Denver South: Cinderella Story Lacrosse Program in Search of its Storybook Ending

Throughout the early years of being a program, Denver South’s boys lacrosse team experienced limited success. Enter then-new head coach Paul Mahoney and a talented crop of freshman in 2021, though, and the tide started to turn.

With a 71-109 record throughout its first 13 years, the Ravens notched just two winning seasons and appeared in one playoff game. In the last four seasons under Mahoney, the team boasts a 42-15 record, winning 73.7 percent of games played.

“We knew that it wasn’t going to change overnight,” Mahoney explained. “I have to credit an incredible coaching staff who was as committed as I was, because we put in the time with those kids, in the dog days of summer. We would go out there, and it didn’t matter if we had 30 kids or if we had three, and there were some days when we had only two or three. There were days where we had more coaches than players. But we just made ourselves available to teach the basics, the fundamentals of the game and tried to have faith that if you apply that approach for long enough, it would pay dividends, and that’s what got us going.”

Soon, word spread about what was going on down at Denver’s South field over the summer, and students began flocking to participate.

But then, as interest started to build, COVID canceled the 2020 boys lacrosse season and Mahoney had to start laying a whole new foundation.

“That was a really trying time,” Coach Mahoney recalled. “Of course, none of us knew what was going to happen. Nobody knew what the future was going to look like. On the one hand, that was super challenging and really difficult, but, on the other hand, it was really a blessing and a godsend that we had a team that we could draw upon. I think long term that probably helped the culture of the program, just because you’re going through such adversity right off the bat, and to have that one thing that you can come together over probably contributed to a lot of the success we’ve had in the seasons since then.”

While the program’s coach had done his part to set the stage and build a culture, it would take his incoming class of freshmen, in 2021, to bring life to the program.

Wyatt Hurd, Karson Sparks and Chase Ford, all now seniors and NCAA Division I commits, were necessary arrivals to change the narrative around Denver South’s lacrosse program.

“All three of these guys were elected as captains by their teammates, and that’s a true reflection of team leadership,” Mahoney said of the now-senior players. “It was during the pandemic that I met all of the players that comprise my current senior class. When everything was shut down, those of us who love lacrosse, we’d go out to the field and just take a bucket of balls and shoot around, and that’s where I encountered all those those players. They had just finished eighth grade and they were slated to be coming to South and we just met up on the fields and had a chance to meet them and get to know them in a situation where it really is just about the love of the game because everyone is just trying to take care of their own mental health by doing whatever they love. That’s where I met all those guys, and it’s been just a great class to coach and see them mature and take over the leadership on my team.”

In the three seasons since, Denver South has cemented itself as one of the state’s boys lacrosse powerhouses, while Hurd, Sparks and Ford announced their arrivals as elite young lacrosse talents. Despite previously never winning a playoff game, the Ravens have reached at least the the quarterfinal round of the state tournament every season since Coach Mahoney took over.

“My favorite memory is probably that first playoff win, against Windsor, from my freshman year,” Hurd said. “It was a really cool experience getting to put Denver South on the map like that and go get a playoff win. It was so exciting and an amazing atmosphere to be a part of.”

A year later, they were just one win away from a state championship berth.

“I remember walking out onto the field and it was pouring rain,” Ford said. “Everyone was kind of a little bit bummed that it was raining and that it was freezing cold, but everyone was still super excited because we were in the semifinals for a championship. And even though we lost that game, that’s still one of my favorite, favorite memories.”

The success they’ve enjoyed since feels miraculous when considering where the program was before Coach Mahoney’s arrival, though the Ravens’ skipper is quick to shift the credit.

“I’ve had success as a coach with my team, but that corresponds with this senior class,” Mahoney reflected. “I’ve been around long enough and I have enough humility to believe that it isn’t all about me and it may not even be substantially about me. It could be substantially, or entirely, about this class of seniors. So I am enjoying this final ride with them. But when I allow myself to think ahead to the future, I look towards it with a certain amount of trepidation, because I know they’re going to be very, very hard to replace.”

It’s easy to see why he feels that way, as the combination of Mahoney and his senior class has been magnetized to success.

Even last year, as they lept up from Class 4A to Class 5A, the Ravens maintained their remarkably high level of play, claiming a 12-5 regular season record and another quarterfinals appearance.

However, despite all these accomplishments and immortal memories, Denver South’s rags-to-riches journey feels incomplete without a state championship.

“Graduating a champion would mean everything,” Sparks expressed. “I know it’s one of those things I don’t have under my belt yet. I’ve received accolades for myself and, as a team, we’ve received league accolades for this, that, or the other, but one of the things that we’ve yet to accomplish is a state championship. I think that that would kind of give me a sense of completion and satisfaction.”

“That would make my high school experience complete,” Ford agreed. “It would really show that all my work has paid off and all my teammates’ work has paid off. Also, it would just be super exciting to tell club teammates who always hate on South’s program that we’re the best team in the state.”

In the past, South wasn’t able to get over the hump because the task at hand still seemed so daunting.

Denver South isn’t expected to travel to Cherry Creek and upset that squad in their first season in Class 5A, and, according to the players, they listened too much to that expectation.

This year, however, that transformative freshman class from 2021 feels feels fully prepared to author that storybook ending as seniors.

“I think we we know we can compete with anyone and we showed that against Regis Jesuit and Cherry Creek this year,” Hurd answered, “Those close games show that we’re ready for anyone. We know if we play as good we can, we can compete with and beat anyone.”