AURORA -- Fort Collins had to dig deep to keep its hopes of defending its boys lacrosse state title alive Saturday in the state quarterfinals at Clark Kellogg Stadium at Regis High School.

The Vipers fell behind Arapahoe 3-1 in the first quarter before staging an impressive comeback. Utilizing a physical, punishing style of play, Fort Collins reached the semifinals for the second straight season with an 8-6 victory.

“It’s kind of scary to be in that situation, but its better to be in that position in the first quarter than to be down a couple goals in the fourth,” said Vipers attacker Henry Miketa, who sparked the comeback with four goals and an assist. “We made up for it and got the advantage going into the fourth quarter, and that’s what we needed to do.”

Miketa scored twice in the second quarter, helping the Vipers take a 4-3 advantage at halftime. Fort Collins also turned up the heat on the Warriors, matching Arapahoe’s physical play with bruising hits on the Warriors attackers. Eric Law, who had scored twice in the first half, was plowed over by Vipers midfielder Brock Waddell late in the third quarter. Waddell took a one minute penalty for the illegal body check, but the Vipers message was effective.

“Arapahoe has always been physical, every time we’ve played them, but we love to hit,” Waddell said. “That’s what Fort Collins has been known for. I think it wore them down a little bit by the end.”

The Vipers clung to a 6-5 lead after three quarters. Miketa scored again early in the fourth to give Fort Collins a two-goal advantage, but Arapahoe midfielder Andrew Babb fought his way to the front of the Vipers net and scored with 5:51 remaining in the game to cut the Vipers lead to a single goal again. But Arapahoe’s final chance to tie the game passed by when Vipers defenders Bret Newman and Greg Rushing converged on Babb in the Vipers zone and knocked the ball away with two minutes remaining. Miketa scored with 1:06 left to finish off the Warriors (11-4).

“I was pleased by our composure,” Miketa said. “A lot of times when we’ve been down we have forced things that weren’t there. But we stayed disciplined today. Arapahoe was one of the more physical teams. But we haven’t really found a match yet this season, and I don’t know if we will, with a team that is as physical as us.”

Arapahoe… 3 0 2 1 -- 6

Fort Collins… 1 3 2 2 -- 8

A – Ryan Parietti 2-0, Eric Law 2-0, Andrew Babb 1-1, Nathan Kamins 1-0; FC, Henry Miketa 4-1, Eric Newman 1-1, Devin Arruabarrena 1-1, Erik Page 1-0, Jesse Woodman 1-0, Tyler Whitcomb 0-1.

Saves – A (Ryan Elliott) 7; FC (Jackson Nye) 1.

Regis 10, Chatfield 2

It took Regis Jesuit only 29 seconds to score its first goal against Chatfield in the state quarterfinals Saturday. Regis didn’t waste any time eliminating the upstart Chargers 10-2 to advance to the semifinals, either. The Raiders led 5-0 before Chatfield (13-4) scored its first goal.

“We knew coming into this game that Chatfield was a good team,” said Regis midfielder Greyson Konkel, who scored three times. “If we let our guard down they could easily have won so it was important to get off to a good start.”

Chatfield scored once in the second half on a shot by Greg Kelsic to cut the Regis lead to 7-2, but the Raiders didn’t allow the Chargers to capitalize on its momentum. Konkel scored on a nice pass by C.J. Schmidt in the final minute of the third quarter to go up 8-2, and the Raiders kept Chatfield from scoring in the final quarter.

Schmidt scored two goals and assisted on another, and Luke Strode had three assists for Regis (14-4).

“Schmidt finds a way to get open all the time,” Konkel said. “When he gets the ball he can take it whenever. It’s definitely good to have him on the field with me.”

Regis lost in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Fort Collins last season.

Chatfield… 0 1 1 0 -- 2

Regis… 2 4 2 2 -- 10

C, Mitch Erickson 1-0, Greg Kelsic 1-0, Max Erickson 0-1; R, Greyson Konkel 3-1, C.J. Schmidt 2-1, Cavan McConaty 2-1, Luke Strode 0-3, Ross Hardin 2-0, Taylor Herda 1-0.

Saves – C (Conner Lewis) 6; R (Troy Orzech) 3.

Kent Denver 16, Mullen 5

Patrick Murray scored four goals and collected three assists as Kent Denver rolled past Mullen 16-5 in a state quarterfinal game.

In a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal, also won by Kent Denver, the Sun Devils had a huge offensive display. They scored eight times in each half, with Frazier Cavness and Mike Reilly adding three goals apiece to complement Murray.

Murray said the depth of the Sun Devils was too much for the Mustangs (8-5). “We have two lines of attack and the same on defense,” he said. “Mullen is a good team. They are strong and physical, but our depth helped us.”

Ryan Guy had a goal and an assist to lead Mullen, but the Mustangs found themselves in a huge deficit almost immediately. Kent Denver (16-1) led 2-0 after the first quarter, and 8-2 at halftime.

Kent Denver finished the regular season with the best record in the state, and the Sun Devils plan to finish strong. Last season the Sun Devils lost by a goal to Fort Collins in the state championship game.

“There’s definitely a chip on our shoulders from last year,” Murray said. “At the beginning of the season we set our goals high. We want to win a state championship and we aren’t going to settle for anything less. We are working as hard as we can, and hopefully things will go our way.”

The Sun Devils will face Regis on May 13 in the semifinals. The two teams were scheduled to play in the regular season but the game was canceled due to weather.

Mullen… 0 2 1 2 -- 5

Kent Denver…2 6 4 4 -- 16

M, Ryan Guy 1-2, Kyle Wollenhaupt 1-1, Cory Hughes 1-0, Jake Smith 1-0, Eric Smith 1-0, Brian Kormondy 0-1; KD, Patrick Murray 4-3, Mike Reilly 3-2, Frazier Cavness 3-0, David Hanley 2-1,Willy Strazza 1-1, Derrik Flahive 1-1, Moses Taylor 1-1, David Key 1-0.

Saves – M (James Standley) 9; KD (Lucien Reichert) 8 (Jake Stroud) 2.

Cherry Creek 10, Douglas County 6

T.J. McCauley was the right man at the right time for Cherry Creek on Saturday.

The senior attacker scored two fourth quarter goals in less than a minute to help the Bruins hold off Douglas County 10-6 and advance to next week’s boys lacrosse semifinals.

Cherry Creek (14-3) will face defending state champion Fort Collins (14-3) next Saturday at Invesco Field. The Bruins lost to the Vipers 9-8 in the semifinals last year.

Douglas County (11-7) had narrowed Creek’s lead to 6-5 after Adam Jerlow’s third quarter goal. But three minutes into a tension-filled fourth quarter McCauley erupted for a pair of goals just 57 seconds apart to give the Bruins some breathing room. McCauley’s goals, both set up by passes from Mike Beimford, started a 4-0 scoring run by Cherry Creek to close out the Huskies upset bid.

“I just happen to come open,” McCauley said of his goals. “I just floated up top and just happened to be the open man and Michael made a great feed to me. It could have been anyone.”

The offensive flurry was a much-needed boost for the Bruins after Douglas County had taken an early 2-1 lead and survived the Bruins five-goal second quarter.

“It gave us a little life, that’s for sure,” he said. “It just gave us excitement to know that we could come back to win this thing. It’s just something you need every once in a while when you are down like that. You need someone to pick it up.”

Ryan Link scored the Bruins final two goals, giving Cherry Creek a 10-5 lead. The Huskies scored again with 3:59 remaining, but didn’t threaten again in the final minutes.

Link and McCauley each had three goals and an assist, and Jerlow scored three goals to lead Douglas County.

Douglas County… 2 2 1 1 -- 6

Cherry Creek… 1 5 0 4 -- 10

DC, Adam Jerlow 3-0, Garreit Luallen 2-1, Brian Kerrigan 1-0, Dan Hardardt 0-1, Anthony DeRosa 0-1; CC, Ryan Link 3-1, T.J. McCauley 3-1, Mike Beimford 1-2, R.C. Willenbrock 1-1, Nick Bailey 1-0, Nick Gillam 1-0.

Saves – DC (Timothy Hallmark) 12; CC (Jeff Barton) 2.

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