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HERRIMAN — Olympus came into Friday's championship match with a stainless 19-0 record, and they were less than a minute away from completing a perfect season.
They would have done it, too, if it weren't for Park City's Jack McHenry.
Facing a 9-8 deficit with under a minute left in regulation, the speedy junior swiped away the faceoff at mid-field and raced down the turf before he dished it to teammate John Trahan, who found Chase Beyer — he led the Miners with five goals — to tie the game 9-9 with :37 seconds left.
In the ensuing faceoff, McHenry struck again and snatched the ball with ease, took a few strides toward the goal and passed it off to Brendan Johnson, who scored and put the Miners up by one with 31 seconds left to play. In less than 10 seconds of game time, No. 2 Park CIty went from desperately needing a miracle to shocking the No. 1 team in the 5A classification.
"I just came out and knew I was going to win," McHenry said of the dominant faceoffs. "I knew I was better than him. We had to go short clock. I thought I needed to capitalize on that, and I think I did. Early in the game, they started sliding to me pretty fast, so I knew someone would be open and I found Brendan and it was a great shot."
McHenry won 16 of the 22 faceoffs in the game.
"Olympus is a great team; they are well coached," Park City head coach Michael Persky said. "But they caught us on a really good day. We knew they were going to be good, but our kids have been working all year."
Persky said he was proud of the development his team endured throughout the season and felt his team was in a building year and could be even better in the future.
Hats off to the @ParkCityMiners, your @MountainAmerica 5A boys lacrosse champions. 🏆 #PlayPerformCompeteTogetherpic.twitter.com/5VoUtXdFLj
— UHSAA (@UHSAAinfo) May 28, 2022
"When we started the season, we were starting a freshman, a sophomore and a junior on attack, with just two seniors on defense," Persky said. "We were building and got better every game. We had some tough games early in the season, like when Olympus beat us; but today, these kids were just playing for each other and it showed.
The game started off in Olympus' favor after they scored the first goal just two minutes into the game. The Titans scored again while they held Park City scoreless in the first quarter.
But Park City dug its way back and opened the second quarter with two goals to tie the score. From then on, it was anybody's game. The teams traded shots; and while Olympus led for most of the game, Park City was always right there behind them.
Although the Titans led for a majority of the game, the Miners went up when it mattered most. Park City only led for a mere two minutes of the 40-minute game.
