LAKEWOOD — Air Academy freshman Lucas Obringer was the hero for the Kadets on Friday night at Trailblazer Stadium.
Obringer ripped home the game-winning, walk-off goal 15 seconds into overtime in the Class 4A boys lacrosse top-5 showdown between No. 5 Air Academy and No. 4 Green Mountain. Air Academy won 10-9 to stay undefeated in the 4A Foothills League.
“Oh my gosh,” Obringer said describing the goal. “Our plan was if we got out on a fast-break we weren’t going to call a timeout. I practice that shot a million times in practice. It was a nice shot to the bottom.”
Air Academy junior Jake Brader was able to win the opening face-off in overtime. Brader was able to flip the ball to sophomore Will Schipfer, who raced toward the goal. Schipfer centered a pass to Obringer, who gathered himself before rifling a low shot past Green Mountain goalie Connor Watts.
“Being ready for these exact moments,” Air Academy coach Ethan Hilberg said after the dramatic overtime victory. “Working on it as a team in practice. Getting better every day.”
Air Academy (9-2, 3-0 in 4A Foothills League) held its biggest lead of 7-3 at halftime. Senior Grant Rodny and sophomore Carter Inazu each had three goals for the Kadets at the break. However, Green Mountain (9-3, 2-2) had an impressive second-half rally.
Green Mountain senior Beau Stratman scored three straight goals in the third quarter to cut Air Academy’s lead to 7-6. Juniors Zak Freedman and Kole Stratman scored back-to-back goals in the to ties things up 8-8 with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Beau Stratman put in his fifth goal of the game after he scooped up the initial shot by senior Anthony Didonato and buried it past Air Academy goalie Luke McLellan. The 50th goal of the season by the older Stratman brother gave the Rams their first lead of the game 9-8 with 41.4 seconds left in regulation-time.
However, Rodny scored his fourth goal of the game with a rocket shot with 10.2 seconds left to send it into overtime. Air Academy didn’t waste anytime with Obringer’s goals 15 seconds into overtime to end it.
“I thought we kept pretty good composure going into those last couple of minutes,” Obringer said. “That was crucial.”
It was the second loss for Green Mountain this week against another top-5 team. No. 1 Denver South defeated the Rams 15-4 on Wednesday night.
“Definitely frustrated with the finish,” Green Mountain coach Nate Hallahan admitted. “I thought we fought really hard and this team hasn’t had the chance to fight really hard in a close game.”
Hallahan added the Rams are a little banged up missing a few starters, but is pleased with his team heading into the final three games of the regular season before playoffs.
“I think there is a ton to be happy about,” Hallahan said after the second loss in the last three days. “We are going to see teams like that again and I feel like this prepares us really well for those games.”
Air Academy has a huge showdown against Denver South next week. The Kadets are at Denver South on Wednesday, April 27, with the winner likely to claim the league title.
“After the (win) against Golden we felt like the next two game were ‘must-win’ games,” Hilberg said. “There conference games and we’ve got to try to win the conference. This was a big win today, but now we have to get ready for South.”