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Chaparral boys lacrosse coaches lined up and shook hands with players as they walked out of the visitors dressing room at the Stutler Bowl. It was bittersweet for head coach Kevin Graefe. Defending state champion Cherry Creek downed the Wolverines 10-6 on May 11 in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs to end Chaparral’s season with an 11-5 record. “Yes, it was bittersweet,” said Graefe. “It was very abrupt. It was like ripping a Band-Aid off.” Chaparral’s playoff roster had 13 seniors and 14 underclass players, including nine sophomores. And that’s what left Graefe in a quandary. “It was a great season,” said Graefe. “I would say there is probably not a team in the playoffs that relied on sophomores the way we did this year. We had a lot of sophomores. We had a lot of seniors that had an impact, but we also had lot of sophomores in the program. And you don’t see that on playoff teams.” Although Graefe is looking forward to “a great year” next season, he also will miss the seniors. “They were very impactful and worked hard,” he said. “I started coaching most of these seniors when they were in seventh grade, so I’ve known all these guys for a long time. It’s tough to see them go.” In statistics through 15 games, junior Trevor Orndoff was Chaparral’s scoring leader with 27 goals and 18 assists for 45 points. Sophomore Alek Jacobson and senior Noah Dahm each had 33 points. Dahm had 31 goals and Jacobson 20. Sophomore Brett Boos led the Continental League and the state with 127 ground balls. Against Creek, the Wolverines got goals from six players. Jacobson, Orndoff, Dahm, Michael Pittman, Jake Graefe and Hunter Graefe scored, but Chaparral could get no closer in the second half than two goals to the Bruins. “We got close at times, we just didn’t keep the momentum,” added coach Graefe. “We had four players that had playoff experience. We’ll bring back a lot with playoff experience next year.”