No. 7 Wheat Ridge tunes up for boys lacrosse playoffs, defeats No. 5 Columbine
LAKEWOOD — Defensively, Wheat Ridge’s boys lacrosse team appears to be peaking at the right time.
The Farmers (13-2 record) haven’t surrendered more than seven goals in any game since spring break, including a sweep through the Class 5A Front Range League undefeated. The trend of a tough team to score on continued Friday night as Wheat Ridge ran its winning streak to eight games with a 7-5 victory over rival Columbine (11-4).
“Our defense, holy cow, they played lights out today,” Wheat Ridge coach Chris Knott said after the victory at Trailblazer Stadium.
Wheat Ridge senior goalie Nolan Hector was brilliant in net.
“I felt pretty confident. The past year, in front of our defense it’s hard not to feel confident,” Hector said. “They give me the shots I want to see. They let me see the ball well. I can’t say enough about my defense.”
The Farmers allowed just one goal in the first half. Columbine freshman Tanner Hollens finally got the Rebels on the scoreboard late in the second quarter, but Wheat Ridge sophomore Chris McEahern answered with a minute left before halftime to put the Farmers up 3-1 going into the break.
“Their goaltender (Hector) played absolutely fantastic. We had a ton of good looks,” Columbine coach Matt Plitnick said. “The effort was really there. We weren’t smart in some situations and good teams make you pay for it.”
Hollens struck early in the third quarter to tie thing up 3-3, but Wheat Ridge didn’t panic. Sophomore Tanner Spirek and senior Andrew Frerich scored back-to-back goals to get the Farmers back to a 2-goal cushion.
Columbine cut the lead to one with a goal from junior Nick Darrow heading into the final quarter. Sophomore Cole Kissell scored a minute in the fourth quarter for the Farmers off an assist from Frerich. The senior attacker put in his third goal of the night midway through the fourth quarter to extend Wheat Ridge to its largest lead of the game at 7-4.
“Andrew has been key for us all year long, not just tonight,” Knott said. “That senior leadership that he provides. He slows the game down and take it over when we need him to. Hats off to him.”
Wheat Ridge’s win atoned for Columbine handing the Farmers an overtime last season entering the postseason.
“It feels great. We play with a lot of these guys during the summer and they are one of our biggest rivals,” Frerich said. “It’s good to finish off the regular season off with this win.”
The 16-team 5A boys lacrosse tournament field is schedule to be released tomorrow (Saturday, May 6).
Wheat Ridge (5A Front Range League champions) and Columbine (5A Jeffco League runner-ups) are both headed to the playoffs, but Friday’s game could have very well determined who might earn a top-8 seed and home field advantage in the opening round.
Wheat Ridge was No. 6 in RPI and Columbine held the No. 7 slot in the RPI before Friday’s showdown at Trailblazer. Both were ranked in the top-10 in the final CHSAANow.com 5A boys lacrosse rankings.
Columbine suffered its lone league loss Monday in a 12-6 road loss to No. 9 Lewis-Palmer that cost the Rebels a conference title.
“It’s definitely not ideal,” Plitnick said of the Rebels going into the postseason on a 2-game losing streak. “We’ve got a lot kids banged up and that is what we need to work on for next week.”
Knott, who has already announced this is his last season coaching the Farmers, isn’t looking back to last season when Wheat Ridge lost in the opening round to Mullen.
“This is a new year and a new team,” Knott said. “For us, we just have to take it one game at a time and that starts with getting ready for our opponent next week whoever it is. We just have to come out and be ready.”
