DENVER - A year later, on the same field with equal intensity, the Valor Christian boys lacrosse team turned the tables on Cherry Creek.
With the sting of a three-goal loss to the Bruins in last season’s Class 5A state championship game at Peter Barton Stadium as a motivator, the Eagles devoted themselves to getting back to the same stage.
Top-seeded Valor Christian got the rematch with the second-seeded Bruins in cold and driving rain on the campus of University of Denver and earned a three-goal win of their own with an 8-5 victory.
“It was tough for the seniors last year, so we didn’t want to go out like that,” senior goalie Ian Stefonowicz said. “It felt great to get some revenge, especially against a great team like that.”
Neither team had lost to a Colorado team during the regular season — both had 16-2 records with two losses to out of state teams — and they didn’t play in the regular season.
The intensity between the two programs that had come in with a combined 11 state championships (eight for Cherry Creek, most in Colorado history, and three for Valor Christian) was palpable from the opening face-off.
Despite that current of electricity and the talent on both sides, each team got just a single goal in the opening half, as Stefonowicz and his counterpart, senior Cole Gallup, stood up to the challenge. Senior Ashton Hutter got Valor Christian on the scoreboard first, while freshman Quinn Abell netted the equalizer for Cherry Creek.
“The year that we won a state championship, coach Bill Tierney, a legend who coached here (at DU), came and talked to our guys and he said in these semifinals and finals games, expect the unexpected,” Valor Christian coach Jeremy Noble said. “It’s never going to be the way you want, but you have to stick together through the different types of bounces and different type of flow.
“If you understand that, it’s going to help you prepare. I think our guys did a really good job of that tonight.”
Relatively speaking, the offensive floodgates opened in the third period with each team scoring in the first few minutes.
Then, junior Brandon Wright began to make a real impact in the face-off circle for the Eagles. Twice, Wright won a face-off, scooped up the ball on the run and scored big goals.
The first one put Valor Christian ahead 3-2 and the third quarter and the second — which came after a spin-and-score from Hutter — made it a three-goal margin with just 6:56 left.
“I got those two goals, which were huge,” Wright said. “I just tried to help my team any way I could. It was a great win.”
Senior Blake Ham snared a rebound out of a midair on a shot that ricocheted off Gallup’s pads and scored to make it a four-goal game, which helped keep Cherry Creek — which got two goals from senior Benji Davoll late — at bay.
Noble said his team felt a little bit under the radar this season — unusual given that it had been to the championship game in the three previous seasons — but used it as motivation.
“I don’t think there was any attention on our team this year,” he said. “I think everybody talked about Cherry Creek and Regis. We bought into that. And we only had three players on first team all-state, so this isn’t bad. But they play Valor lacrosse and they did things as a team.
“It’s not about individual awards, it’s about winning a state championship and that’s what they understood and that’s what they did.”