Size no obstacle for Crusader lacrosse player

Matt Mountain just wanted to hit.

But while barely tipping the scale at 140 pounds, the Faith Lutheran student wasn’t big enough to play for the Crusaders’ football team. So he tried lacrosse as a freshman.

Four years later, the senior is an offensive leader for the Crusaders, one of nearly a dozen high school-age lacrosse teams in Las Vegas.

“I heard it was fun, through some friends, and then I wanted to try it out,” Mountain said. “It was a new sport, and I couldn’t really play football because I was too small.”

The 5-foot-6-inch attacker is typical of many lacrosse players across Southern Nevada, according to fifth-year Crusaders coach James Gravitt.

“That’s the beauty of lacrosse: You don’t have to be 6 feet (tall) or weigh 230 (pounds),” Gravitt said. “It doesn’t matter the size. Matt’s a great example; he’s not a very big kid, but he scores a lot, drives to the cage and has no problem going against anybody, no matter the size. That’s what the game’s about.”

Mountain and the Crusaders are among 25 local teams at the Best of the West Lacrosse Classic at Kellogg-Zaher Park. The tournament, which boasts 1,200 athletes on 91 teams across six divisions and both genders, continues pool play at 10 a.m. today, with the quarterfinal round scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.

In Friday’s pool play, Mountain put his unique skills on display, scoring twice on end-around plays behind the net to help the Crusaders to a 3-3 draw with Burnaby, British Columbia.

Faith Lutheran’s Trace Percy bulldozed into the middle of the field with four minutes left to bounce the equalizer off the turf and into the upper left corner of the Devils’ net.

While both Crusaders are attackers, Mountain’s style of play is considerably different from the larger Percy’s.

“Since I’m smaller, I’m more of a cutting, dodging kind of guy,” Mountain said. “I don’t just run in and bulldog someone. I like to see if I can free up my hands instead of just diving in and getting a shot off.”

The senior started playing lacrosse as a freshman after four years of youth football and has parlayed the love of a game into a scholarship with Division II Grand Canyon University.

Whether at Faith Lutheran or rival schools such as Centennial or Palo Verde, which are ranked Nos. 18 and 20 nationally, respectively, players have bonded around a sport once known solely as the national pastime of Canada — but one that is becoming America’s fastest-growing sport.

“There’s great camaraderie,” Gravitt said. “I press family all year long. When we break in the beginning or in the end, we break on family. The growth on the sport for us as a school is phenomenal; it’s excellent. We have such great support at the school; I couldn’t say enough about it.”

The caliber of athletes is impressive, too. Lacrosse boasts an 82 percent graduation rate nationally, with several schools’ valedictorians representing local teams.

“They’re great kids,” Gravitt said. “It’s an honor to coach; I coach because of the love for the game and the love of the kids. If it weren’t exciting and fun, I probably wouldn’t continue to do it.”