GRAND JUNCTION | It surely took the Regis Jesuit boys lacrosse team a long time to make the trek to the Western Slope for Thursday’s Class 5A state playoff first round contest.
It didn’t, however, take long for the defending state champion Raiders to make a statement.
Ninth-seeded Regis Jesuit put up a handful of goals in the opening minutes at Walker Field at Colorado Mesa University, had racked up 17 by halftime and went on to a 22-2 victory over No. 8 Grand Junction.
Seniors Reed Babcock and Jake Taylor and sophomores Will McFadden and Jack Ringhofer all had hat tricks for Regis Jesuit, which also had eight other goal scorers as it advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Coach Jim Soran’s Raiders (11-5) will meet a Valor Christian team they lost to 10-9 on April 3.
Regis Jesuit and Valor Christian will play at 9 a.m. at Legacy Stadium to kick off a day that also includes quarterfinal matchups between No. 4 Rock Canyon and No. 5 Kent Denver (11 a.m.), No. 3 Cherry Creek and No. 6 Grandview (1 p.m.) and No. 2 Arapahoe and No. 10 Highlands Ranch (3 p.m.).
The Raiders wasted little time when they took on Grand Junction — which came into the game 13-2 — as senior Joe Kassal scored right off the bat and they put up the first 14 goals until the Tigers scored back-to-back in the second quarter.
Regis Jesuit ended the game with eight unanswered goals.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(9) REGIS JESUIT 22, (8) GRAND JUNCTION 2
Score by periods:
Regis Jesuit 9 8 3 2 — 22
Grand Junction 0 2 0 0 — 2
Regis Jesuit goals: Reed Babcock 3, Will McFadden 3, Jack Ringhofer 3, Jake Taylor 3, Bohdan O’Shaughnessy 2, Will Pater 2, Alec Breeden, Joe Kassal, Vinny Mata, Daniel McHale-McFarlin, Max Rizzi, Adam Zdanowicz