Chargers off to a roaring start

Nick Nedeau is dreaming big.

Nedeau, and the rest of the Chatfield boys lacrosse team for that matter, don’t see themselves as a first-year program.

So far, it’s hard to argue with them.

The Chargers are off to a 3-0 start this season, including an impressive 8-3 win over rival Columbine on March 15.

Two days prior, Chatfield hung 15 goals on another first-year program, Conifer, dominating the Lobos 15-1 in a Class 5A Foothills League game at Trailblazer Stadium.

“We’d like to win league,” said Nedeau, who had five goals against the Lobos. “We’re a first-year team, but a lot of guys have been playing lacrosse for a long time.”

Nedeau, for one, has been cradling a stick since the third-grade. Others, like Max Erickson and Dallin Hall, have previous varsity experience from their time spent playing for Columbine before Chatfield developed its own program.

“Max and Dallin really help us out a lot,” Nedeau said. “They’ve played varsity before so they can tell us where we need to be on the field and what we need to do to be successful.”

Chatfield (2-0 Foothills, 3-0 overall) definitely showed more refined skills on the field against Conifer. The Chargers strung together crisp passes in the midfield and on the attack had several nice one-touch passes that set up easy goals in front of the Conifer net.

Greg Kelsic was the main setup man for Chatfield, as he dished out seven assists on the afternoon.

Chatfield led 5-0 after the first quarter, 8-1 at halftime and 13-1 after three quarters. In all, 10 different players scored goals for Chatfield, which tacked on the final two goals in the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to push the attack early,” Nedeau said. “We knew if we could open up a lead early, that would help us out a lot.”

Landmark win for Chargers

Chatfield jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never looked back, defeating rival Columbine 8-3 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools in lacrosse.

Kelsic, Nedeau and Hall (who played for Columbine last year) each had two goals for Chatfield. Erickson, another former Rebel, had two assists. Goalie Connor Lewis had 10 saves.