Jesuit scored five goals in the third quarter en route to winning its second consecutive boys lacrosse state championship.
The top-seeded Crusaders defeated No. 2 West Linn 10-4 in the Oregon High School Lacrosse Association state championship game Saturday at Canby High School.
“I mean, yeah, that’s what we live for,” said Jesuit senior midfielder Jack Duncan-Bloom. “We grind every day at practice. Obviously, it paid off.”
Duncan-Bloom said that the road to the state title was more difficult this season, but the level of effort was the same as last year’s championship run.
“I mean, we worked just as hard in practice. I think we choked a lot more in games this year. You saw that at the end here,” he said. “Last year, we had a lot more seniors, but we were rebuilding a little bit. But, I mean, we still came to play.”
Jesuit coach Mike Marcott said that this championship win was a deserving sendoff for his senior class.
“First and foremost, just really happy for the seniors,” Marcott said. “They’ve done a lot for this program. They lost a freshman year due to COVID, and they battled back and won two to end their lacrosse careers. So, couldn’t be more proud of our senior class. Honestly, it’s a testament to how hard they worked. This is probably the hardest-working team in the state. Yeah, just really proud of them.”
After going into halftime tied at 4-4, Jesuit (18-4) scored two goals within minutes of starting the third quarter.
Duncan-Bloom scored two of his three total goals in that third quarter to help the Crusaders take a 9-4 lead by the end of the period. He said his team started the game lacking energy but then was able to work through that going into the second half.
“We came out flat. That was the slowest we’ve ever come out the whole season,” he said. “I mean, it was just straight-up nerves, but once we got the nerves out, we were really firing and ready to go.”
Crusaders junior midfielder Christian Buck also scored three goals to lead Jesuit’s attack.
Marcott said that success in the third quarter starts with winning face-offs.
“That starts with our face-off guys. Luke Johnson and Carson Jess are the two best face-off guys in the state, and they pretty much get us the ball every single time,” he said. “We can play ‘make it take it’. Not a lot of teams get that privilege. It first starts with those guys, and then our offense just slowed down and tried to control the tempo more. They were playing a little tight at the beginning of the game. That third quarter, I think they needed that halftime just to relax, and then they came out a little more focused.”
West Linn (17-3) faced a 4-2 deficit in the second quarter but then scored twice in the later half of the period to even the score before halftime.
Lions junior midfielder Wiley Donnerberg and senior attacker Bodie LaForce scored those goals to level the score.
“Obviously, we came out strong in the first half. We were battling and competing,” said West Linn senior attacker Harrison Edwards, who scored the game’s opening goal. “Came out the second half, and we just had some penalties that killed us. I thought we still went through the entire game. Even though they scored some goals, it still felt like we were close. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to come out on top.”
West Linn coach Mark Flood said that though the score was tied by halftime, he felt his team outplayed the opponent.
“We gave them one goal. When our goalie turned over, that was just a gift,” Flood said. “We were actually outplaying them, we thought. Then the second half, we had an extra man, but we didn’t get a good look. A couple of things they did, we thought we should have been rewarded for but weren’t. Next thing you know, they scored two goals and went up 6-4. We thought they took one of our guys out, even though there was no call. Our guy was laying on the ground, and they scored. We needed everything to go our way, and it doesn’t. It’s athletics. It happens that way.”
Play became especially physical and intense briefly during the fourth quarter, which led to penalties for both teams.
“A lot of football kids on both teams. It was a football game there for about five minutes,” Flood said. “If there was a football, we would have won it. There was some hitting that we didn’t expect. They were the ones that during the first half, they were committing the fouls and getting away with it. Then our guys, I mean, they were blatant fouls. It’s like, ‘Don’t do that.’ Our guys were a little upset. But, you know, they’re teenage boys.”
Even though emotions were running high, Edwards said he tried to remind his teammates to calm down and stay in the game.”
“I think the biggest thing that I was trying to communicate with my guys was to keep their heads up and just keep going,” Edwards said. “Game is not over until the final whistle, so anything can happen. So, that’s one of the biggest things—just keep on fighting.”
During those moments, Jesuit tried to be composed and see the game through.
“First and foremost, I have the utmost respect for West Linn and how they compete,” Marcott said. “Look, when things get testy like that, these are two incredibly-athletic teams. There are big, physical Division I players all over the field. Big hits are going to happen. It’s just part of the game. When something like that happens, you just got to pick yourself, don’t retaliate and just focus on the next play. The team that generally does that is going to win the next play.”
Despite falling short in the title game, Edwards said that playing this season was a fulfilling experience.
“I think this season by far has been the best season,” Edwards said. “I grew up playing with all these guys, so the relationships are all strong. I’m going to miss it, but I’m glad we got to this point. Unfortunate that we lost the game, but I thought this entire season was really fun. We got some big wins under our belt, but unfortunately, we fell short.
Flood added that coaching this year’s team was especially worthwhile.
“I’m 67. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I told them the other day, we had a semifinal game Wednesday. Tuesday, I was like, ‘I really want to be here Thursday. I can’t wait to be with you guys every day and coaching you,’” the Lions coach said. “That’s the way we feel. Monday, we’ll have a big party, but I’d rather have practice. They’re fun to be with, and they’re fun to teach. It’s fun to watch them learn and help each other. I’m going to miss them. We had a great year.”
