On Friday May 27, the Miners Boys Lacrosse team traveled down to Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman to face off against the Olympus Titans in the 5A Utah State Championship Game. The game went back and forth, with Olympus leading for most of the way. A 4th quarter rally, however, and an electric game winning goal put the Miners on top 10-9, winning them the 5A Utah State Lacrosse Championship.

The Titans entered the matchup a perfect 19-0, attempting to cap off their perfect season with a win against Park City. The Miners were a team they previously had some success with, defeating them earlier this month on May 4. Just under four weeks ago, Olympus hosted Park City and beat them in a tight 14-12 victory, just one of their 16 regular season victories that secured them the 1-seed in the 5A State Playoff.

Park City came into the championship game with a 14-5 record, but they were riding a six game win streak and had won 11 of their last 12 games. The Miners earned a 2-seed in the 5A playoffs, and cruised to the championship game thanks to comfortable wins over Box Elder, Brighton, and Bountiful.

Leading up to the matchup, Park City still felt confident they were better than Olympus, even though they lost to them earlier in the season. Junior Chase Beyer commented on the Miners’ confidence going into the game.

“We all knew that we were a better team than we displayed in the game we played against them earlier, and we had made a lot of mistakes… No one on the team thought that Olympus was better than us by any means. Everyone was kinda like, ‘it’s anyone’s game to go get right now.’ Everyone just came together and stayed focused on the end goal and played hard for it,” said Beyer.

Olympus jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead over Park City early in the game, shutting out the Miners completely in the first quarter. To open the second quarter, however, the Miners responded with back to back goals to knot the game at 2. Not to be outdone, Olympus went on a 3-0 run, pushing their lead to 5-2 with a little over six minutes to play before halftime.

During the end of the second quarter and into the beginning of the second half, the Miners put together a 4-0 run of their own, featuring two goals from junior Chase Beyer. A Jude Trahan third quarter goal gave Park City their first lead of the evening at 6-5. Just before the end of the third, Olympus notched one more goal and tied it to enter the fourth quarter at 6-6.

Olympus dominated the first half of the final quarter, controlling the ball with long possessions, not giving the Miners a chance to take the lead. The Titans scored back to back goals, which put them up 8-6 with five minutes to play. The Park City student section deflated, and the Titans held all the momentum.

The energy shift came when senior John Trahan and Chase Beyer scored back to back goals within sixty seconds of each other, tying the game at 8 and reviving the Miner faithful. Zions Bank Stadium got louder, as the clock continued to tick toward zero. With just three minutes remaining, however, Olympus scored what seemed to be the dagger, putting them up by one, 9-8.

Multiple times in the game, Olympus scored goals to extend their lead just after the Miners had tied it up. Chase Beyer spoke on the mentality of the team when they got down in these situations.

“We just needed possessions at that point, because when we were getting the ball we were getting shots and scoring, and it was just working hard to get the ball and once we got the ball, executing on our end,” said Beyer.

That’s exactly what the Miners did to close the game. Following that Titan goal, junior Jack McHenry won a crucial face-off that gave the Miners possession and an opportunity to tie up the game at 9. The tension was palpable, however, as Park City missed high on back-to-back shots, although they were still able to retain possession. Following a timeout, with just 37 seconds remaining, Chase Beyer skipped the ball into the net for his fifth, knotting the game once again at 9. The Park City student section went berserk as the state championship seemed well in reach.

Yet again, McHenry came in clutch, winning a key face off, and giving Park City the ball and a chance to put an end to Olympus’ championship dreams. After winning the face-off, McHenry ran down the field and passed it to sophomore Brendan Johnson, who whipped the ball into the back of the net and gave Park City the lead with only 29 seconds remaining. Once again, the Miner faithful erupted, and as time ran out on Olympus’ next possession, the student section electrified. The referees called time, and the PC Lax Boys mobbed each other in celebration.

Students’ efforts to storm the field were stopped by security, but the energy was still wild as the players ran towards the sideline to celebrate with fans. The boys secured the state championship trophy, and their 10-9 victory over their region rival was cause for celebration long into the night.

“[Being a champion] feels awesome. We’ve been working for this all year, it’s really just indescribable,” said Beyer.

This capped the most successful season in recent memory, winning them their first state title since 2019. Next week, the program will suffer the losses of graduating seniors John Tiranno, John Trahan, Jude Trahan, Andrew Hunt, Hunter Currie, Keller Hopkins, TJ Griswold, and Charley Mehney.