RPI standings but has two huge games remaining. The Red-Tailed Hawks (10-3, 4-0 in 4A Southern) host No. 4 Air Academy (7-5, 4-0) on Wednesday with the league title at stake. Cheyenne Mountain then visits No. 2 Erie on Friday. No. 3 Dakota Ridge (12-2, 4-0 Foothills) can wrap up the league title outright Wednesday with a victory over Green Mountain.
The top eight seeds in both classifications earn a first-round bye in the playoffs.
With the season coming down to just a few days, here is a quick look at the state’s two classifications:
Class 5A
Valor Christian had a huge week that saw the Eagles defeat Regis Jesuit 10-3 on April 25 and then down No. 6 Mountain Vista 10-4 on Friday. Blake Benton and Baden Brown had three goals each, with Brown adding two assists, in the victory over Vista. Buck Cunningham stopped 10 shots.
Kent Denver finished just behind Cherry Creek in League 4, with Arapahoe taking third. The Warriors added a big win last Saturday, downing No. 10 Denver South 10-3. Mikey Moynihan had three goals and three assists and Ian Thompson made eight saves.
Ninth-ranked Poudre School District has two games remaining to wrap up the League 2 crown. The Stars (10-3, 5-0) broke a tie atop the league standings last Saturday with a 17-5 victory over Monarch. Paden Chastain had four goals and three assists and Colton Pawlak added four goals and an assist. Hunter Jesse made 10 saves. Monarch (10-3, 4-1) is currently ninth in the RPI standings. Arapahoe closes out the regular season Friday at Mountain Vista.
Lewis-Palmer can close out League 1 on Wednesday with a victory over Boulder. The Rangers’ 10-7 victory over Pine Creek last Friday – Marco Lagos had three goals and an assist – put Lewis-Palmer (7-7, 7-0) alone atop the league standings.
Class 4A
Northfield closed the door on the regular season and the Metro League with a 14-2 victory over Middle Park on Tuesday. The fifth-ranked Nighthawks (13-1, 7-0) have won nine in a row.
While Dakota Ridge is still atop the Foothills standings, No. 7 Evergreen – which fell by just one goal to the Eagles back on April 19 – put together a big week that included victories over Green Mountain and Golden. Leo Kailus had three goals and four assists in the 14-2 triumph over the Demons last Friday. The Cougars (7-5, 3-1) are just ahead of Lutheran in the RPI standings at No. 7 overall. Ninth-ranked Vail Mountain, which is trying to slip past Lutheran into the eighth spot, visits Evergreen on Friday in a big game for both teams.
Dakota Ridge downed Golden 16-4 last Wednesday thanks to seven goals and two assists from Tyler Read and four goals and five assists from Colin Smith. Logan Dobrowski had 15 saves.
Erie (12-2, 6-0 in Northern) poured in 16 goals Tuesday night in a victory over Resurrection Christian that wrapped up the league title. A 13-7 victory over No. 10 Dawson School last Wednesday put the Tigers alone at the top in the Northern, but Erie needed eight goals in the fourth quarter to take the victory. Liam Connors led the way with four goals and an assist.
Steamboat Springs (11-2, 9-1 in Western) picked up crucial victories over No. 9 Vail Mountain (9-6) and Aspen (8-5) last week. The Sailors have a two-game lead with two league games remaining. Lyle Henninger and Andrew Kempers combined for seven goals against Vail Mountain, the only team to defeat Steamboat in league play; Finn Rodgers tallied five goals against Aspen.
The Gore Rangers (9-3, 8-3) upended Aspen on Tuesday night.
