AURORA | The regular season finale turned out to be a doozy — as expected — between the Regis Jesuit and Cherry Creek boys lacrosse teams that went down to the final seconds.
The Bruins came into Friday evening’s contest at Lou Kellogg Stadium atop the Class 5A rankings and seeking to take a perfect record into the upcoming postseason, but the third-ranked Raiders built a lead as large as five goals in the second half and held on for a thrilling 13-12 victory.
Coach Jim Soran’s Regis Jesuit team — which won its fifth game in a row and finished the regular season 13-2 — had first-half leads of 3-0 and 5-2 (which came on a spectacular goal by senior Fletcher Sullivan as he scored while laying on his stomach), only to see Cherry Creek (14-0) go onto a four-goal streak to take a lead a 6-5 lead.
Senior Ryan Coughlin erased the Raiders’ deficit just seven second remaining, however, as he won the faceoff and split the Cherry Creek defense to score and make it 6-6 at the break.
The Raiders built a two-goal lead after three quarter and grew it to as large as 12-7 and 13-8 in the fourth quarter before the Bruins put on a furious rally. Cherry Creek scored twice in the final minute to make it a one-goal game with 15 seconds before time rain out.
Both teams now await their position in the 5A state playoffs, which will be seeded Sunday by the Colorado High School Activities Association.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(3) REGIS JESUIT 13, (1) CHERRY CREEK 12
Score by quarters:
Cherry Creek 3 3 1 5 — 12
Regis Jesuit 5 1 3 4 — 13
