Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs High School boys lacrosse team appears to be brewing something special. 

Steamboat continued to do what it does in the Mountain Conference, downing Summit County, 13-1, on Tuesday, but for those in attendance, it was the way the Sailors did it that mattered. 

Playing at home for the first time this season, Steamboat showed very little weaknesses and looked like the most complete team the high school has fielded. 

“As a team, I think we’re playing the best team offense and maybe defense ever,” said Steamboat coach Bob Hiester, whose team came into the game No. 7 in the state according to www.laxpower.com. “We’re playing good overall, strong lacrosse.”

The Sailors started out slower than normal. 

Steamboat led 2-0 after the first quarter thanks in part to goals by Ben Wharton and Jace Worden. 

But Summit cut it to 2-1 early in the second on a man up goal by Evan Feldmann. That just seemed to wake the Sailors. 

The Tigers packed it in defensively, but the Sailors pristine passing and ball handling wore down the Summit defense and led to a seven-goal second quarter. 

“We have such good chemistry,” said Wilber Ranieri, who had three goals. “I’ve played on selfish teams. Everyone is willing to pass on this team. We have good team offense and defense. Most of our goals are from team assists.”

That’s the biggest thing for Hiester. Steamboat had 10 assists on 13 goals Tuesday. Hiester joked he can remember when the team would have three assists in a season. 

“No matter who we play, we want to play at the same level,” Hiester said. “We’re playing very consistent lacrosse.”

In addition to Ranieri, Lance Ostrom also scored three goals. John Wharton had two and Christian Ramirez, Peter White and Jackson Perry all added second-half goals. 

Steamboat (6-1 overall, 4-0 in conference) continues play at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Grand Junction. 

“We just keep re-emphasizing, ‘Where do you want to be, and how good do you want to be?’” Hiester said. “They can be as good as they want to be. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we can beat anybody that we’ve seen or will see. We don’t have any holes.”