The season for the boys lacrosse team at our beloved Holy Family High School, has concluded, after getting beat in the second round of the playoffs, by Battle Mountain High School, 10-6. Although this is not the way we wouldve liked to see the season end, it was a great year and layed the foundation for Holy Family lacrosse.
The team put in lots of work starting in January, having an occasional cold practice on the field, hitting the wall, and playing in the 7v7 Elevations Lacrosse League. The team was showing good signs and it was looking to be a promising season for the Tigers. The team put the work in when practices ramped up and were getting ready to play the Northfield Nighthawks, in the season opener. The Tigers were on the road against Northfield, and was hoping to get revenge after losing to them countless times in the past seasons (one loss coming in the first round of the playoffs). It was a back and forth game, teams exchanging blows, but the team came up short in a game we should have won. This 9-8 loss this early was demoralizing, it felt like just the start of another sub .500 season and if we made the playoffs, first round exits.
However after this loss to Northfield, we bounced back winning six games straight, over Littleton, Middle Park, Montrose, Windsor, Palmer, and Ponderosa. A few of those were blow outs, and a few were neck and neck hard fought games. After this run, we were sitting pretty in the rankings, and posting a 6-1 record. The team was on a high, and we were rolling.
Then came Golden High School, Golden was the 4A State Champions in 2021, and beat us by a large margin last year, but we were confident in the team, and were not going to lay down for anyone. The game was a defensive battle. Brendan Staff had a great game in the net stopping 10 of the 17 shots on goal from the Demons. The game was back and forth and would result in the Tigers second loss, in overtime, 7-6. It was a sad loss, and we were not content with the overtime loss.
We next went on the road to Conifer, and played a great game winning 14-4. Then was the Erie Tigers. The Tigers of Holy Family lost the game by 12 goals, and although Erie is a good team, we were disappointed in the loss and knew stuff had to change if we wanted to thrive in the remainder of the season and the playoffs.
We picked up a second straight loss against Res Christian, and that was a bad loss for us, and we were struggling to find our team identity, We picked up a few more wins, and one loss and were 10-5 going into the playoffs, hoping to host in the first round.
Our wish was granted and we earned the 13 seed and would play 20 seed Pueblo West in the first round at home. The Tigers rolled all game and beat the Cyclones 12-3. This was significant for the team because it was the first playoff win, in HFHS boys lacrosse history.
We then made the trip to Edwards CO, to take on the 4 seeded Huskies of Battle Mountain, in a back and forth game that we ended up on the wrong end of. Although we wish we were still playing as a team, we are happy with our work and what we did for the future of the program.
