Lacrosse: Foothill heads into title game for second year in a row

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There’s no sense in being the top-seeded team if you’re not going to play like it, and on Friday night in front of an estimated crowd of 1,500, Foothill played like it.

The Knights had a monster start and were never really threatened as they defeated third-seeded St. Margaret’s, 11-4, to win the Orange County title at Trabuco Hills.

Riley Hales scored four goals and the game’s most valuable player, John Duddridge, scored three and had two assists as Foothill earned a place in the Southern Section’s ‘unofficial’ championship game on May 9, also at Trabuco Hills. It will play against a North Division representative that is still to be determined. Those playoffs begin Saturday.

‘We knew it was a big game, had to come out strong and take it to them,’ said Hales, one of 25 seniors graduating from the Foothill program. ‘We had to penetrate their zone and get inside.’

Foothill certainly did that. The Knights scored twice in the first 29 seconds, and three times in the first 2:14. At the 5:28 mark of the first 12-minute quarter, Foothill held a 5-1 lead and the groundwork had been laid. The Knights led at halftime, 8-2, and 9-3 after three quarters.

Foothill (17-2) won the Orange County title last year and then beat Palos Verdes for the overall title in the first year the sport operated under the sanction of the Southern Section. However, there are not enough schools sporting teams for the section to sanction a championship game. Before last season, the sport operated as a club, and Foothill won four overall championships under that structure.

‘A great night, a great facility, and the guys were on,’ said Foothill Coach Jon Fox. ‘Winning face-offs, the early goals against a team that’s one of the best at playing zone defense ... that was real important.’

Patrick McLaughlin dominated the face-offs. Tyler Brown scored twice, and Mitchell Cooper and Chris Cole scored one goal each. Both goalkeepers, Foothill’s Sam Goings and St. Margaret’s sophomore Jeff Askin, played well. On Askin’s end, the score could have been much worse.

James Murayama, Max Sutro, Dorian Farhang and Hunter Steffien scored for St. Margaret’s (16-3).

-- Martin Henderson