Saturday night in Tukwila, nearly 4,000 lacrosse fans filed into the Starfire Sports Complex for the WHSBA Division I State Championship between the Bellevue Wolverines and the Eastside Catholic Crusaders. The marquee matchup between the two programs from Seattle’s Eastside capped off an exciting celebration of lacrosse at the grounds, with championships and all-star games for all levels taking place all day leading up to the DI finale. The Wolverines were looking to reclaim their throne, losing in the 2015 title match to Mercer Island, after a pretty quick and painless run through the postseason. Bellevue cruised past Stanwood, 20-3, then O’Dea, 14-1, leading to the, 14-6, takedown of Bainbridge to draw Eastside Catholic, who were also taking care of business in the playoffs. The Crusaders’, 8-3, win over Eastlake to start was outdone by a, 12-6, Mercer Island takedown, before working past Issaquah, 10-4, to earn a spot in the finals. Without a regular season meeting, tension continued to build as neither team knew exactly what to expect before game time.

Taking the field in their 22nd Washington State Championship, Bellevue lined up as the home team wearing their gold tops and bottoms while Eastside Catholic adorned their visitor’s all-grey uniforms. After the goalies bumped gloves and broke out to their creases, the lineups murmured a few quick pleasantries amongst the building roar of a enlivened crowd. On the opening whistle, Eastside Catholic worked to come out on top of the game’s first face-off and the Crusaders would work quickly to build on the energy. Bryce Atwater’s eyes found Chase Bultex right on the crease to quick stick in the game’s first goal, giving the visitor's the early lead. Taking an early blow, all-star face-off athlete Andrew Choe stepped up and proved he could become a major factor in the game. It wasn’t until after the second face-off that Bellevue would see their first offensive possession. Looking to steal some of the thunder, Matt Marino worked the pump and go to sail one in for the Wolverines, tying the game at one. Creating opportunities of his own, Augie Fratt faked to get inside and buried it past senior goalkeeper Josh Matte to give Bellevue their first lead. A few minutes of focused lacrosse would pass before a broken Bellevue clear would cost them a goal, with Atwater locked and ready for the backside finish, knotting the game at 2. With less than a minute left in the quarter, Bellevue took their first timeout in an attempt to regain the lead. Matte would sniff out the shot and turn the ball around for a clear, but pressure by the Wolverines would force the Crusaders out of bounds with time running off the clock.

Quick to break up the 2-2 tie, Fratt would work his way back onto the scoreboard with the 2nd quarter’s first goal. On the run, Fratt sniped the net off a textbook lefty dodge, giving Bellevue another lead with his second strike in just a couple of minutes. The Crusaders would soon go man-up and it would pay off when a skip pass to Eric Prologo would be redirected into the cage to tie the game at 3. Cruising right down Main Street, Bultez cut through the inside, caught the feed and released to put Eastside Catholic back up by 1. With 4:30 left in the half, sophomore midfielder Jack Sercu cracked his whip from a hard angle, but found the top shelf for the third-straight Crusader goal. To increase his chances, Fratt stepped all the way in after looking over the options, checking, checking, then going to the goal to get Bellevue back within 1. In the last couple minutes, Eastside Catholic’s defense would step up to stave off any Bellevue advances, specifically after a late strip and successful clear by the Wolverines in the late seconds of the half, which the fought off to close the half with the Crusaders up, 5-4.

The third frame saw a different kind of action. Both teams resorted to more pushing and shoving, on and off-ball, with more aggressive defense drawing the officials to send more jerseys from both sides off to the penalty box. The only tally from Eastside Catholic came on another clutch play by the senior leader, Atwater, getting his stick on a rebound off sophomore goaltender Cabe Edelhertz, reversing it back into the goal to put his team up by 2. Rebounds would be the theme of the quarter, with the only point for Bellevue falling on a high ricochet snagged by Paul Johnson and thrown in to keep their deficit at 1.

Both benches were erupting with energy and the crowd took to their feet, welcoming the young men into the final quarter of battle. Rallying together to swing the momentum their way, the whole Bellevue unit worked for their next points. Starting with a huge save from Edelhertz, the outlet was quickly worked to Michael Medzegian, moving quickly up the turf to create a fast-break. The ball would first find Johnson before a reroute to Joe Bethke, for the senior to tie up the game. Pressure was building on both sides as the game clock ticked away, forcing both teams to make frustrating errors in the late minutes. The Crusaders would knock the wind out of their own sails after Matte made a big save, his outlet pass would be intercepted by Bellevue with a full head of steam charging back toward to the goal. A wide open Wolverine would split toward the open net, drawing an immediate pass on the doorstep. The play would catch Matte still out of position and led the goaltender to make booming contact on the defenseless player, sending the star goalie off to the penalty box for 2 non-releasable minutes. The flag called for backup Ethan Schriever to fill the role between the pipes in the final minutes after spending the game on the sidelines. The relief goaltender was able to make some saves to keep the Crusaders in the game, but the offense wouldn’t be able to put together another quality possession. On the man-up opportunity, Bethke would connect with Fratt to give Bellevue their third lead of the game, that would ultimately hold on for the 7-6 win.

The tempo of the game slowed down as the rain steadily fell thorough the afternoon, but even the typical Seattle weather couldn’t hold back the passion from either opponent in what turned out to be one of the best games of the entire 2016 season. It was clear that senior Andrew Choe came to dominate, winning a vast majority of the game’s face-offs and coming up successful when it mattered the most, pulling out the last few draws of the game for Bellevue. Making the most of those possessions, junior midfielder Augie Fratt’s 5 goals led the powerful Wolverine offense to their 12th Division I State Championship, the 5th under the instruction of Coach John Baumann. After finishing with an overall record of 21-3, the champions will only graduate 6 seniors in the offseason as they look to reload for another title. Finding huge success in his first season as head coach, finishing 17-3, Chuck Goodman will say goodbye to 8 Crusader graduates as he rebuilds for 2017. By Mark Donahue.