For the third time since 2012, Columbus St. Francis DeSales brought home a state championship trophy in boys lacrosse.

The Stallions cruised to a 20-6 victory over Chagrin Falls in the Division II final on Saturday, June 4 at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, breaking a championship-game record for goals and adding a title to those the school previously won in 2012 and 2018.

Senior David Chintala scored seven of his nine goals, a state title-game record, in the first half to help DeSales avenge a 10-9 regular-season loss on April 2 to Chagrin Falls.

The Stallions finished the season with a 16-4 record. Chintala led the team with a season-best 87 goals.

“Being able to come together at the right time, that was the biggest thing, and really rely on each other and trust each other,” DeSales coach Matt Triplet said. “We saw that happen at the beginning of the tournament, and we rode that wave as the tournament progressed.”

Also contributing in the title game were junior midfielder Liam Harmon with three goals and senior midfielder Jackson Carawan, sophomore attacker Ty Hampton and sophomore midfielder Blake Carawan with two goals each.

DeSales won 19 of 30 faceoffs against Chagrin Falls, and senior Will Jordan had 18 of those. Jordan had been hampered by a hamstring injury for much of the season.

“Being able to win the draws was obviously very key,” Triplet said. “For the first time during the tournament, he (Jordan) was 100 percent healthy. And Jackson Carawan was a big key on offense as well as David Chintala.”

Jackson Carawan was named first-team all-state after finishing the season with 58 goals, and sophomore defender Cooper Simpson also made first-team all-state. Jordan and Chintala were first- and second-team all-region, respectively.

Simpson was one of seven sophomores who started this season for the Stallions, as the team blended the younger players with the upperclassmen to ultimately bring home a state championship.

“Throughout the season, the captains had the boys go to Mass every Sunday,” Triplet said. “And that was an initiative they took upon themselves to go ahead and do, and that was a big part of it. And certainly the support of the school was a huge thing to have.”

In girls lacrosse, Columbus Bishop Watterson advanced to the state semifinals in Division II before falling 19-11 to Cincinnati Mariemont on June 1 at Alumni Stadium in Centerville.

In the state track and field championships last weekend at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, three individuals and two relay teams from diocesan schools finished among the top eight in their events.

Columbus Cristo Rey senior Noah Carmichael placed third in the boys 400 meters in Division III with a time of 49.06 seconds. 

In Division I girls competition, Bishop Watterson junior Sydney Workman finished eighth in the 200 meters in 24.74 seconds, and Watterson junior Erin Karas took eighth in the 1,600 in 5:03.07. Columbus Bishop Hartley’s 4x100-meter relay team claimed fourth place in 48.19 seconds, and Watterson’s 4x400 relay was seventh in 3:58.75.

Two diocesan teams advanced to the state baseball semifinals last week at Akron’s Canal Park before being knocked out of the tournament with close losses.

Newark Catholic (25-7) gave up four runs in the fourth inning of a Division IV semifinal and ended up falling 4-3 to  eventual champion Russia (25-6) on Thursday, June 9.

Columbus Bishop Hartley (19-8) suffered a similar fate, losing 6-5 to eventual Division II champion Chardon (24-9) on Friday night, June 10.

In Newark Catholic’s loss, the Green Wave scored a run in the third inning and two in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead, before Russia scored four times in the bottom of the fourth in a rally aided by four of its five hits in the game and several Newark Catholic miscues.

The Green Wave managed just two hits in the game, one each by Mason Hackett and Shae Mummey.

Bishop Hartley and Chardon were tied 1-1 heading into the sixth inning of their semifinal matchup before the Hilltoppers scored five times to open a 6-1 lead.

The Hawks responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to close to 6-5 on an RBI single by Rory Ralston, two errors and a wild pitch, but a groundout ended their rally.

In the seventh, Hartley went down in order and Chardon advanced to defeat defeat defending champion Akron Hoban 8-5 in the final to claim the school’s first state baseball title.