High school boys lacrosse: Huge fourth quarter comeback propels Brighton to second consecutive 5A title over Park City

In many ways, top-seeded Brighton simply lost the numbers game early in the 5A championship game.

The Bengals were dominated in faceoffs, they struggled to pass and they gave up long offensive possessions to Park City.

When you are not succeeding in any of those aspects, it’s nearly impossible to win a lacrosse game.

Despite it all, the Bengals still played Park City close, and a six-goal fourth quarter launched Brighton over the Miners and to a 10-9 championship win and its second-consecutive title.

“They were dominating us in the middle of the field,” said Brighton head coach Chris O’Donnell. “Face offs, I think (we won) three of ten. Ground balls, they were dominating us there. It seemed like we were a little shy to get after them.”

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It wasn’t just the middle of the field where Brighton got dominated early. Park City came into Friday’s game with a hot offense.

The Miners scored three goals in the first three minutes for a 3-0 lead, and scored two more in the second quarter.

All five first-half Park City goals were scored by different players.

While the situation was bleak for Brighton, it certainly wasn’t over. The team found ways to stay within striking distance.

Two first half goals from Zachary Anderson and a goal from Gabriel Carrera kept the Bengals within 5-3 at halftime.

It wasn’t ideal, considering how Park City built its lead, but O’Donnell knew it was a score Brighton could work with.

“We were only down two, so all that work that they were putting in only gave them a two-goal lead,” O’Donnell said. “We knew if we turned the middle of the field around like we did in the second half, we’d find a way to make up those two goals and (we) squeaked out a win.”

Brighton started to turn things around as Carrera was the first to score in the second half to bring its deficit to only one.

But the score didn’t stay close for long, with Park City’s Wade Birch and Becker Ruzek scoring two quick consecutive goals to stretch Park City’s lead back out to 7-4 after the third quarter.

When it was do-or-die time, Brighton unleashed an offensive onslaught.

In the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter, the Bengals tied it 7-7 with three goals, one of which was an assist from Austin Taylor to Andrew Salinas.

Park City’s Deegan McCloskey scored to retake the lead, but Taylor answered for Brighton to tie it again.

Taylor ended the championship game with two goals and two assists for the Bengals.

“We just knew how much we worked for this and we were not going to give up just for a little three goal deficit,” Taylor said. “We all banded together and we kept the energy higher when we were down and that’s what got us up.”

Taylor’s goal led to what was arguably the play of the game as Carrera had a fake pass which fooled the defense and he ditched it to Cole Murray who scored for the 9-8 lead with 4:33 left in the game. It was the first time all game Brighton had the lead.

Park City tied it 9-9 with another goal from McCloskey with only three minutes left.

All season Carrera has been one of the top goal scorers in the state and has led his team with 61 goals on the season. But with the championship game on the line, it was his passing that got the job done.

With just over a minute left Carrera had another assist, this time to Colt McKean for the championship winning goal.

“That’s a game winner that everyone dreams of,” Carrera said. “Being able to provide that for your teammates and being able to share that with your teammates, it’s just an unbelievable feeling.”

In the end, Brighton outscored Park City 6-2 to secure its second consecutive 5A state championship.

“This is a game we should be playing in every year,” O’Donnell said. “That’s the mentality that we have. We didn’t get there for the first years of sanctioning. (We) kept losing in the semis or quarters to (Park City), and then finally got them last year and then this year. We know this is the standard for us and it’s just a matter of maintaining that every year.”