2017 All-Area Boys Lacrosse: Thompson Valley's Kobe Lewis player of the year
Senior's leadership skills helped him become one of the state's best
By Sean Star
Reporter-Herald Sports Writer
POSTED: 06/14/2017 04:13:23 PM MDT
Thompson Valley senior goalie Kobe Lewis became more of a vocal leader for the Eagles defense this season, leading to his selection as the 2017 RH Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year. (
Sean Star / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Kobe Lewis doesn't like telling other people what to do. Normally it's not an issue, except he also happens to be a pretty good goalie.
Communication is a critical part of the position, so whether he liked it or not, it was something Lewis had to learn since becoming Thompson Valley's starter three years ago.
It was a gradual progression until this spring, Lewis' senior season, when he really began speaking up as the Eagles had one of their best seasons in program history.
"Bossing people around definitely wasn't in my vocabulary or attitude," he said. "It's kinda like the quarterback of the defense. If I didn't communicate, then just nothing worked. It showed. In games or practices where I didn't talk, then we just got destroyed."
Thompson Valley goalie Kobe Lewis had the best goals against average (5.5) in 4A this season. (
Cris Tiller / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Always supremely dedicated (missing just one offseason workout during his high school career), Lewis' improved leadership and performance in net pushed the Eagles to match their best campaign since they began nine years ago. They won 12 games and reached the state quaterfinals, feats only done previously by the 2014 squad.
Defense was a staple for the Eagles throughout the season with Lewis' 5.5 goals against average ranking No. 1 in 4A, earning him RH Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year honors.
"That's the area he grew as much as any other part of his game, becoming more and more vocal. With that I think his confidence grew," TVHS coach Will Cantwell said. "He's kinda the coach on the field in the fact that he's the lead communicator amongst the defense. Communication is maybe the most critical element of team defense in lacrosse, and it starts with the goalie, because he's got the view of the entire field."
So what exactly are goalies yelling out to their teammates all the time? According to Lewis, mainly ball position, defensive assignments and alignment. Successfully relaying those messages during the chaos of a game was made a lot easier this season because the Eagles had such good team chemistry, Lewis said.
"I felt like we meshed more as a team this year," he said. "That's really good especially since we're from so many different schools. It can get kinda hard to be friends like we were. I thought that was probably one of the biggest differences."
While Lewis' performance in net also earned him first-team all-state honors, he's quick to share the credit for such honors with defenders like Trey Cardenas, Talin Polka, Blake Wilson and Brooks Masters, among others. Together, the unit allowed double-digit goals just four times and held opponents to five or fewer goals on seven occasions.
But to be sure, Lewis was the leader of the group.
"We got a new defensive coordinator the last two years (Patrick Sullivan), and he really focused on empowering Kobe to run the defense. He would support Kobe in the fact that if the defensive players weren't echoing what he was saying, or weren't following that communication, he would really get on them for that," Cantwell said. "I think that gave Kobe a lot of confidence to step out from what would maybe be viewed as his comfort zone and to become more of a confident communicator amongst his teammates."
Sean Star: 970-669-5402, sstar@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/seanvstar