CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE — Tom Graesser’s involvement in the Kent Denver-Cherry Creek rivalry extends over four decades.
“What it is, is the small school against the big school,” the Kent Denver coach said. “It’s a great rivalry because we are very similar schools, in the sense of academics and demographics and so on. Most of our kids know their kids and vice versa.”
Which probably means the Sun Devils will have bragging rights . . . at least for the next few weeks, or until the lacrosse teams meet again.
Kent Denver (9-0) rolled to a 14-7 nonleague victory over the Bruins at Justin DeSorrento Memorial Field, starting a brutal 10-day stretch of games (including East, defending state champion Fort Collins and San Francisco powerhouse St. Ignatius Prep) in style.
The Sun Devils exploded out of the gate Tuesday by scoring the game’s first five goals, the first three coming before Cherry Creek ever had possession.
Michael Reilly won draw after draw to start the game, including the first one that resulted in a score just nine seconds after the clock started.
“It helps the momentum if you can come down and get a goal right away,” said Reilly, who finished with two goals and an assist.
The Bruins (7-3), who recently defeated the nation’s top-ranked team, Loyola Blakefield in Maryland, responded to get within three goals at the half. But they never got any closer.
Patrick Murray’s goal in the final minute of the third set the tone for the final quarter. Murray powered through two of the Bruins’ defenders and beat goalie Jeff Barton.
Murray made a one-handed save on a pass to start the fourth, and went in to score the third of his three goals.
“Creek’s a darn good team, and this is probably one of our biggest games of the year,” Murray said. “We never did count them out.”
Every time the Bruins tried to mount any sort of comeback, a miscue or one of Lucien Reichert’s 14 saves thwarted their effort.
Kent Denver senior attackman Moses Taylor scored all three of his goals in the final quarter, including two in an 18-second stretch that put the Sun Devils up 12-6.
“We played catch-up, and that’s tough against a good team like that,” Cherry Creek coach Bryan Perry said. “They were playing really hard and really smart, and we didn’t have any answers.”
Cherry Creek 2 2 1 2 — 7
Kent Denver 6 1 2 5 — 14
First quarter — KD: Reilly, 11:51; Horne, 10:17; Reilly, 10:04; Cavness, 7:16; Murray (Hanley), 5:43; CC: Willenbrock, 1:19; Heuer, :55; KD: Smith, :15.
Second quarter — KD: Horne (Key), 7:06; CC: Beimford, 1:32; Willenbrock (Beimford), :10.
Third quarter — KD: Cavness, 6:17; CC: Link, 4:49; KD: Murray, :32.
Fourth quarter — KD: Murray, 11:42; CC: Blair, 9:29; KD: Taylor, 6:05; Taylor, 5:47; CC: Blair (Link), 5:07; KD: Taylor (Murray), 3:47; Cavness (Reilly), 2:58.
Shots on goal — Cherry Creek 5-6-4-6 — 21, Kent Denver 8-2-7-8 — 25. Saves — Cherry Creek (Barton) 2-1-5-3 — 11, Kent Denver (Reichert) 3-4-3-4 — 14.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
