The Eastlake Titans secured no worse than a tie for this year’s Mesa League boys lacrosse championship after dealing host Otay Ranch a 13-4 defeat Monday. The win raised the Titans’ league record to 6-0 with two league games remaining.
The loss dropped Otay Ranch — the nearest team in the standings to Eastlake — to 3-2 in league play, 7-4 overall.
The Titans (11-4 overall) can claim outright possession of this year’s league title by defeating visiting Olympian (1-4 in league, 4-11 overall) on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m.
Eastlake closes the season with games at Grossmont on Monday, April 30, and at Hilltop on Thursday, May 3, while hosting Granite Hills on Friday, May 4.
The section playoffs start May 8 for Division I teams and May 9 for Division II teams. Any necessary play-in games would be played May 7.
Quarterfinals are May 11-12 and semifinals are May 15-16. A championship triple-header caps the season May 19 at San Marcos High School.
The Titans entered the week ranked third among Division II teams.
But Monday’s game was anything but a laugher.
Eastlake held a 3-2 lead at halftime. However, that promptly disappeared when Jacob Ramirez scored his third goal of the game for the Mustangs just 19 seconds into the second half to tie the game.
The game did not remain tied long, as the visitors promptly reeled off six unanswered goals to take a 9-3 lead. The Titans out-scored the Mustangs 10-2 in the second half.
“It was a typical Eastlake-Otay Ranch game,” EHS coach Dale Drees explained. “It started off defensively. As we went through the game both teams put together shots. Fortunately, we were able to come out with more goals and win the game.”
McKinley Egland-Young led the Titans with four goals while Braden Mayer and Tony Santos each scored three goals. Jaxen Trinidad was the high point man, however, with two goals and six assists.
Mayer, a standout roller hockey player with a golden scoring touch, showed he can also play defense by leading Eastlake with 12 ground balls.
Junior goalkeeper Kai Bowden, meanwhile, recorded 12 saves.
Drees credited the second-half turnaround to some halftime strategy.
“We talked about moving the ball more quickly,” Drees explained. “They have a good defensive zone, we needed to move the ball more quickly to break that zone.”
Bowden is playing his first full year at the varsity level after taking over the position from highly decorated graduate Nate McPeak (now at Syracuse University).
“With goalies you’re always hoping you get someone who can come in and play great,” Drees said. “With Kai, he’s stepped right in and has done a great job all year long.”
Chula Vista improved to 4-0 in South Bay League play following a 9-1 win at Mar Vista on April 19. The Spartans edged host University City, 6-5, in a non-league game on Tuesday to improve their overall season record to 12-4.
