Englewood – Arapahoe boys lacrosse coach Brian Langtry was not on hand to see his team’s nail-biting, double-overtime state quarterfinal game.
He was in Buffalo, N.Y., helping the Colorado Mammoth win its first National Lacrosse League championship.
But Langtry would have been proud of the way his Warriors fended off Mullen for an 8-7 victory in the second overtime, and he might want to think about naming goalkeeper Peyton Tyrie and attack Stephen Gerhard honorary coaches.
Tyrie, who never had won an overtime game, stopped 20 shots, including one in the second overtime. Gerhard’s third goal was the game-winner.
Gerhard, who paced the sidelines of Englewood High School’s field for much of the second overtime, stepped onto the field in the waning minutes, fielded a pass at midfield and charged in for the victory shot.
“(Mullen) had the ball for the entire first overtime, and I felt like I wasn’t even contributing. No way was I going to sit on the sideline and lose my last game,” said Gerhard, who beat Mullen goalkeeper Chris Job up high with 1:43 remaining in the second overtime.
The Mustangs (12-4) trailed 5-2 at halftime but clawed back in the second half, eventually tying the score at 7 when Kyle Wollenhaupt set up Kane Kunz for the goal.
“They didn’t do anything different in the second half,” Tyrie said. “I guess they were just more aggressive.”
Gerhard and Eric Law combined for five goals to lead the way for Arapahoe (14-3). Mullen’s Justin Dunn scored two goals in the loss.
Arapahoe will take on East in the semifinals.
The Angels battled back and forth with the unified team from Fort Collins (12-5) for three periods before scoring six straight goals on the way to a 9-5 victory.
East (16-1), state champion in 2000, got three goals apiece from Kjael Skaalerud and sophomore Josh Russell.
East trailed 4-3 midway through the third quarter until Russell scooted around the net and tied the score with an unassisted goal. Alex Vinton took the lead for the Angels 2 minutes later, and then the floodgates opened in the fourth quarter as they jumped ahead 9-4.
“Everybody down to the last player on the bench for East is as athletic as us. … We had to give 199 percent to win this,” Russell said.
On the other side of the bracket, four-time state champion Kent Denver came from behind to beat Regis 10-9 with five unanswered goals in the third quarter and held off the Raiders in the final minutes to advance to the semifinals.
Matt Kelsic, Robby Pride and Alex Lockwood scored two goals apiece for the Sun Devils (16-0), who trailed 5-4 at the half before rallying.
Regis (13-4) senior David Wurtzbacher finished his high-school career with four goals and three assists, and Garrett Fugier added three goals.
In the other game, Cherry Creek sophomore Charlie Will scored five goals in a contest the Bruins won 14-0 over Golden. The Demons (10-7), who last season became the first Jefferson County League team to reach the semifinals, generated little offense and managed just four shots on goal.
The defending state champion Bruins (15-4) will face rival Kent Denver for a shot at the title game. The programs played in last season’s state championship game.
CHERRY CREEK 14, GOLDEN 0
Golden 0 0 0 0 – 0
Cherry Creek 6 3 4 1 – 14
Goals – Will 5, Bolling 2, Driver, Giancola, Hoselton, Kerr, O’Crowley, Padvik. Assists – Kerr 3, Driver 2, Mueller, Stone.
Shots on goal – Golden 0-0-3-1 – 4; Cherry Creek 8-6-5-3 – 22. Saves – Golden (Gilbraith and Standley) 2-3-1-2 – 8; Cherry Creek (Stone) 0-0-3-1 – 4.
KENT DENVER 10, REGIS 9
Regis 2 3 2 2 – 9
Kent Denver 3 1 6 0 – 10
Goals – R, Wurtzbacher 4, Fugier 3, Grey, Konkel; KD, Kelsic 2, Lockwood 2, Pride 2, Ferrell, Key, Reichert, Reilly. Assists – R, Wurtzbacher 3, Duncan 2, Greenberg, Schmidt; KD, Pride 3, Kelsic, Reichert.
Shots on goal – Regis 5-4-4-7 – 20; Kent Denver 7-6-6-7 – 26. Saves – Regis (Orzech) 4-5-0-7 – 16; Kent Denver (Pluss) 3-2-3-5 – 13.
ARAPAHOE 8, MULLEN 7, 2 OT
Arapahoe 2 3 0 2 0 1 – 8
Mullen 1 1 2 3 0 0 – 7
Goals – A, Gerhard 3, Law 2, Gunter, Pullara, Snyder; M, Dunn 2, Brown, Kopec, Mazon, Kupecz, Wollenhaupt. Assists – A, Klein 2; M, Wollenhaupt 2, Brown, Kupecz, McReynolds.
Shots on goal – Arapahoe 6-4-4-6-0-1 – 21; Mullen 6-7-7-6-0-1 – 27. Saves – Arapahoe (Tyrie) 5-6-5-3-0-1 – 20; Mullen (Job) 4-1-4-4-0-0 – 13.
EAST 9, FORT COLLINS 5
Fort Collins 1 2 1 1 – 5
East 1 2 2 4 – 9
Goals – FC, Jac. Houghton, Jar. Houghton, Jestes, Knutsen, Miketa; E, Skaalerud 3, Russell 3, Clark, Lay, Vinton. Assists – FC, Veum; E, Miller, Russell.
Shots on goal – Fort Collins 3-4-3-3 – 13; East 4-4-3-9 – 20. Saves – Fort Collins (Titterington) 3-2-1-5 – 11; East (Dudley) 2-2-2-2 – 8.
