High school boys lacrosse: Big 1st half pushes Alta past Olympus

A stellar offensive performance in the first half was enough to ultimately push Alta past Olympus 15-8 in a matchup of two of the top teams in the 5A Region 6 on Friday.

Alta was led by Braxton Horoba who had four goals on the night and Colby Blackham and JJ Massi, each with three goals apiece.

“I thought it was a great game and really hard fought,” said Alta head coach Brandon Horoba. “We came out in the beginning on fire and kept going throughout the first half.

“In the second half, we knew they were going to come out ready to go. They scored really quick and got some other ones which started to make it a lot closer. Our boys kind of buckled down when they needed to and some plays, so it was a really good win.”

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Alta wasted no time and jumped on Olympus within the first minute with a quick goal from senior Burke Staker.

“That’s how we like to play. We like to play fast, and we like to take our opportunities, not really slowing the ball down,” Horoba said. “We just kind of kept playing the way we like to play. Sometimes it hurts us and sometimes it’s good, and tonight it was good.”

Alta led 4-1 at the end of the first quarter and 10-2 at halftime, but Olympus came out in the second half determined to make it a game.

The Titans got a goal from Thomas Ockey 15 seconds into the third quarter and tightened things up defensively, outscoring the Hawks 3-0 in the frame to stay within striking distance heading into the final quarter.

Olympus gave Alta all it could handle, but in the end, Alta stuck to its gameplan and the deficit was ultimately too much to overcome for the Titans.

“At the end of the third quarter, we just talked about how it’s one quarter at a time and they just happen to get us in that quarter,” Horoba said.

“Let’s go win this next quarter and let’s finish this game on top. We just got back to what we were doing and playing our brand of lacrosse.”