April 27, 2005

East 13, South/TJ 5

        In awful weather, the Angels of Denver East High School pounced 13-5 upon the South/TJ Titans on Wednesday night at All City Stadium.  As the Kent Denver Sun Devils beat the Colorado Academy Mustangs earlier in the day, the stage is set for the title game of the Southern Conference, Angels versus Devils.  At stake on Saturday at 2:00 pm on the All City Stadium turf is the seeding in the state tournament to avoid Cherry Creek until the finals.  However, as the Denver Post pointed out last Sunday, East avoids nobody, but takes the opposition head on.  No other program will play the four conference leaders this year.  At the end of the schedule, the Angels will have played Golden, Kent, Creek and Regis.  We will see where everyone stands after the Regis game, but nobody can say the Angels didn’t come to the line and run with the best.  In the trifecta of Colorado high school lacrosse, the Angels are snorting, stomping and raring up ready to go in the starting gate.

       As the South/TJ game unfolded, Coach Barocas appears to have pulled a rabbit out of his hat.  Blessed this year with the personnel to make some changes, Coach has switched positions for Zach Tedeschi (Jr. Midfield) and Mark Hild (Sr. Attack).  Most Angel fans were not quite sure about the change last game against George Washington.  Tedeschi possesses a right hand shot of unparalleled magnitude, which a midfield position accommodates at the top of the offensive formation.  Hild possesses a competitive desire and field presence rarely found at the high school level, which an attack position cultivates, as the attackman plays all of the game, not just a third of the game.  Both players seem suited to their positions prior to the switch, but, after tonight, this writer thinks this may be another stroke of genius for Coach.  Tedeschi responded with four goals and at least ten shots in one half of play.  Hild responded with two goals, an assist and at least five ground balls in one half of play.  Both players moved well, saw the field and played to their strengths.  Keep your fingers crossed, but you may just read here in the next week that Tedeschi and Hild have lead the Angles to the top seed in the state tournament.

       For the record, the Angels came out hard in the first period, as Kjael Skaalerud (Jr. Attack) fed Ben Allison (Jr. Attack) on the crease with a high pass that Ben leaped for, grabbed and shot in one motion.  East 1, South 0 at 9:01.  At 6:56, Skaalerud took a pass from Alex Vinton (Jr. Midfield) on the backdoor and finished nicely.  Vinton had driven from the top right, stopped in face of a double team, hitched left and passed hard to a waiting Kjael.  East 2, South 0.  At 5:46, Tedeschi, having sneaked into the crease with good off-ball movement, crammed a feed from Bailey Connor (Jr. Midfield) into the net. (Hint: Tedeschi would not have been on the crease as a middie.)  East 3, South 0.  At 2:49, Tedeschi again found twine on a hard shot from the middle on a nice feed from Vinton on the fast break. (Hint: Tedeschi would not have been the finisher on this one if he played midfield)  East 4, South 0.  At 0:09, Vinton hit a nice running shot on the right after a feed from Hild, who had eluded two South defenders.  East 5, South 0 at the end of the first.

       After an illegal stick penalty to South during the intermission, East took the ball at midfield to open the second stanza.  In the man-up offense, Tedeschi ripped an underhand rocket to the right side from the low, left of the formation (Hint: Tedeschi would have been on the top left of the formation as a middie) East 6, South 0 at 11:41.  At 10:24, Tedeschi again connected on a drive from X to the right corner of the crease.  He bulled his way through two defenders and shot overhand high left.  (Hint: Tedeschi would not have been at X if he were a middie.)  East 8, South 0.  At 7:50, Hild gathered in a rebound of a Tedeschi shot that hit the post.  Mark moved to the right and blistered an overhand shot to the middle top of the net.  East 9, South 0.  At 7:21 of the second, Skaalerud, on the backdoor, took a nice feed from Russell Clark (Jr. Midfield) and finished quickly.  East 10, South 0.  As Barocas started to switch out the starters, East led 10-0 at half time.
    
     At 5:31 of the third, South ran a perfect fast break and hit a two-pass goal from the back door.  East 10, South 1.  At 4:34 of the third, South hit a hard, overhand shot from the top of the formation.  East 10, South 2.  At 2:02, Skaalerud, running the man-up without Vinton or Connor, cannoned a side-arm shot from the top of the formation for an 11-2 East advantage.  East 11, South 2 at 2:02.  Vinton and Connor, a significant part of the Angel offense, defense and special team play, will not be available for the Kent game on Saturday, as they are taking part in the Constitutional Scholars program.  At 0:06 of the third, Hild took a nice pass from Clark  His short shot found pay dirt, as the period ended.  East 12, South 2 end of the third. and made a hard move inside and left. <>    The fourth period found a new Angel’s line-up.  Ren Blair (Jr. Goalie) replaced Ben Brown (Sr. Goalie).  Riley Cochran (Fr. Attack), Ethan Demby (So. Attack) and Blake Larson (Sr. Attack) dreamed of goals.  Ben Gardner (So. Attack/Midfield), Greg Litvak (So. Midfield) and Dmitri Natali-Lee (Sr. Midfield) ran both ways at midfield.  Mats Engdahl (Fr. Defense), Harry Carrothers (So. Defense) and Tim Kashiwa (Jr. Defense) prepared to repel invaders.  At 10:46, South took a one-minute penalty for pushing with possession.  Barocas called for the man-up (minus Vinton and Connor).  Allison hit from the crease on a feed from Skaalerud in a nice play that warmed the heart of lacrosse aficionados.  Man-up offenses are supposed to score from the crease.  East 13, South 2 at 10:03.    Then in quick succession, South’s starters proved that they could run with the non-starting Angels.  At 2:30 of the fourth, the Titans de-twigged an Angel middie at midfield and ran the fast break to perfection.  East 13, South 3.  On the next face-off, the Titans broke from the ground ball and crammed a shot down the Angels throats.  East 13, South 4.  Then at 0:38, a South middie double stepped into the East defense and ripped a beauty to the top right.  East 13, South 5 as the final.

Even without Vinton and Connor, the Angels appear poised to make their run for the roses.  This is the crux of the season: Kent, Creek and Regis.  This is what the “fellas” have prepared for all season.  It will take hard work, toughness, poise and a little luck.  The games will be close and hard fought.  Angel fans will be cursing one minute and rejoicing the next.  For the faint of heart, the PGA Tour is playing in New Orleans on Saturday on television at 2:00 pm.  For those who love high school athletics, our chosen few, the Angels, are playing the--- what is a Sun Devil anyway? --- in lacrosse, the fastest game on two feet, at All City Stadium at 2:00 pm.  BE THERE!  Ave, Angele!