Lakewood High School’s boys lacrosse team defeated Ralston Valley 5-4 in their Class 5A League #2 opener at the North Area Athletic Complex on April 8. The game was decided by a final save from sophomore goalie Landon Wilson, who stopped a last-second shot from Ralston Valley junior Lucas Gerlach to secure the victory for the Tigers.
The match was significant as both teams were opening their conference play, with Ralston Valley entering as defending champions and undefeated. Lakewood coach Darin Denton said, “It’s a good one to start league this way. Ralston Valley was undefeated coming in. We knew it was going to be a battle.”
Lakewood set the pace early with long possessions and patient offense. Junior attacker Jaxson Fontenot scored four of Lakewood’s five goals, while junior Lukas Gonzales added another during the third quarter. Fontenot described his approach: “We wanted to possess the ball. Keep good possessions,” and credited his teammates for his performance: “I couldn’t have done it without my boys… Without my boys I don’t get those four goals. It was a collective effort.”
Despite holding a comfortable lead into the fourth quarter, Lakewood faced pressure as Ralston Valley scored three quick goals late in the game—two by senior Colby Kurtz—to narrow the gap to one goal with just over a minute left.
Denton reflected on this tense finish: “It was my own fault for thinking we had it in the bag up 5-1… We just had a couple of bad turnovers.” With seconds remaining, Wilson made what would be his decisive save after Ralston Valley called timeout for one last attempt.
Fontenot said about that moment: “I was definitely a little worried for a second… But I have trust in all our boys on defense. They were holding down the house and our goalie, Ocho (Wilson) had a hell of a game standing on his head out there.” Denton also praised Wilson’s season so far: “He is a good player. He continues to step up for us. It’s been awesome.”
Looking ahead, Lakewood will face Erie next while Ralston Valley travels to Fort Collins for its upcoming league match.
