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Miners advance to semifinals after win over Brighton

Park City seniors victorious in final game at Dozier Field

The seniors on Park City’s boys lacrosse team played their final game on Dozier Field on Saturday, and it couldn’t have gone any better for the Miners.

Park City’s offense ran wild against Brighton, and senior Charley Mehney made some key saves for the Miners early in a 19-7 win. The second-seeded Miners will face No. 3 Bountiful on Wednesday at Westminster College at 2 p.m. for a spot in the state title game.

“Not only was that our quarterfinal win, a big playoff game, but that was my last game at Dozier,” senior Keller Hopkins said. “We made it count, and I’m really proud of the way we played today.”



Senior John Trahan scored the game’s first goal just 16 seconds into the game to put Park City on top, but Brighton held onto the ball for long stretches of the first quarter after that. The Bengals scored the tying goal and forced Mehney into making a few saves. Mehney and the Park City defense limited the Bengals to just the one goal in the opening frame, and the Miners took the lead on another Trahan goal.

Park City took over in the second quarter, outscoring Brighton 7-2 to take a commanding 9-3 halftime lead and cruise to a 19-7 win. Senior Jude Trahan had a team-high four goals in the game, while John Trahan and juniors Chase Beyer and Riley Mulholland recorded hat tricks. Sophomore Brendan Johnson had five assists.



Mehney is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and only moved to Park City recently. He’s split time in goal with sophomore AJ Silianoff this season, but he’s gotten the nod for both of Park City’s playoff games. He faced just eight shots during Park City’s dominant win against Box Elder earlier in the week, but Brighton’s offense gave him a much better test. Mehney finished with nine saves on 14 shots on goal.

“Definitely felt a lot better, could have had a couple of them, but it definitely felt good to get more shots, more action,” Mehney said. “We always talked about (moving to Park City) and then finally we were like, ‘Why not?’ So we just did it, and it’s been great.”

In his short time with the program, Mehney has impressed his teammates and coaches with his play. Mehney said that he’ll be playing lacrosse at Westminster College next year.

“The moment he stepped on at Park City, he brought this energy,” Hopkins said. “Everyone loves him. Super proud of the way he’s grown into the role and excited for his future.”

“He just moved into town this year, and it’s been really nice to see the way that the team has embraced him and that he’s embraced the team and the Park City culture,” Park City coach Michael Persky added. “He deserved the start today, and he came up with some big saves. It was nice, he was really seeing the ball well.”

Park City had a strong game at both ends of the field, and its well-balanced approach paid dividends. The Miners defeated Brighton 13-5 earlier in the season and were dominant on Saturday. Whether it was the laundry list of scorers across Park City’s 19 goals or how the Miners stifled Brighton’s attack, Persky praised his team’s balance.

“We were good on both ends of the ball, defense did a really nice job,” he said. “What I really like about our team is that there’s a lot of guys who are willing to step up and do what’s right. And they did today.”

 


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