Redwood tops rival for title
Giants hold off Marin Catholic in one-goal game to win league
Just like in the previous matchup, Redwood High came out on top against Marin Catholic. Unlike last time, the Wildcats were able to push the host Giants to the very end in a head-to-head matchup of two of the most dominant boys lacrosse teams in the North Bay.
Redwood held off rival Marin Catholic, 6-5, Saturday, then celebrated their MCAL championship win with the Giants girls lacrosse team, which had defeated Marin Catholic, 12-11, for their own MCAL crown earlier in the day.
“Marin Catholic played a lot better this time,” said Redwood coach Blake Atkins, whose Giants handed the Wildcats a 14-1 loss in the regular season a week earlier. “They're not an easy team to play against. They're a high-scoring team, so to hold them to under 20 goals is a big accomplishment.”
Both teams expect good news Sunday during the North Coast Section seeding meeting.
“Redwood is one of the best teams in Northern California, so I think we still showed we can play with the best,” Marin Catholic coach BJ Grill said. “I expect we'll get a good seed for NCS. Maybe we'll get another shot at De La Salle, or even another game against Redwood.”
Redwood is another team that packs a powerful punch. The Giants led most of the game behind sophomores Jake Vasquez and Nolan Ewing, who each scored two goals. But Marin Catholic tried to mount a comeback in the second half as Colin Puckett scored his team-best three goals, including the lone goal of the fourth period that tightened the game to a one-goal contest.
A flurry of late shots failed to get through the Redwood defense, however, and the Wildcats' title hopes were carried away with the forceful
wind that tormented players all day.
The game didn't start quite as well as the Giants would have hoped. On Vasquez's first shot, the ball missed the net, although part of his broken stick did hit the goal. Then the Wildcats' Mack Berry broke open the scoring 1:32 into the game with a shot to the far side of the goal.
“We expected a really good game from Marin Catholic,” Vasquez said. “We knew they'd make adjustments and come at us harder. They played a great game… There's always going to be a rivalry between these teams, but there's a lot of respect for Marin Catholic.”
The Giants scored a trio of unanswered goals to close out the first period with a 3-1 lead, with an Anton Rendic goal bookended by a pair of scores by Ewing. The tying goal came as Ewing took a pass, then measured his target winding up for a powerful shot past net minder Elias Demko, who had 13 saves. Rendic put the Giants ahead for good as he received a pass while right in front of Demko. Rendic, with his back to the goal, faked to his right, then spun to his left for the winning goal. Ewing added a 10-meter shot with an assist from Collin Harper.
Despite the matchup of two powerful offenses, the defense controlled the day. Redwood goalie Ray Hettleman had 10 saves. Redwood outshot Marin Catholic 29-28, but the aggressive defensive play at both ends confounded the shooters.
Neither team scored again until late in the second period, at which point they traded goals in a fiveminute span before halftime. Jack Tornga pulled Marin Catholic back to within one goal with a shot to bottom corner. Vasquez followed three minutes later to give the Giants a 4-2 halftime lead.
“We were still playing from behind, trying to catch up the whole game,” Grill said.
Defense continued to dictate the pace of the game in the second half, until a spinning Vazquez came off a pick-and-roll with a shot that found its target to break a 7:30 minute scoring drought.
“Vasquez is only a sophomore, but he plays like an upperclassman,” Atkins said. “He's just an incredible player and one of the top scorers in the league.”
Puckett brought the Wildcats charging back with two goals in the final two minutes of the third period. He took the ball just past midfield and ran hurtling at the Redwood goal before releasing an unstoppable shot. Soon after, he sent a low bouncer across the goal to the far corner to bring the score to 5-4. But with 35 seconds left in the period, the Giants' Dennis Van Der Wal split Marin Catholic's defense with a shot from 15 meters out to give Redwood a little more breathing room at 6-4.
Desperate for a comeback, the Wildcats turned to Puckett, who delivered with a shot through traffic with 3:30 left to play to turn the game into a nail biter. Marin Catholic couldn't find the mark for the tying goal, however, and Redwood controlled the ball as the final seconds ticked away.
“We have outstanding coaches and outstanding senior leadership, and our team's success really begins with them,” Vasquez said.