COLUMBUS – For the second-consecutive season, the St. Xavier Bombers and the Cleveland St. Ignatius Wildcats played for the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Division I lacrosse championship.
The Bombers (21-1), in their fourth-straight OHSAA Division I final, beat St. Ignatius (17-7) by a 13-7 score for the program’s fourth overall state championship and second consecutive.
Since the OHSAA sanctioned lacrosse in 2017, the Bombers have also won eight-straight regional titles and have been in six state finals, including the last four.
“It’s a testament to all the support we have from the school,” St. Xavier head coach Nate Sprong said. “From strength and conditioning to we have team chapel once a week with a chaplain and we talk about what’s important in their lives.
“Testament to the kids. They work hard and grind it out and I think we found a formula that works.”
St. Xavier ran into early trouble, allowing a pair of goals to begin and end the first quarter as the Wildcats took a 5-2 lead. The Bombers, who had no problem finding shots to take, started to find the back of the net in the second quarter.
In that period, the Bombers outscored St. Ignatius 5-0 on goals from DJ Frazier, August Betz, Roman Dean, Ryder Munz and Ethan Cole and took a 7-5 lead into halftime. Betz and Cole were responsible for St. Xavier’s goals in the opening quarter.
“We like to play fast and furious and sometimes you take shots you probably would rather take back, but sometimes those catch the other team off guard,” Sprong said. “We just needed to settle down and take a little bit better shots. We adjusted the defense which did a good job of taking away their alley dodge. That really helped the rest of the game.”
At the break, St. Xavier had outshot St. Ignatius 21-11, including 12 Bomber shots on goal. At the end of the game, St. Xavier had outshot the Wildcats 36-23 and 25-12 on shots on goal.
St. X keeper Sam Carpenter, a sophomore, and his defense continued dominating in the second half. Carpenter again didn’t allow a goal in the third period and St. Xavier scored twice for a 9-5 lead entering the final quarter.
“I couldn’t imagine him doing a better job,” senior Rowdy Scheer said of Carpenter. “From the start of the year, he stepped in confident, ready and he’s just a top-level goalie.”
St. Ignatius’ final goal with 14 seconds left in the opening period was its last until there was 1:57 left in the game and Peyton Larue found the net to cut St. Xavier’s lead to 11-6. St. Ignatius also scored again, playing a man up with around 90 seconds left on the clock for the 13-7 final.
Note: This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: St. Xavier Bombers repeat as OHSAA Division I lacrosse champions
Reporting by Alex Harrison, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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By Alex Harrison, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
