The early spring weather was great on Thursday, March 12th. The lacrosse was inconsistent, which made the game exciting in the end. Bingham started strong. Spanish Fork finished strong. In the end, Bingham survived a scare.
The Miners took the opening face-off, headed for the Warriors’ crease and veteran Kason Eggers scored quickly assisted by Josh Croall. Spanish Fork won the next face, but turned the ball over on an errant pass. Bingham capitalized quickly and Eggers scored again. James Packer secured the next face-off for the Miners and Dallin Bentley took the ball to X, dodged from behind the crease and dumped it in. Bingham had a three goal lead with less than five minutes played. The Warriors won the next face-off, but turned the ball over again. The Miners capitalized with Bentley converting for goal down the center on an excellent pass from Jordan Brough. Bingham was on a roll winning the face-off and organizing their offense. Spanish Fork’s defense dug in forcing a blown play, but the Miners fought for the ground ball, and Josh Degn scored from the left with an assist from Brough. The Miner’s face-off squad dominated winning yet another. Eggers got the ball to Brock McKinney in X who faked a pass right, and then passed left to Brough, who converted down the center. Spanish Fork won the next face, worked the ball through their offense and shot, but Bingham’s Goalie Zach Meisenbacher gathered in the shot and cleared. Bingham was fast and efficient in the first quarter, and they obtained a seventh goal. The Warriors were clearly shaken and frustrated committing their first foul. On the ensuing man-up near the end of the first, Croall received a pass from Bentley and sent in a screamer burning the net. The score at the end of one quarter was 8 to 0 and fans on both sides thought the game was over.
The second quarter started with a Bingham turn over, but Spanish Fork committed another foul and Bingham converted the man-up when Joe Lambert scored high to low. Nine to zero is a comfortable lead. The Warriors had a big hole to dig out of. Gavin McClain came alive in the face off position. He headed for crease and took a shot that went wide. There was a defensive struggle on both sides with multiple forced turn overs and hard fought ground balls secured by both teams. Spanish Fork notched up their offense and was rewarded for their effort when Payton Kimber gave them their first goal of the game. Bingham committed its first foul, and McClain converted on the extra man offense. The Warriors gained momentum when Kirby Farnworth scored with an assist from Kimber. After a heavily contested face-off that Bingham won they called a time out to organize a play, and it worked. Croall scored with an assist from Eggers. The Miners defense was caught sleeping allowing Kimber to assist McClain for the Warriors fourth goal. Spanish Fork continued to win face-offs and shoot. Meisenbacher turned away many shots, but McClain was finally able to find a seam scorching the net high to high. The Warriors achieved another man-up on a Bingham slash and Kimber faked low and then scored high just clearing the goalie overhead. The quarter ended with a Spanish Fork foul, and Bingham held the ball until the horn. The Warriors scored six goals in the second allowing only two for Bingham as a result of excellent defense from their big man, Ryan Dalton and fellow defenders Hunter Cooper and Brad Gardner. The half ended with Bingham holding a tenuous 10 to 6 lead.
Bingham started the third on man-up. Bentley quickly converted with an excellent pass from Croall. Spanish Fork didn’t waste any time picking up where they left off in the second. They scored easily bringing them back within four. The quarter started to grind with excellent defense from both teams. Warrior goalie Morgan Dunn fought off several furious Bingham attacks. McClain with back up from defensive assistants Porter Graham and Tate Merrill took the ball end to end burning Bingham’s defense and bringing his team within three. Meisenbacher fronted by Hayden Peterson, Jake Wagstaff and Mason Olson fought off several more Warrior attacks. Bingham got the ball on the next face, but turned it over. Spanish Fork went on the attack and was turned away. The Miners committed a foul near the end of the quarter and the Warriors chose to burn the time to end the quarter. Spanish Fork pulled within three; Bingham led 11 to 8 at the end of three.
Spanish Fork began the fourth with a man-up. Bingham held tight not allowing the Warriors to score. Bentley gave the Miners a little breathing room when he scored with an assist from Matt Anderson. The Warriors got the next face, but Bingham’s Degn make a brilliant steal returning the ball to his offense. The Miners forced a Spanish Fork foul, turned it over and a ground ball battle ensued. Hayden Peterson brought it back to Bingham. Kason Eggers slotted a pass to Matt Anderson who scored between Dunn’s legs, but the Warriors continued to fight. McClain won a crucial face-off, the Warriors advanced down field, and Austin James scored. Bingham kept taking shots, but Dunn made two amazing saves. The Miners were advantaged with an unsportsmanlike call on the Warriors. Spanish Fork then committed another foul giving Bingham a three-minute, non-releasable penalty on top of the unsportsmanlike. Anderson fed Bentley, who scored easily putting the Miners up by a seemingly insurmountable four goal lead. It looked like the Warriors were done. Bingham won the face, lost the ball, got it back and then turned it over again. Spanish Fork burned down field and Ben Bladh scored with a beautiful back-handed goal. The momentum swing was obvious and the Warriors won the next face. They streaked to offense and Bladh assisted James bringing them within three again. Spanish Fork dug in for the next face-off winning again and wasted no time getting the ball to James who assisted Bladh for his second goal of the game. The lead was down to two despite the Warriors still grinding out the long, unreleasable penalty. Bingham was scored on three times while in man-up, but once the penalty was released Croall scored with an assist from Degn. The lead was back to three. Spanish Fork didn’t give up. Warrior workhorse, McClain won yet another face-off, ran the length and scored pulling Spanish Fork within two again. Bingham got a critical face-off win and started to play keep away with less than two in the quarter. They turned it over stepping out of the box, but defense held on the next Warrior attack and they ground out the remainder of the quarter securing the win by two goals. The final score was 15 to 13 for Bingham.
Coach Kay said, “We had the best first quarter I’ve ever seen Bingham have, but we lost every quarter after that. Spanish Fork was extremely physical and we matched that. They have some very good shooters and a good game plan. It’s still early, but I think they’re going to be a very good team by the end of the year. We were lucky enough to have the ball in the last minute of the game.”
Bingham travels to American Fork on March 17th. Spanish Fork’s next match is at Sky View in Logan on March 16th.
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