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Boys lax: Aspen hosts Englewood in state playoffs

Dale Strode
The Aspen Times
John Heaphey and the Aspen Skiers will host Englewood at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the Class 4A state lacrosse playoffs.
Jeremy Wallace / The Aspen Times |

The Skiers are No. 1.

Next: The playoffs.

The Aspen Skiers will begin their quest to live up to their No. 1 seeding today when the first round of the state playoffs open in Class 4A boys lacrosse.



The Aspen High School boys lacrosse team earned the No. 1 seed for the 16-team state tournament, and the Skiers (13-2) will host No. 16 Englewood (10-5) at a 4 p.m. game today at Aspen School District Stadium.

The winner of the Aspen-Englewood game will advance to the second round of the playoffs and a game Friday against the winner of No. 9 Steamboat Springs (9-6) at No. 8 Windsor (10-5).




Aspen would host that game if the Skiers can beat Englewood in the first round.

The Aspen boys, who reached the state semifinals in the lacrosse playoffs last year, were awarded the No. 1 seed in Class 4A over No. 2 seed Valor Christian, undefeated at 15-0.

The Skiers’ strength of schedule, which included losses to two Class 5A state playoff teams, elevated Aspen to the No. 1 spot in the 16-team bracket.

Behind Valor Christian is No. 3 Cheyenne Mountain (12-3).

Valor Christian will host No. 15 Evergreen (6-9) in today’s first round.

Cheyenne Mountain will host No. 14 Durango (8-6).

Battle Mountain is the No. 4 seed in the state.

The 11-4 Huskies lost in the conference championship game in Aspen last week.

Two of the Battle Mountain losses came at the hands of the No. 1 Skiers.

Battle Mountain will host Littleton (7-8) to open the state playoffs.

The Battle Mountain-Littleton winner will play the winner of No. 12 Summit at No. 5 Alexander Dawson in the second round.

In the other half of the bracket. No. 6 Air Academy will host No. 11 Thompson Valley with the winner to play the Durango-Cheyenne Mountain winner.

Ponderosa, another team Aspen defeated this season, is the No. 7 seed. Ponderosa will host No. 10 Conifer. The Valor Christian-Evergreen winner awaits the Ponderosa-Conifer winner in the second round Friday.

The state semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, in Lakewood.

The Class 4A state championship game will be played Friday, May 15, at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the home of the Denver Broncos.

The Skiers enter the playoffs led by a prolific offense.

Tyler Tick is Aspen’s leading scorer this year with 61 goals in 15 games. He also has 13 assists. His 74 total points lead the Skiers.

Ryan Fitzgerald has 64 points (50 goals; 14 assists) for the Skiers of coach Mike Goerne.

Harry Ferguson leads Aspen in assists with 32. He also has potted 26 goals for 58 points.

John Heaphey has 15 assists and 25 goals for 40 points as the Skiers begin the 2015 state playoffs.

Jonathan Wells (16) and Trey Robinson (12) also have reached double figures in goals for the Skiers this year.

Englewood is led by Austin Trail, a senior who scored 38 goals and added 28 assists for the Pirates. His 66 points top Englewood.

Caleb Medina totaled 57 points on 36 goals and 21 assists.

Jacob Medina scored 26 goals this year, and teammate Luke Hall totaled 23 goals.

Joe Hall also scored 16 goals and added 12 assists for Englewood.

dstrode@aspentimes.com