The nation’s seventh ranked lacrosse team took care of business in Saturday afternoon’s Division A state championship game.
Despite trailing at halftime for the first time all season, the Corner Canyon Chargers capped off their undefeated season with a 20-13 win over defending champion Park City in the Division A championship game at Layton High School. The Chargers scored five unanswered goals to start the third quarter to separate themselves from the Miners.
“I just told the boys they’re in control of themselves and they decide what happens next, and they responded,” Corner Canyon head coach Aaron Ika said when asked what changed during halftime.
Ika said he never considered changing the game plan despite finding themselves in unfamiliar territory as they trailed 7-6 going into the break. Ika said he just had to make sure his players just continued to be themselves, especially on the attacking end of the field.
“Our offense is a bunch of Ferraris and we’ve got to let them be themselves,” Ika said. “When we try to slow them down we don’t do things the correct way, and when we keep our pace up, good things happen.”
The pace started to take over in the second half, where Corner Canyon outscored Park City 14-6.
“We were just saying six goals is kind of pathetic,” Chargers senior Eric Neilsen said about the halftime message. “We just wanted to start playing our game, that’s all, which is speed. We wanted to utilize all those sprints during practice, every drill we’ve done in practice has been fast. But the coaches said we needed to slap each other up a little bit during halftime because there were a lot of blank stares on our faces.”
Corner Canyon benefitted from a revamped Jon King in the second half. King, who is currently the nation’s leading goal-scorer, was scoreless through the first half, but found four goals in the second half.
“I’m ready to cry. These boys, they battled all year. They’re a great group of guys to coach. I could go through and name everybody. … That second half was just a championship effort.” — Corner Canyon coach Aaron Ika
Neilsen, one of the few seniors on a fairly young Corner Canyon squad, led all scorers with six goals for the game.
“This is what we’ve worked for this whole time, especially last year when the season got canceled, we knew we were looking forward to this year and this season,” Neilsen said. “Every day when I’ve been practicing outside, I’ve been thinking about Park City. It was an honor that we could play against them and I felt that that was fitting and right.”
Neilsen said that he and his teammates have nothing but love for each other and Ika felt the same way.
“I’m ready to cry,” Ika said. “These boys, they battled all year. They’re a great group of guys to coach. I could go through and name everybody. … That second half was just a championship effort.”
The Chargers will likely be back in the conversation next season as well, given that the team will only lose a handful of senior contributors.
Division B and Division C champions were also crowned Saturday afternoon. Alta claimed the Division B championship with a 12-4 win over Westlake, and Pleasant Grove dominated the Viewmont Vikings in the Division C championship with a 15-5 win.