Jack Mohler is East Ridge’s leader in goals (21) and assists (17) and among the top point scorers in the state with 38 this season. However he isn’t motivated by just personal numbers and accomplishments. He’s playing his senior season for his teammates — both past and present — with one goal in mind.
“For all my past seniors,” Mohler said. “Just doing it for them because we always lost in the section final, so I’m trying to make state this year with the boys.”
The Raptors (6-2, 4-1) have been knocked out of the Section 3 final four times since the 2014 season. Mohler, who joined the team in 2015 as an eighth grader, has personally experienced three finals defeats.
East Ridge defended its home turf Thursday with a 10-2 win against Suburban East Conference rival Cretin-Derham Hall, gaining an advantage over the Raiders in the standings.
The game started out as a defensive battle with Raptors’ Thomas Miles forced into two of his game's seven saves in the first half to keep the contest at zero. Raiders goalie Steven Shaughnessy, who finished with five saves, followed that up with a double save.
Cretin-Derham Hall (5-3, 3-3) struck first when Carter Steele buried a feed from Chuck Altier with 25 seconds remaining in the quarter.
East Ridge, ranked No. 7 in the state coaches' poll, caught fire in the second quarter, responding with four unanswered goals — two coming from Raptors leading point scorer Jack Mohler, who finished with a hat trick. The East Ridge (6-2, 4-1) defense only allowed two shots on goal in the second.
The Raptors’ Tyler Johnson scored early in the third quarter to take a 5-1 lead. Noah Markus earned a second goal to extend East Ridge’s scoring run to 6-0.
Jake Kircher got a goal for the Raiders in the final quarter but East Ridge responded moments later to go up 7-2. East Ridge added three more goals to finish the game.
The MN Lacrosse Hub polls are for entertainment purposes only.