On March 3 and May 11 of 2023, boys’ varsity lacrosse had two highly anticipated matchups against De La Salle High School. The first was a non-league game in which the Giants were defeated by a score of 11-10 in overtime. The second, final matchup in the North Coast Section Division I Championship ended in a 13-10 defeat. Fast forward to March 15, 2024, the Giants were hungry for revenge. Since last year’s final game, boys’ varsity lacrosse had marked this one on their calendar, and they indeed delivered.
As the game began, the Giants looked prepared and poised to end victorious. Just from the first faceoff, Redwood controlled possession, calmly passing the ball around until a shot was created. As senior Jake Vasquez got the ball in his stick, there was nothing De La Salle could do to stop him. At the 10:22 minute mark, Vasquez sprinted around the backside of the net, spinning and shooting to give the Giants an early 1-0 lead. Precisely two minutes later, senior Jake Werner received possession of the ball, firing it into the back of the net on a bounce shot to assert the Giants’ dominance, making it a quick 2-0. Throughout the first quarter, Redwood continued to put pressure on the Spartans, eventually taking a 4-0 lead thanks to a goal by senior Will Parsons and another by Werner on an impressive assist by senior Harrison Curtiss with 9.4 seconds remaining.
With the Giants going into the break with a 4-0 lead, the game was just getting started, and more work was needed. De La Salle scored their first goal almost immediately after returning to action, making it 4-1, but senior BJ Fisher quickly responded. At the 8:52 minute mark, Fisher shot and scored, giving back the Giants their four-goal lead. In the second quarter, the offense stayed passive, making the Spartans apply pressure, but when they found a hole, the Giants attacked. Just two minutes and 21 seconds after Fisher’s goal, Curtiss nailed a scorcher, giving the Giants a 6-1 lead going to halftime.
The Giants immediately got back to work in the second half, allowing only one goal by the Spartans in the third quarter, with tremendous pressure from senior star defenders Ian Rothbart, Eddie Lin and Sam Lieberman. Redwood was able to tack on a few more goals on the offensive side as well. Parsons and Vasquez each scored their second goal of the game, and a goal from senior Aidan Hackett gave Redwood a comfortable 9-2 lead heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was calm and collective as Redwood maintained possession and focused on keeping their momentum. De La Salle scored one goal, but Redwood matched it with a goal by senior Nolan Ewing. This final goal by Ewing was the cherry on top as the Giants ended victorious by a score of 10-3.
What was expected to be a nail-biter all throughout turned into pure dominance from the Giants as they proved they are one of the best teams on the West Coast. They will continue their scorching hot start to the season on Tuesday, March 19, against Legend High School at Redwood.
