After losing in the state championship last year, Mountain Vista wasn’t going to be denied the title Monday evening at Peter Barton Stadium.
The Golden Eagles rallied to defeat Valor Christian, 10-8, in an all-Highlands Ranch Class 5A championship and a rematch of Mountain Vista’s overtime win in the title game two years ago. Senior Joel Palasz led Mountain Vista with five goals.
“We had huge motivation from last year,” Palasz said. “Losing that game (to Arapahoe), that was terrible. We thought about it for a long time, we made adjustments, we put the right pieces in the right places. It feels amazing to be at the top of the mountain, and we were determined to get here.”
Valor Christian controlled the tempo early, jumping out to a 4-1 first-quarter lead. But Mountain Vista started chipping away in the second quarter. After Mountain Vista senior Dawson Long and Valor Christian freshman Christian Eframo traded goals to make it 5-2, the Golden Eagles grabbed the momentum.
Midway through the second, Mountain Vista senior Ethan Pearson scored, then 30 seconds later Palasz added another to cut Valor Christian’s lead to 5-4 at halftime.
The Golden Eagles continued to control the tempo and possession coming out of the locker room. Palasz tied the game a few minutes into the third quarter, and 45 seconds after his goal, Pearson’s second goal put the Golden Eagles ahead for the first time.
“There’s no doubt those two goals to open the third quarter really set the tone for us the rest of the game,” Mountain Vista coach Matthew Plitnick said.
Senior Brady Brown’s goal at the 4:15 mark of the third added to Mountain Vista’s lead, then Palasz got his hat trick with 57 seconds left in the quarter to give the Golden Eagles an 8-5 lead. Palasz kept the Golden Eagles surging in the fourth quarter, picking up a loose ball in front of the net and easily depositing it for the Sacred Heart commit’s fourth goal and a 9-5 lead.
Freshman Blake Ham finally snapped Mountain Vista’s string of seven consecutive goals with 7:09 left in the fourth, cutting Valor Christian’s deficit to 9-6. But Palasz came right back with his fifth goal to make it 10-6, before Ham’s hat trick made it 10-7. Baden Brown’s second goal then made it 10-8 with 1:28 left.
The Eagles couldn’t make up the rest of the ground. Valor Christian, owner of two Class 4A titles, finished 17-2 while Mountain Vista finished 16-3.
After the game, the Golden Eagles chanted “MVP! MVP!” at Palasz, who said he believes Mountain Vista has the firepower to make it back to the championship again next year without him.
“We’re definitely on a high,” Plitnick said. “Three state championship games in three years, and you can tell we’ve been here before during the pressure moments. It showed out there.”
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