Eagles come from behind to win section lacrosse title

Whether they like to taunt their coach, make things more exciting or if they just can't help themselves, Vista del Lago's boys' lacrosse team likes to come back to win games. Don't let them fool you, there's no way for sure they know they will come back, but they did in the playoff games against Granite Bay in the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals and against Oak Ridge in the finals. In the Sac-Joaquin Section championship game Saturday at Christian Brothers High School, the Eagles fell behind Oak Ridge, 5-0, and trailed 6-1 after the first quarter. When it was all said and done, the Eagles won 14-10 to claim its first lacrosse section championship. "We've been wanting this forever, since we started here," said Vista del Lago senior Max Vota, who's been through the lacrosse wars for four years. "It's euphoric really. We keep putting ourselves in these situations, down 5-0 in the first quarter, it's sketchy, but we ended up coming back. Like I said, since we were U9, we don't stop until the final whistle." The Eagles didn't stop, but they certainly seem frustrated in the first quarter. After Vota scored the team's first goal to make it 5-1 with 58 seconds to play in the first quarter, senior Owen Pettus trotted off the field and said 'this could be so easy.' "We were overcomplicating the game," Pettus said. "We had a film session Friday and we talked about everything we wanted to do. We just weren't executing early. After our first goal, I came off the field and said 'this could be so easy.' We executed exactly what our coaches drew up and we had scored. As soon as we started doing what we were supposed to do, we put the game away." By halftime, the Eagles had cut the deficit to two, 7-5. They weren't out of the woods yet, but were feeling better about their chances. Vista del Lago poured it on in the second half, scoring seven unanswered goals in the third quarter to take a 12-7 lead and the game was theirs. Junior Alex Grant played a magnificent game, as he scored three of his team-high five goals in the third quarter. "I thought we had to get back in the game," Grant said. "We needed some momentum and I did what I had to do. "I felt the key to the game was our triangle rotation. That let us control the offense." Pettus, Zach Bailiff, Ethan Jones and Jake Farfan also scored in the quarter. Pettus ended with three goals, while Farfan scored twice. Vota and Bennett Sackmann both added one goal. "It feels great to win a section championship," said Vista coach Mike Messersmith, who said after the game that it was probably his last. "The boys came in a little soft; I think they were overconfident, but they did what we've done. They came back hard and really closed the door. I'm really proud of them." Sackmann, a freshman, not only scored a goal but did another great job of winning faceoffs for the team. "As a freshman, it felt really good to be a contributing player, but it definitely has lots of pressure at times," Sackmann said. "I attribute my skills to the amount of time I've spent playing lacrosse. I've been playing for eight years. Also, I've always driven myself to be like my brother, Tristan, who graduated last year." For the Trojans, they received two goals apiece from Styer Smith, Declan Connors, Eli White and AJ Stonebarger and one goal from Asher Mackie and Tucker Laing. Had the Trojans had their complete team, the game might have been a different story. "We had a great start," Oak Ridge assistant coach Darren Silva said, "but we had a bunch of guys hurt today. We had a couple guys out of the lineup and we were short on middies and unfortunately, it showed as the game went on. Vista is a talented team and obviously, top-notch, and our guys were gassed at the end. "We had two attack guys and three middies gone today and another one of our middles got hurt in the first quarter and didn't play the rest of the game. It is what it is, you just hope to come out on top, but Vista is a talented team and they deserve it." For the Eagles, it was a great end to a super season. "I've been on the other side of this for three straight years now so this means a lot to us," Pettus said. "I'm excited to spend the rest of the night with these guys." Added Bailiff, "I love this group so much. We've been working so hard for this the last few years. From all the offseason practices, all these boys are so dedicated to this team. It means so much to do it with this group. This is my last year and there's no better way to go out than with a win."