There just seems to be no stopping the West Ranch boys’ lacrosse team as the Wildcats make their CIF Southern Section championship push.
Led by the trio of freshman Michael Williams and junior Graden Choe and Greyson Foster, the Wildcats mauled the Linfield Christian Lions at Valencia High School on Wednesday, 14-6, to reach the CIF Southern Section Division 3 semifinals.
“It’s great to get a win. That’s all that really matters,” Foster said. “And we’re trying to get a championship this year, first one in school history.”
Choe scored six goals and provided one assist. Foster had four goals and two assists while Williams added three goals. Senior Jonas Cantu had a goal and two assists.
The Wildcats led 8-2 at the half and 10-4 after the third quarter. It’s the second straight playoff game in which the Wildcats found little trouble en route to a big win.
“I think we’re finally finding our chemistry, which is really nice,” Foster said. “We’re picking up at a good time. We just got to stay cool, and I think we have a chance this year.”
The quarterfinal matchup saw West Ranch (9-8) remain in control for pretty much the entire contest, though some chippy play did ensue as the Lions (18-4) fell further and further behind, leading to one West Ranch player being ejected in the fourth quarter after a retaliatory shove.
Wildcats junior Brody Carleton was ejected from Wednesday’s contest. His status for Saturday’s semifinal is unknown as of this story’s publication, pending the Southern Section’s review of the incident, according to the game officials.
Multiple West Ranch players were on the end of a few heavy hits on Wednesday. West Ranch head coach Chris Taylor said he coaches his team to not play that way, but that his players need to learn to exercise restraint when they feel the other team is targeting them.
“We try to play a clean game with lacrosse,” Taylor said. “Hits happen in the game, and when they happen, you know, we roll with it. But some of that was a little bit of frustration on their part, as we understand, but we definitely need to do better of controlling what we can control, which is our temper and how we respond to those kind of things.”
West Ranch tamed a Lions offense that had put up 354 goals prior to Wednesday. The Wildcats have only allowed 10 goals in two playoff games after receiving a bye in the first round.
“Great job with our coaches preparing for this week. Brendan Moskal and Tony Benfield, those are our assistant coaches, and they are wonderful,” Taylor said. “Those are the ones I’d like to shout out, hardworking and, you know, we go, we watch films, we try to come back here and prepare for these kids, give them the best opportunity to win.”
The Wildcats are using Valencia High School’s field as their home for the time being while the turf field at West Ranch High School undergoes maintenance.
They’ll be back at Valencia’s Dr. Paul A. Priesz Stadium on Saturday at 5 p.m. to take on the Martin Luther King Wolves.
