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Denver East easily advances

Russell's four goals help Angels hold off Arapahoe comeback

Paul Willis, Special to the News

Published May 17, 2006 at midnight

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ENGLEWOOD - He says he likes passing better than scoring.

What a shame for Joshua Russell, then, because putting the ball in the net seems to be the Denver East sophomore's path to a prominent lacrosse career.

Russell scored four goals - two in acrobatic fashion - Tuesday night as the Angels beat Arapahoe 12-6 in the Class 5A semifinals at Englewood High School. Denver East will meet Cherry Creek on Saturday night in the championship game at Invesco Field at Mile High.

"I'm just glad my team is giving me the green light and has the faith in me to drive on my defender when he's pressing out on me," Russell said. "If they are going to say that I can, then I'm going to try my best to do it."

Russell scored two goals on shots that came after leaping in from behind the net. His first one put Denver East (17-1) ahead 2-0 and came with 6.4 seconds left in the first quarter. It helped the Angels, who also got a first-quarter score from Kjael Skaalerud, create momentum despite a fairly evenly played opening quarter.

Denver East parlayed the surge into a 7-0 lead late in the second quarter. Arapahoe (14-4) trimmed it to 7-2 at the half, but the Angels extended it to 10-2 on Skaalerud's third goal of the night late in the third quarter.

"I think we got beat by a better team, frankly," said Arapahoe coach Brian Langtry, also a Colorado Mammoth player.

"We would have needed a really good game to win this, and we had a couple chances early to do that, and we had guys who just couldn't finish."

Denver East goaltender Dudley Piet was tough in the net, particularly early when Arapahoe was matching the Angels' tempo. Piet stopped 12 of 18 shots overall and earned big praise from Russell.

"He's the hero of the team," Russell said. "He had about eight one-on-0's, just him and the shooter, and he made eight saves. Each one is just like a goal to me."

The Angels also received two goals apiece from Alex Vinton and Andrew Lay and one from Cody TallBull. Hamilton Blair contributed two assists. Arapahoe received two goals each from Eric Law and Stephen Gerhard, who added two assists.

Denver East won the previous matchup with Cherry Creek, winning 7-6 on April 22 in a game also played at Invesco Field.

"It's going to be even harder," Russell said of the championship game. "No mistakes allowed. They're not going to want to lose twice at Invesco."

Arapahoe......0 2 1 3 - 6
Denver East......2 5 3 2 - 12

Goals-assists - A, Stephen Gerhard 2-2, Eric Law 2-0, Drew Babb 1-0, Tyler Snyder 1-0, Ryan Parietti 0-2, Bill Mercer 0-1; D, Joshua Russell 4-1, Kjael Skaalerud 3-1, Alex Vinton 2-0, Andrew Lay 2-0, Cody TallBull 1-0, Hamilton Blair 0-2, Dillon Roy 0-1.

Shots on goal - Denver East 7-5-6-5 - 23; Arapahoe 4-4-6-4 - 18. Goalie saves - A, Peyton Tyrie, 11 saves; D, Dudley Piet 12 saves.