Lakewood lacrosse claw past Ralston Valley in conference opener at NAAC

ARVADA — It took one final save from sophomore goalie Landon Wilson to secure one of the biggest league wins in the history of Lakewood boys lacrosse.

Wilson turned away one final shot from Ralston Valley junior Lucas Gerlach in the final seconds Wednesday night at the North Area Athletic Complex. The save by Wilson allowed the Tigers to take a 5-4 victory, surviving a late run by the Mustangs. 

“I saw him (Gerlach) winding up,” Wilson said describing his final save. “I was like, ‘Here we go.’ I saw it coming and knew the whole way that I’ve got this one.”

The ball hit off Wilson’s stick and the Tigers’ defense that has been so strong in front of Wilson for most of the night was able to clear the ball down the field as the final horn sounded.

It was the Class 5A League #2 opener for both Lakewood and Ralston Valley, defending conference champions.

“It’s a good one to start league this way,” Lakewood coach Darin Denton as the Tigers improved their record to 7-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. “Ralston Valley was undefeated coming in. We knew it was going to be a battle.”

Early on it was clear that the Tigers wanted to dictate the pace against the Mustangs (6-1, 0-1). Lakewood’s first offensive possession last four minutes.

“We wanted to possess the ball. Keep good possessions,” Lakewood junior attacker Jaxson Fontenot said of the Tigers’ strategy. “We wanted to be patient on (offense) and get every look that we wanted.”

Fontenot got the majority of good looks for the Tigers. The junior attacker scored four of Lakewood’s five goals. Junior Lukas Gonzales pick up the other goal for the Tigers in the lone goal of the third quarter for either team. 

Fontenot’s most impressive goal was early in the second quarter that gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead, a lead they would never give up. He was in heavy traffic surrounded by several Ralston Valley defenders, but was able to rifle a shot past Ralston Valley goalie Frank Venezia. Fontenot had his helmet knocked off in the process of scoring the goal.

“I couldn’t have done it without my boys,” Fontenot said of his 4-goal performance. “They were out there looking for me. Hitting me in the crease and hitting me on cuts. Without my boys I don’t get those four goals. It was a collective effort.”

Lakewood held a seemingly comfortable lead midway through the fourth quarter, but Ralston Valley’s offense came alive with three goals in the span of less than four minutes. Ralston Valley junior Levi Rillos scored his second goal of the night with 5:01 left to cut the lead to 5-2. 

Senior Colby Kurtz picked up goals with 2:03 and 1:26 left in regulation-time to make it a 1-goal game.

“It was my own fault for thinking we had it in the bag up 5-1,” Denton could joke about the late push by the Mustangs. “We wanted to just hang on to the ball. We wanted to slow it down even more. We just had a couple of bad turnovers.”

The Mustangs took a timeout with 13 seconds left to set up an attempt at a game-tying goal.

“I was definitely a little worried for a second,” Fontenot said of Ralston Valley’s rally in the final minutes. “But I have trust in all our boys on defense. They were holding down the house and our goalie, Ocho (Wilson) had a hell of a game standing on his head out there.”

The sophomore has done an impressive job taking over the main goaltending duties for the Tigers this season.

“He (Wilson) has been great,” Denton said. “I wouldn’t say it has been a pleasant surprise because it isn’t a surprise. He is a good player. He continues to step up for us. It’s been awesome.”

Lakewood won’t have much time to celebrate the victory over last year’s 5A League #2 champions. The Tigers head up north to face Erie (6-0, 1-0) at 6:30 p.m. Friday night. Erie will be coming off its own dramatic 11-10, 1-goal victory over Mountain Range on Wednesday night.

“They (Erie) is good. They check off a lot of boxes,” Denton said of the road challenge on Friday. “We’ve got a day to get ready for them.”

Fontenot is confident that the Tigers can carry the momentum from the win over Ralston Valley up to Erie.

“We are going to have a great practice tomorrow and then have another phenomenal game Friday up north,” Fontenot said. “The Tigers are going to be rolling.”

Ralston Valley will also be on the road for its next league battle. The Mustangs head up to Fort Collins to take on the Poudre School District on Saturday, April 11.