Regis Jesuit’s fourth-quarter surge lifts Raiders to 5A boys lacrosse title
DENVER – With a four-goal lead slowly being whittled away Friday night, Regis Jesuit senior Joey Chott stepped in and gave the Raiders a much-needed shot of adrenaline.
After Arapahoe pulled to within two goals of Regis Jesuit to start the fourth quarter of the Class 5A boys lacrosse state championship, Chott ignited a five-goal outburst with two scores in a span of 33 seconds. That helped spark the Raiders to an 11-6 victory over the Warriors at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, giving Regis Jesuit its second title in three years.
“It’s what we’ve been working for all year,” Chott said. “It’s our final run. Our motto was ‘finish’ this year and we finished out the season with a state championship. It’s amazing.”
After falling to Cherry Creek in the 2015 title game, the Raiders (17-2) were all about finishing. That’s exactly what the team did in the fourth quarter, pulling away with four goals in just more than four minutes.
Arapahoe (15-4) trailed all night, but was slowly chipping away at the lead. David Babb’s length-of-the-field sprint was capped off with a goal to make it a 6-4 game, but Chott responded less than a minute later with a score of his own.
He struck again 33 seconds later, ripping a long attempt past Warriors goalie Ethan Ferrie to make it 8-4.
“It was a big push for our team,” Chott said. “Then we could settle down and waste some clock.”
Reed Babcock made it 9-4 with seven minutes, 24 seconds remaining, and Alec Barnes’ second goal of the game pushed the lead to six goals. Joey Soran added his second goal soon after that.
That was more than enough for the Raiders’ defense, which allowed only 11 goals in four playoff games. Junior goalie Braden Host, who gave up less than four goals a game this season, notched six saves.
“My defense in front of me has just been locked down. We’ve got a lot of great defenders; even our second-string are phenomenal,” Host said. “I trust all of them. They give up the shots I want to see. They really just protect me, and it just works.”
Senior Keenan Moffitt scored a pair of goals for Arapahoe and Chase Douglas, Ryan Carlson and Babb also added goals. Ferrie finished the night with seven saves.
The Raiders jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the first quarter behind a hat trick from senior attack Mikey Bealer. Chott scored his first goal of the night to make it a 4-1 game at halftime.
“That’s huge to get the momentum,” Chott said. “Then we could just play with the lead and play smart. Our defense – best defense in the state, only giving up five goals in the state championship.”
While the semifinal victory over Cherry Creek was a nice bit of redemption for Regis Jesuit, the only win that truly mattered was the one that came Friday night.
“Honestly this is just huge, coming back from that state loss last year,” Host said. “The big motto the whole year was ‘finish.’ Really, that was just to finish what we started last year: Get to the ‘Ship and finish.”
