Patrick Veasy scored 10 goals for the Skyline lacrosse team, leading the Eagles to a wild 15-13 victory over Riverton in the state championship game.
But it wasn't easy. Skyline surrendered a seven-goal, third-quarter lead only to battle back and win the game and the title.
Skyline led 11-4 with 8:21 remaining in the third quarter before Riverton scored eight straight goals to take a 12-11 lead with 8:58 to play.
"I never felt comfortable in this game, even when we were up seven or eight goals," Skyline head coach Ron Heffernan said. "Riverton had a lot of drive. We let up for a little bit, and you can't let up on a team like Riverton for a second."
After giving up the lead, the Eagles scored five straight goals to regain control and put the Silverwolves away.
"We just knew that we had to stick in it and come back with a win," Veasy said. "And we did. We just showed that our team never gives up.
Heffernan said the way Skyline rallied after blowing a big lead shows how conditioned his team is.
"I knew my team was in shape and I knew they'd hold on to it," he said. "These guys worked hard all year long and they certainly deserve it. It was certainly an intense game. We knew at halftime that even though we were up, this Riverton team is a comeback team.
This was not the first Riverton comeback during its playoff run. In the quarterfinals against Juan Diego, the Silverwolves trailed 13-8 with six minutes to play in the game before rallying to send the game to overtime, where they won 15-14.
"My team has heart, there's no doubt about that," Riverton coach Todd Heaton said. "There was never a doubt that we could climb back into the game. We took the lead like we expected, but we just didn't keep going."
Heaton said his team did not play defense with the intensity it needed.
"We did not come with our game," he said. "Skyline is a very good team. In order to stay with a team like that — that's good at passing — you have to be at the top of your game. We just flat out weren't defensively."
Skyline built its lead with a 9-2 run stretching from the first quarter to the third. Walker Hewlett helped Veasy with his big game, assisting him four times and scoring another four goals himself.
Cameron Peterson scored four times for Riverton while Trevor McCann scored three more for the Silverwolves.
Veasy was named to the academic all-American team at halftime.
"This is his second playoff game with 10 goals," Heffernan said. "He's really earned his academic all-American position and is obviously one of the best players in Utah."
E-mail: bhinton@desnews.com