Sports Briefs: Redwood lacrosse sets bar for next season in NCS final
The Giants had been looking forward to this chance to settle old scores as second-seeded Redwood High challenged top-seeded De La Salle on Thursday for the North Coast Section Division I championship.
Redwood fell short in its quest for its first NCS D-I title as the Giants lost to the Spartans, 13-10.
“This was a hard-fought battle,” Redwood coach Blake Atkins said. “It’s tough to be on the losing end. But it was a great game, We just didn’t do enough to get all the way through.”
Senior Collin Harper scored a team-high five goals in the Giants’ first trip to the NCS D-I finals.
“This was a phenomenal season. We just came up one game short,” Atkins said. “We set a the bar to a new level for the program. I’m proud of the guys.”
Redwood received a goal and an assist from senior Parker Pewitt and another goal from senior Anton Rendic. Senior Colin McGrath had an assist and seven takeaways.
“The scoring was spread out through the senior class,” Atkins said. “The guys all did a great job.”
The Giants’ previous two trips to the NCS tournament ended in the semifinals in 2022 and 2019, while the Spartans won the title both years. The NCS championships were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Redwood hasn’t defeated De La Salle in five meetings now since the start of the 2019 season, including two losses in the NCS tournament. The rivalry couldn’t be much better though. De La Salle defeated Redwood,11-10 in overtime earlier this season.
Prep baseball
The third time wasn’t the charm for San Domenico baseball against rival University on Friday. The Panthers lost to the Red Devils, 13-4, in Thursday’s Bay Counties League West championship at San Francisco’s Paul Goode Field.
University leapt to an 8-0 lead, with four runs in both the first and second innings, before San Domenico got on the board with a three-run third inning.
Alex Tavano singled and scored for the Panthers, who also got base bits from Oliver Swain and Oliver Bennett. Elijah Vaughan-Lee scored and drove in a run. Bennett, Aiden Cohen and Hank Figueroa each had an RBI.
Figueroa, Swain and Bennett shared the pitching duties, with starter Swain striking out four batters in the first two innings.
University (18-7) has won all three encounters with San Domenico (12-6) this season.