COLORADO SPRINGS — If there was any concern with Cheyenne Mountain that the loss of key seniors from last year’s boys lacrosse team would make it difficult to make another state championship run, no told mentioned that to the Indians.
On Friday night Cheyenne Mountain – the top-ranked team in Class 4A – hosted another team with title hopes. But the message was clear at the end of the night. The road to the 4A title must go through a Cheyenne Mountain team that looks every bit as strong as last year’s championship team.
It took just 26 seconds for Wiley Burkett to get the Indians on the board and they never looked back in a 19-4 win over the Sailors.
“We want to get that first strike,” Burkett said. “If you get that first strike you can get a team on their heels pretty quickly. Especially this team. If we can get someone on their heels, I think we can dominate pretty much any team.”
Burkett leads Cheyenne Mountain (6-2) overall with 27 goals on the year, but he wasn’t necessarily the one who inflicted the most damage.
The No. 4-ranked Sailors (5-2) faced a barrage of shots in the first half and saw as Ike Eastburn and Colby Erdossy recorded hat tricks before the first half ended.
The lone goal for the Sailors in the first 24 minutes came from Jacob Gilbertson. He scored two of the Sailors four goals on the day.
Should Steamboat get another crack at Cheyenne Mountain, the focus will be on not letting the defending champions get on the board early and establish that quick wave of momentum.
“We were down a couple guys on our squad today,” Steamboat coach Jay Lattimore said. “We were definitely a little shorthanded and we just need to get off the bus a little sooner. We were a little lackadaisical to start the game off. They woke us up and it was a little too late.
Last year it was Jack Egan and – in the state championship game – August Johnson that led the way to a championship. Even with those leaders gone, Burkett and Eastburn have maintained the high standards for the program and have gotten strong support from underclassmen such as Erdossy and Zak Paige.
After falling short of a state for several years, coach Mike Paige believes that getting over the hump last year has the potential to ignite a wave of championship runs for his team.
“As long as we maintain that culture and as long as we’re humble,” Paige said. “When we traveled to Virginia and lost a couple there, we realized it’s easy to be a leader when you’re winning all the time. I think losing there made us realize that we needed to come back and focus on what we need to do. Our guys knew we had to come back and get work done.”
There will be no rest for Cheyenne Mountain with No. 5 Evergreen looming on the schedule on Tuesday. Thompson Valley, Ponderosa and Air Academy are the ranked teams that remain on the Indians’ regular season schedule.
The Sailors stay in Colorado Springs and will play No. 10 Air Academy on Saturday. They also have tough games against Aspen, Battle Mountain and Evergreen on their schedule.
