Lakeview wins All-City lacrosse tourney with walk-off goal in triple overtime

BATTLE CREEK - The play was "Spartan."

And the result was a Spartan victory in dramatic style.

Lakeview defeated Harper Creek in triple overtime, 5-4, with a walk-off goal to win the 2024 All-City lacrosse tournament at Lakeview High School on Friday.

The final goal came after Lakeview called a timeout in the third overtime to set up a play where Spartan senior Dieter Bloch scored the game-winning goal on an assist by Aiden Downey with 2:05 remaining in the extra period.

“We drew up an old play that we thought would work. We used to call it ‘Spartan’ back in my day,” said Lakeview head coach Gerald Haadsma, who is also an alum of the Spartan lacrosse program. “It’s a little screen action in the interior to create a little chaos and we trusted Dieter to score the ball.”

After Harper Creek’s Travis Holmes scored with 1:55 left in regulation, the rivalry game went into overtime tied at 4-4. The first two overtimes went scoreless to set up the dramatic victory that handed Lakeview its’ second straight All-City title and sixth crown in the last seven tournaments.

“This means a lot, this is my senior year, that’s all I wanted, to win that trophy and bring it back home,” Bloch said. “To score the winning goal, that’s the best thing that could ever happen to me. It was just amazing.”

Both Lakeview and Harper Creek cruised through the All-City tourney semifinals to reach the championship game.

Lakeview defeated Pennfield, 14-0, in the first round. The Spartans’ Downey scored four times in that win with Luke Schuemann getting two goals, Brayden Fout scoring twice and Bloch adding two goals.

Harper Creek beat Pennfield, 11-0, in the second round. The Beavers’ Brady Vette scored three times in the victory with Ben Ramos adding two goals.

In the championship contest, Lakeview jumped out first to lead 1-0 on a goal by Schuemann. Harper Creek then matched that with a goal by Travis Holmes. Bloch and Downey scored for Lakeview before halftime and the Beavers added a goal by Cam Converse as the two teams went into intermission with the Spartans up 3-2.

Schuemann scored early in the second half for a 4-2 Lakeview lead with the Beavers’ Ramos cutting the lead to 3-2 with 11:17 left in regulation.

The back-and-forth action proved to be an worthy final to crown a city champ.

“This was exciting,” Haadsma said. “This is the stage you like to see this kind of game. Credit Harper for playing hard, but in the end, we are the best team in the city.”

Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Lakeview tops Harper Creek in All-City lacrosse tourney in triple OT