Has the Prior Lake boys lacrosse team become the state's elite program?

Senior Alex Rejda scored five times as the second-seeded Lakers took control in the fourth quarter en route to their second state title in three years, winning 10-8 over top-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret's in the final June 16 at Chanhassen High School.

The Lakers took sixth at state last year, after beating Lakeville North in the title game in 2016. In the past four seasons under coach Chris Fleck, Prior Lake has a 61-12 record.

So it sure seems the Lakers are state's No. 1 program over the last four years, at least right now.

Balance on offense and a tough defense and a team-first, "all-in" mentality have been the key to the Lakers' recent success. But back in 2016, Prior Lake had a ton of offensive talent en route to the crown. This year's team seemed to lean toward the defensive side of the ball, as evident by three defenders on the all-tournament team — seniors Theo Smith, Preston Jelen and Brian Kallberg, along with junior attacker Benjamin Jung.

"Our first championship, we had a lot of Division I guys on offense," Smith said. "They controlled the ball really well and could take over games. This win was a team effort.

"We have built our team from the defense up to our forwards," Smith added. "If a team can't score on us, they can't beat us. Our defenders this year have all come up together and have developed good stick skills. Our fast guys were up on the attack."

Senior Max Valek has also been a big-time contributor on defense for the Lakers over the last three years. Juniors Lucas Gratz, Trenton Herubin and Thomas Neuharth and seniors Billy Kaehler and Chandler Dahlquist have also contributed.

However, in the third quarter in the title game against Benilde-St. Margaret's, the Lakers' defense let down. Up 6-3 at halftime, Prior Lake was outscored in third frame for the first time all season.

The Knights fought back with three goals to tie game at 6-6 heading into the final 12 minutes. Benilde took a 7-6 lead with a goal 38 seconds into the fourth.

But Prior Lake kept its composure and got back to playing tight, team defense, while being opportunistic on offense. Senior John Leffler tied the game with a goal roughly three minutes later with senior Bennet Holst getting the assist.

Junior Luke Bloedow put Prior Lake up 8-7 with a goal 1:51 later. Rejda scored his fourth goal 1:08 later for a two-goal cushion.

The Knights responded 14 seconds after Rejda's goal to cut the margin to one goal. But Rejda answered again, putting Prior Lake up two goals (10-8) scoring with 1:07 left to play.

The Lakers got a turnover on defense with about 40 seconds remaining to play and ran out the clock from there.

"We were not playing as a team in third quarter," Smith said. "We were throwing balls over each other and not communicating. We got in our heads little up by three goals. We were down and it took us until almost the second half of the fourth quarter to score again."

The Knights are the only team to outscore the Lakers in third quarter this season. Prior Lake went into the title game having won the third frame by a combined 69-16 margin this year, including 10-1 in its first two state games.

Senior Tyler Wiederhoeft was stellar in goal for the Lakers in the final, making 10 saves.

Rejda scored three of his goals in the first half, while Jung scored twice and junior Riley Bachinski tallied once. Jung finished with three assists, while Holst had two and Kallberg, sophomore Conor Miller, junior Patrick Juell and senior Brock Penton each had one.

"It was a little scary there in third quarter because that's usually when we dominate," Penton said. "We were little worried, but we adjusted and came out and played hard in the fourth quarter. We had the mentality we could win this again and we did. It's a great feeling."

Penton is one of 13 seniors the Lakers will have to replace next spring in order to defend their crown, along with Curt Murphy, Reece Montross, Jadon Dorn and Logan Bloedel.

Bachinski led the Lakers in goals scored with 33, adding six assists. Leffler and Rejda both had 31 goals, adding six and five assists, respectively.

Jung led the team in points with 46 (23 goals, 23 assists), while Luke Bloedow led in assists with 28, adding 16 assists. Penton had 27 points (16 goals, 11 assists, followed by Holst with 25 (19 goals, 6 assists), Dorn with 24 (11 goals, 13 assists), Murphy with 14 (7 goals, 7 assists), junior Nate Whittier with 14 (7 goals, 7 assists) Juell with 12 (3 goals, 9 assists) and Montross with 11 (9 goals, 2 assists).

Wiederhoeft finished the season with a .548 save percentage, while junior Joey Barnard and Logan Bloedel were the team's top two faceoff specialists.