West Orange boys lacrosse tops Olympia, 18-6, captures district championship

OCOEE — The West Orange boys lacrosse program brought home its fourth consecutive District 14 title on Thursday, beating neighborhood rival Olympia 18-6.

The game was played at Ocoee High School. The Warriors had been slated to host the District 14 Tournament this spring but due to the complications with the synthetic turf playing surface at West Orange it was moved to Ocoee.

Lane Artope had six goals and Bailey Sarp had three goals to lead the Warriors (12-6) to its four-peat. Goalkeeper Garrett Burns had 14 saves.

"It's pretty special; I wasn't sure how much it meant to the kids until now," coach Bill Baker said. "No one on the west side of the county has done this. It's a testament to the growth that our program has had."

Despite the large margin of victory, West Orange led just 6-3 midway through the second quarter before creating some distance.

"It was very similar to our first game against them in the regular season," Baker said. "It's just something about coming out against Olympia in the second half that spurs these boys on — it's an old rivalry and it's one that (Olympia) used to always get the better of."

Turner Morris and Steven Gilmour each had two goals for the Titans, whose season came to an end with the District 14 Runner-up finish.

The goals by Artope and Sarp, who each came into the game with 70 goals on the season, made the two Warriors the program's first and second leading scorers in a single-season.

Now, West Orange will have a week and a day off before it takes on the winner of District 13 on Friday, April 17.

"Keeping teenage boys focused — it's the hardest part of the job," Baker said. "We'll focus on fundamentals. That's the biggest thing we need to do at this point."