Dos Pueblos boys lacrosse dominated the second half en route to clinching the Channel League title with a 16-3 win over Santa Barbara High on Tuesday at Peabody Stadium.
The Chargers (17-0, 7-0 Channel League) outscored the Dons (5-7, 4-2 Channel League) 11-0 in the second half to pull away for the lopsided rivalry victory and their second straight Channel League championship.
“It’s easy when you’re having a successful season to rest on your laurels a little bit, and we definitely didn’t come out with the intensity that we’ve built our name on,” Dos Pueblos head coach Lucas Martinez said. “I think we just started playing our brand of lacrosse in the second half and it obviously worked out better for us.”
With the win, Dos Pueblos remained the lone undefeated team in California. The Chargers are ranked No. 13 in CIF Southern Section with one regular season game to go against San Marcos on Thursday.
“This season in general is kind of a capstone moment for me and for a lot of these guys,” Martinez said. “This senior class, five or six of them, have been starting since their freshman year. We’ve had four years of these guys putting in the work and really building to this moment.
“It’s a proud moment for me. I’m really proud of them as players and as individuals, just the way that I’ve seen them grow up year after year into young men that are really making a name for Santa Barbara lacrosse in general.”
Meanwhile, the Dons remain in a CIF-SS playoff spot with two games left in the regular season against Cate and San Marcos.
“Hats off to DP, this is obviously a special year for them,” Santa Barbara High head coach John Keogh said. “In a game like this, we get beat up but it actually gets us prepared for the playoffs by playing this high pressure brand of lacrosse.
“We’re going to brush ourselves off and this will get us better for Cate and SM before we head into the playoffs.”
Despite the eventual final score, the Dons drew first blood in Tuesday night’s rivalry affair.
Jasper Larrson dished it off to Connor Jackson, who fired a shot from the outside into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead at the 9:05 mark of the first.
The Chargers answered a few minutes later when Dan Finneran found Orion Prewarski from behind the net, and Prewarski slotted the shot past the goalkeeper to tie things up at 1-1.
With 3:58 left in the opening period, Dos Pueblos took the lead for good. Rohan Wansor passed it off to Dan Finneran, who juked out his defender multiple times before rising up and scoring for the 2-1 lead.
One minute later, Finneran was back on the assisting end of the score as he found a cutting Prewarski through the middle of the defense to extend the lead to 3-1, which held going into the second.
Dan Finneran’s early success was a sign of things to come, as the senior poured in five goals and five assists to lead all players in both categories.
“The Santa Barbara defense was clearly keying up on Dan, trying to stop him from dodging,” Martinez said. “They were sending doubles to him whenever he had the ball, so he did a good job adapting and really getting himself to the spots to be a finisher and a feeder.”
The Chargers picked up right where they left off to begin the second as Chase Carlson scored off an assist from Gus Miller in the opening minute of the quarter to go up 4-1.
The Dons got back in the scoring column at the 8:41 mark when Jackson charged down the left side of the field and made it 4-2 with his second goal of the night.
Dos Pueblos got that goal right back when Jack Finneran lofted a pass across the field to Miller, who fired a shot into the back of the net for the goal.
The back-and-forth quarter continued less than a minute later as Jackson got it done once again, scoring from the outside off an assist from Larrson to cut the deficit to 5-3.
“Our energy level was high and we were making the smart plays,” Keogh said of his team’s first-half performance. “The defense was playing as a unit.”
The Chargers rounded out the first-half scoring with a transition fast break play from twin brother connection of Jack and Dan Finneran. Dan worked his way down the field and tossed it over to Jack, who finished off the play to take a 6-3 lead into halftime.
Dos Pueblos then came out of the break rested and showed why it is the lone undefeated team left standing in California, combining to outscore the Dons 11-0 across the final two quarters.
“With how successful our season has been, it’s kind of easy to forget that Santa Barbara has also had a really successful season in league,” Martinez said. “We came in talking about how this is a big game for us and we have a lot on the line and in the second half we really responded to that.
“It’s great to win the league title. Obviously we have our sights set on something bigger, but we’re not going to take that for granted.”
The Charger offense erupted for five goals while the defense shut down the Santa Barbara High attack to pull away and take an 11-3 lead with one quarter to play.
Jack Finneran scored a pair of Dos Pueblos’ third quarter goals while Dan Finneran, Prewarski and Carlson all scored as well. Both Finnerans tallied an assist in the quarter, as did Roman Christou and Parker Bentley.
The Chargers continued to roll in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Dons 6-0 to pull away for the lopsided 17-3 victory.
“In the second half our defense really stepped up,” Martinez said. “I thought Makai Callis had a great game pressuring out on hands, Mitchell Maskerey really did a good job as well.”
Both Finneran brothers capped off their stellar days with two goals apiece in the fourth while Prewarski and Miller scored as well.
While Dan Finneran led the team in goals and assists, Jack Finneran and Prewarski netted four goals apiece. Meanwhile, Miller and Carlson each scored twice.