ERIE — With each passing year, Erie boys lacrosse gets a bit stronger, a bit older and a bit wiser. The Tigers certainly flexed their muscles with a 24-0 home win over a rebuilding Jefferson Academy team on Thursday night.
As the sun continued to drop in the evening sky, so did the Jaguars’ chances of winning. Fourteen first-quarter Erie goals practically ended the game after it had barely started, and the young JA squad couldn’t recover.
That’s the type of game play that Erie fans have become accustomed to — burying goals early and often. It’s led the Tigers to early success as they’ve raked in five wins through their first six games. Their only setback of the season came by way of an 8-7 overtime heartbreaker at the hands of Rock Canyon.
“That’s the first game of the season where we got to play all 28,” head coach Nick Mandia said. “All of these kids battle every day in practice and make our program what it is, so it’s good to be able to get everybody on the field and to be honest, I don’t think the product that we had on the field changed as we were subbing through the bench. It was cool to see the leaders working with the younger kids and seeing the younger guys get their first reps and their first goals, their first points. That’s fun.”
Junior attackers Davis Mundy and Charlie O’Brien took on the brunt of the scoring responsibility, netting five goals apiece, as 10 boys in all got on the board. Through the first six games, O’Brien has been a scoring machine with 20 goals already to his name.
Mundy nearly matched his previous season total of eight goals with the five he netted on Thursday night alone, three of which came through a 71-second barrage.
“It was a team that we could get our rhythm with and put everyone on the field and just share the ball,” Mundy said. “I think it’s everyone just having fun with each other and loving each other and just being a good team.”
Erie has continued to grow as a program year over year, with the past two seasons ending in the Class 4A state semifinals. And each year, the boys hope they can overcome that last hurdle to make it into the championship game.
If Thursday night’s game proved anything, it’s that the Tigers have the type of depth on their nearly 30-man roster to carry them far once again. Mandia has enjoyed the ride over the last few years regardless.
“Some of our seniors were little, pipsqueak freshmen when they entered this program and now they’re leaders in our program,” he said. “It’s been neat to see them take ownership. I think there’s a little bit more maturity in our program each year, because we keep going deep into the playoffs. We get some extra games each year and we learn and get punched in the face every year.”
Erie, now 5-1, will return home on Tuesday night to take on a tough Cherokee Trail team as Jefferson Academy (1-5) looks to start stringing together more victories after they travel to Littleton on the same night.
The Jaguars don’t have any seniors on the squad this year but hope a game like this can help open their eyes to the level of competition the area has to offer.
“Erie’s a great state team,” Jefferson Academy head coach Dean Brink said. “They’ve always been. They have been for the last couple of years. I keep expecting Erie to excel and it’s a good opportunity for JA to play a good team. We’re going to use this opportunity to expand our practices, how we’re going to side on defense. Today showed us we need to work on that a lot and controlling the ball offensively, but it’s a great learning opportunity. We’re going to keep our heads up and hit practice hard for the next week.”
