Article Published: Friday, March 26, 2004
By Brady
Delander
Special to The Denver Post
LITTLETON
- Arapahoe came back from three goals down in the final three minutes
Thursday to send its Class 5A boys lacrosse game against East into
overtime.
But
the Angels didn't collapse after having the game nearly wrapped up in
regulation, and senior co-captain Hunter Combs scored his third goal of
the game for a 10-9 double-overtime East victory.
A
back-and-forth game turned even more exciting in overtime.
"I
couldn't believe it was happening," East sophomore Bailey Connor said
of Arapahoe's comeback. "We just broke down a little bit, but we've
been working all season for those overtime moments."
East,
1-0 and ranked No. 3 in The Denver Post/9News poll, fell behind 3-1
early behind two quick goals from Dan Nickell and one by Kevin Bush.
Arapahoe
(1-2, No. 6 preseason) saw the tables turn and trailed 6-4 at halftime
and 7-5 after three quarters.
With the way East was
firing shots at Arapahoe
sophomore goalie Peyton Tyrie, it could have been worse. Tyrie stopped
18 shots, compared with six saves by East goalie Will Paddock.
All
this despite strong defensive play in front of Tyrie - notably by James
Bush, who triggered three goals with takeaways.
"I'm
really proud of Tyrie. He did a great job," Bush said. "We've been
stepping up our defense in practice, and that's the way to get offense."
Combs
gave East a 9-6 lead with three minutes to play, but Arapahoe's Jordan
McHugh answered 15 seconds later. Nickell maintained the momentum 15
seconds after that with a head-on goal from 15 yards out.
East
took control of the ball and appeared to be killing time with a 9-8
lead. But the sideline called a timeout it did not have, drawing a
penalty, which gave Arapahoe possession.
Seconds
later, with 55 seconds left on the clock, Stephen Gerhard found Logan
Bobzien open for a power-play goal.
"We
really just had to calm down as a team," Combs said. "We really gave it
away on turnovers, but we just found a way to focus and work our
offense."
After
a scoreless first overtime, East went on the offensive after Arapahoe
defenseman Taylor Gunter left the game because of an injury.
Combs
worked in close to the left side of the net and beat Tyrie for the win.
"My
guys showed me a lot of guts that I didn't know they had," Arapahoe
coach Brian Langtry said. "This was the best game I could have expected
them to play."
East
3 3 1 2 0 1 - 10
Arapahoe 3 1 1 4 0 0 - 9
Goals
- E: Combs 3, Hild 2, Stoffel 2, Connor 2, Tedeshci; A: Nickell 3, Bush
3, Fitzpatrick, McHugh, Bobzien. Assists - E: Tedeschi 2, Combs,
Stoffel, Connor, Vinton; A: Bobzien 3, Fitzpatrick. Shots on goal - E,
6-5-7-7-1-2 - 28; A, 4-3-1-5-1-1 - 15. Saves - DE (Paddock) 1-2-0-1-1-1
- 6; A, 3-2-6-5-1-1 - 18.
