Bruner, Griffin lead Ponderosa boys lacrosse over Pueblo West

PUEBLO – This wasn’t a statement game for the Ponderosa High School boys lacrosse team.

Mustangs’ coach Pat Tierney, however, was satisfied with the final result.

Blake Bruner scored six goals and Jack Griffin tacked on three more, powering the Mustangs to a 15-7 win over Pueblo West Thursday in a Pikes Peak League game at Cyclones Stadium.

“This was a tough game,” Tierney said. “Sometimes you think you are just going to walk into an easy game and Pueblo West played well. Pueblo West is making strides, but I think our team overall played gutsy. Blake and Jack are great players and we do not have a chance to compete without great players.”

Ponderosa improved to 4-1 overall with its third-consecutive win. The Mustangs’ only loss was 14-8 to Brighton High School out of Salt Lake City, Utah on March 13. Pueblo West dropped to 0-4 with the loss.

“We just didn’t move the ball well,” second-year West coach Jason Pacheck said. “We are getting better, but we just have to move the ball. It comes down to passing the ball and we aren’t doing that right now.”

The Mustangs set the tone for the game in the opening 24 minutes, taking a 10-4 halftime lead.

“We just wanted to go out there and get better,” said Bruner, a senior, attacker. “We were moving the ball in the first half and working the fundamentals.”

Griffin, a junior midfielder, echoed his teammate.

“We were winning ground balls and face-offs, the easy things,” the 5-foot-8, 150-pound Griffin said.

During the second half, the Cyclones tried to change the pace of the game, but could never cut into the Mustangs’ advantage.

“They definitely became more physical because we had a lead on them,” said Bruner, who has signed to play lacrosse at Westminster College, an NCAA Division II school in Salt Lake City. “The game became a little bit more chippy, but we were able to handle it.”

Although the season is still very young, Tierney, who is in his third season at the helm of Ponderosa, has bold expectations for his squad.

“Winning state has to be our goal, absolutely,” said Tierney, whose team lost in the state quarterfinals to Air Academy last season. “I think we have a good team. We have talent. We going to face some issues like injuries and we are going to need some luck, and we are going to need to improve. We try and take something out, hopefully out of every game, and make ourselves better.”

Bruner, a 6-foot-1, 170-pounder, knows the challenge his team faces to win state, but he’s embracing the challenge.

“The state championship is our goal,” Bruner said. “I think we are very capable of reaching that goal. We are all good buddies on this team. We all get along and we all push each other to get better. It is a good group of players that we have. Whatever team we face, we just want to go out there and get the win.”

They accomplished that mission Thursday and will look to do it again Friday as they face Grandview.