4A boys lacrosse: Cheyenne Mountain wins third title in five years

DENVER – Cheyenne Mountain boys lacrosse just keeps winning titles.

On Friday at the University of Denver, the Red-tailed Hawks won 10-5 over Air Academy in the Class 4A state championship game. With the victory, the program has now claimed three of the last four titles. And for a school that has won multiple titles throughout the school year already, Friday’s title was another impressive notch on Cheyenne Mountain’s belt.

“In any school, there begins to develop a culture,” head coach Mike Paige said. “That starts capturing the attention of third graders and fourth graders that are playing, and they want to be a part of this. We really believe in the fellowship, we really believe in the brotherhood and we really believe in building good young men.”

Friday’s game went back and forth early on and was tied four times in the first half before Cheyenne Mountain (16-3) pulled ahead of Air Academy (15-4) a bit and led 6-4 at halftime. That slight advantage turned into a 5-0 run that gave the Red-tailed Hawks the separation they needed to hold on for the victory.

“We respect the heck out of that team,” Paige said. “Grant Rodny’s a phenomenal player and Air Academy is a great team. The have a great coaching staff. But we’ve been fighting all year for this warrior spirit, being tenacious and working harder than every adversary. And that’s kind of what worked for us. Once the wave started moving in that direction, we took the momentum and took advantage of it.”

Senior Wyatt Furda, who also won a state championship with the Cheyenne Mountain ice hockey team in the winter, led the Red-tailed Hawks with four goals. Mitchell Lewis scored a pair of goals, and Will Weinstein, Kasey Freeman, Hank Walsh and Stefan Dingbaum each chipped in a goal.

“I’m feeling a lot of emotions right now,” Furda said. “My grandpa’s here, my whole family’s here. It’s just a great thing; two Colorado Springs schools. I just saw my opportunities and I took it. It’s easy to score when you’re surrounded by a bunch of great teammates.”

Both from Colorado Springs, the Red-tailed Hawks and the Kadets are quite familiar with one another. Many of them played youth lacrosse together when they were younger, and Cheyenne Mountain won 15-10 over the Kadets when the teams met during the regular season.

Rodny, who entered the game as the state’s goals leader, led Air Academy with two goals along with Lucas Obringer. Ryan Flaherty scored Air Academy’s other goal.

Cheyenne Mountain now has three boys lacrosse title and has played in the last four straight 4A championship games.

Air Academy also finished runner-up in 2013.