Jace Childs left Burnsville High School on Wednesday, June 1, knowing he and the Blaze had a Section 3 semifinal playoff lacrosse game at top-seeded Rosemount that night.

He went home and immediately went into his pregame routine but he didn’t blast music, play video games or chug an energy drink.

Instead, he kicked up his feet and closed his eyes.

“Before this game I took a nap -- I take one before every game,” Childs said. “I woke up, went to the bus, sat on the bus kind of quiet because I’m not much of a talker, and then got to the game.”

While that ritual may seem tame, it didn’t take long for Childs to show he should never be considered as a calm or reserved individual on the field.

The senior attackmen erupted with four goals and three assists leading Burnsville to a 14-13 upset victory over Rosemount.

 “Once warm-ups started, I started getting loud,” Childs said. “That’s what I do -- just get pumped up. After our first goal, I screamed. You have to get your team going, get the bench riled up, get the fans into it and it’s an exciting game.

“Off the field, I’m quiet but on the field I like to talk.”

Childs’ efforts this season -- including the semifinal victory -- have not gone unnoticed especially by the Burnsville coaching staff.

“He consistently gets a lot of points and that’s huge, that’s what people notice,” Burnsville coach Jessie Schelitzche said. “But we really notice and what we’ve gotten used to is all the ground balls and the plays he creates. The turnovers that he creates on a ride or just the havoc he creates just from being on the field -- there's nobody that can do that as well as he can.”

Not only is havoc created on the field, Childs manages to create some havoc in the stands as fans of both teams noticed the talented attackamn.

“This was exciting,” Childs said. “It was my favorite game this whole season by far. Both stands were full and everyone was on their feet. That was fun.”

Childs and the rest of the Blaze are hoping to continue the fun against third-seeded Eagan who Burnsville will face at Lakeville North High School on Friday, June 3, at 7 p.m.

Initially after being told Burnsville would play Eagan in the Section Championship, Childs had one response.

“Alright good,” he said taking in the moment. “Alright good.”

Then the leader of the Blaze offense who has scored 49 points this season (34 goals, 15 assists) turned his attention to the game plan for Friday.

“It’s going to be the same thing as this,” Childs said. “Go into the game, try to get up on them and just be loud. Just get our team going. Eagan is a good team. Since we started this varsity program (at Burnsville) we’re 0-8 against them.

“Hopefully on Friday night we’ll be 1-8.”

Burnsville knew it’s place.

They had lost a few games here and there. They were the fourth seed heading into the Section 3 semifinal matchup at top-seeded Rosemount on Wednesday, June 1.

But the Blaze were prepared for anything.

Sort of.

“Sadly our game plan was to slow (Rosemount) down but we kind of got out of that pretty quickly,” Burnsville coach Jessie Schelitzche said. “We knew that they were fast paced and they could score and that was the initial game plan but we ended up getting into a horse race with them.”

Against a Rosemount team that scored 210 goals during the 2011 season, a horse race wasn’t necessarily what Schelitzche had been hoping for.

“We knew what they were good at but at the same time we just put our best athletes against their best athletes,” Schelitzche said. “We knew we could try and tire them out maybe or possess the ball a little bit longer and keep them on defense. They play a lot of the game so if we could keep them on defense we wanted to tire them out that way instead of dodging on us.

“It worked at points during the game and obviously it didn’t work at some points because they scored 13 goals.”

Luckily for Schelitzche, nine different players for his Blaze scored as Burnsville squeaked out the 14-13 victory over the Irish.

“That’s kind of what we’re blessed with this season,” Schelitzche said. “We’ve had guys step up. We’ve had guys who don’t score for three weeks and all of a sudden have three goals. We have consistent players who get points every game.

“I feel like we are a pretty deep team and if we work together and play our game we can have nine different guys score.”

After the big win, his players echoed their coach’s confidence.

“We just came as a team today,” Burnsville senior attackman Jace Childs said. “We ran our offense. We did that last week to Apple Valley and we won. If we just run our offense the way we can we’ll keep doing this and putting up this many goals each game.”

Childs scored four goals along with contributing three assists.

Throughout the 2011 season, Burnsville was plagued with several players being out at different times for different reasons. Now, in the Section 3 playoffs, the Blaze are united, standing together and are one win away from a section championship.

“For our team, we wanted to prove that we were a different team with all our guys,” Schelitzche said. “We have a lot of seniors so they really stepped up because they knew their season and careers could be done. They really picked it up for us tonight.”

Schelitzche is hoping that confidence and offensive production will carry over into Burnsville’s next game on Friday, June 3, at 7 p.m. when the Blaze will take on third-seeded Eagan at Lakeville North High School for the Section 3 championship and a trip to the 2011 State Tournament.

After the disappointing 14-13 loss to Burnsville on Wednesday, June 1, Rosemount coach Lance Kuehn took his team behind a net as the stands at Rosemount Stadium emptied.

Kuehn had a long talk with the players before the Irish did one final cheer to end the 2011 season.

As his saddened and frustrated team slowly walked back towards the sidelines, Kuehn pulled individual players aside to thank them for their hard work during the Section 3 semifinal game as well as the entire year.

When he got to the sidelines, Kuehn took a few minutes to speak with the MN Lax Hub about the game, his team and his team’s future.

Question:  Obviously the game’s result wasn’t what you were hoping for but what were your thoughts on tonight’s game?
Answer:  It wasn’t what we were hoping for. We got them during the regular season but honestly this was really well played game. It was an exciting game, back-and-forth. They had the lead, we had the lead, it was tied up. It just came down to a poorly timed penalty there at the end and a couple missed pipes.

Q:  It was a tough loss but what can you say about that Burnsville team?
A:  Bodhi (Engum) is good, Jace (Childs) is good, I mean they work very well together. When we scouted them, (Childs) wasn’t playing much so we thought ‘Well maybe he’s out,’ but they put him back in. The stats that count -- the ground balls and faceoffs -- we didn’t get those tonight and typically we do. They’ve improved over the years and I think they have their squad back and their goalie made some clutch saves.

Q:  Despite the loss, an awesome game for Grant Vanoverbeke with six goals. How special has he been this year for you?
A:  Is that really how many he had? Double hat-trick, that’s pretty good. Grant was selected by his team for the ‘Most Improved Award’. He went from junior varsity last year to starting varsity attackman with some of the most goals in the state. The kid is amazing. He knows every spot to be. With Matt Weller, Jake Mortenson and Logan Lindberg feeding him he has nothing but goals. He’s a great player.

Q:  You touched on it but Weller also had a big game for you. What did you think of your team’s effort tonight?
A:   Those guys (Vanoverbeke and Weller) do a lot of work for us and that was nice that they could work together. I have to recognize Jake Mortenson and Logan Lindberg too. If you notice, I bet they played 40 minutes of the game. They run themselves dry and they always give so much work for me.

Q:  Looking at the programs handed out at tonight's game, I noticed that there are no “12’s” under grade for the Irish. Do you really not have any seniors on this team or is that a typo?
A:  No, that’s not a typo. We’re a very young team, we were young last year and these guys are just now getting varsity experience. Losing a game like this is going to help us grow to know what it takes to win at the next level.

Q:  Finally, you spoke to your team for quite some time following tonight’s game. What did you say to them?
A:  I’m proud of my boys. We’ve had a hell of a season. No one ever talked about Rosemount in the past and I think people know now -- they know about us. With no seniors we’re all coming back and we’ll be excited. We’ll be back and we’re going to gun for it next year.

We had a long post-game huddle because we’re proud of this season. Not every team can end the season with a win, only two teams can. You better believe it, we’ll be in the section finals next year -- I'm already calling it. We’re going to be good.

1. Jace Childs, Burnsville
The senior attackman was everywhere on the field. Childs was constantly moving to enhance his chances or get his hands fee to pass to a teammate as well as working hard on rides to keep possession with the Blaze. The four goals and three assists were a testament to his hard work.

2. Grant Vanoverbeke, Rosemount
Rosemount couldn't really ask for any more from Vanoverbeke during the high-scoring game. The sophomore attackman scored six goals with four of them coming in the second half. A stellar effort from a talented player who spent the 2010 season on the junior varsity.

3. Matt Weller, Rosemount
The Irish may not have won but Weller played a crucial role and put in a 'star-worthy' effort in keeping the game as close as it was. The junior attackman scored three goals and added two assists as he either seemed to find the back of the net or assist a teammate at crucial moments.

Jace Childs scored seven points (four goals, three assists) and eight additional players scored for Burnsville as the Blaze defeated Rosemount 14-13 in a thrilling Section 3 semifinal game on Wednesday, June 1.

Kyle Kappel and Jake Maxson notched two goals each with additional Blaze offense coming from Jake Senta, Brian Atkinson, Bodhi Engum, Dylan Delaney, Tanner Fricke and Donovan Herby.

Maxson, Senta, Atkinson and Engum each contributed one assist.

Leading the Rosemount offense was sophomore attackman Grant Vanoverbeke who scored six goals.

Matt Weller and Jack Mortenson each had three goals for the Irish. Weller also had two assists, Mortenson had one assist and midfielder Logan Lindberg had one goal and three assists.

Irish sophomore goaltender Chase Olson made 13 saves as Rosemount finishes the 2011 season with a 13-2 overall record.

Burnsville advances to the Section 3 Championship game at Lakeville North High School on Friday, June 3, where the Blaze will face third-seeded Eagan at 7 p.m. for a trip to the 2011 State Tournament.

Regular Season

Section 3 Playoffs

Regular Season

Section Playoffs

Regular Season

Section 3 Playoffs

Regular Season

Section Playoffs