Go Bears! See larger image.
Bryant Johnson (junior, midfield) v Apple Valley. See larger image.
Kip Dooley (freshman, attack) v Apple Valley. See larger image.
Matt Dooley (junior, defenseman) v Apple Valley. See larger image.
Celebrate! See larger image.
MBSLA State Tournament Defensive MVP David Jadin. See larger image.
MBSLA State Tournament MVP Jordan Seivold. See larger image.
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A new force has emerged from the Hopkins Campus of the Blake School. The Bears have developed another juggernaut. A program that has now become the envy of many, it is the Blake School boys’ lacrosse team.
Five short years ago Bear’s head coach Hank Marotske trotted out a team consisting of twenty-some cast-offs from other sports and a couple of kids with some lacrosse playing experience at some level. Two years later the Bears were Tri-Metro Conference champs and at Elizabeth Lyle-Robbie Stadium in Falcon Heights, MN playing in the championship game of their first ever MBSLA State Tournament loosing to Bloomington Jefferson by a score of 10-4.
Last year brought much promise and hope. An April trip to Culver Academy in Indiana was planned to provide competition that prepared the Bears for a charge to the state lacrosse championship. A championship was not to be. Blake picked up the repeat as conference champs, but a bitter overtime loss at the hands of Minneapolis in the State quarterfinals sent the Bears home well short of their goal and motivated for 2005.
The spring of 2005 had arrived and all of the pieces were in place. A large group of players traveled to Sonoma, CA for the Adrenaline Camp, a half dozen players were selected for the MN Select Traveling team and a winter team organized by the captains won the Minnetonka winter league.
The Bears headed south to the Disney complex over spring break to find quality early season competition and on Tuesday April 12th the Bears started a string of victories that ended in the 12-9 coring of Apple Valley on June 11th in the state championship game! Along the way, The Blake School compiled a perfect 15-0 record, notched a three-peated as Tri-Metro Champions, and culminated the season with their first state championship!
The championship game was played in near perfect conditions at the Academy of Holy Angels. Freshman Kip Dooley lead the Blake offense with 3 goals and 3 assists. Senior captain Matt Manning did a great job taking Apple Valley's Casey Mithun, the tournaments offensive MVP, out of his game for the first half.
With an 8-2 lead at half the Blake Bears took control of the game, their destiny and never looked back. The Apple Valley Eagles attempted a comeback late in the 4th quarter, but it was all for not as the clock ran out and the Bears were crowned MBSLA champs.
Blake freshman Jordan Seivold was awarded Tournament MVP by the leagues coaches while junior David Jadin was named Tournament Defensive MVP.
Coach Marotske appreciates the contributions and efforts from his assistant coaching staff; Joe Seivold Offensive Coordinator, Andrew Slater Defensive Assistant, Luke Sawtell Assistant Varsity/JV, Tim Roche Goalie Coach, Matt Singleton Head JV/Varsity Box Coach, and Coleman Flaherty Head MS/ Assistant V/JV Coach.
All these individuals made great sacrifices and commitment to our program and we wouldn't have been as successful without their contributions.
The Blake Bears graduated 3 outstanding seniors, co-captains Will Hackett (goalie) and Matt Manning (defense) along with attacker Michael Dillon.
With over 40 highly skilled and experienced lacrosse players returning to the program, 2006 looks to be another strong season for Marotske, his staff and their juggernaut.
Scoring for State Championship game.
| Player | Goals | Assists | Ground Balls | Take Aways |
| Kip Dooley | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Michael Cathcart | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| Owen Holm | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| David Upjohn | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jordan Seivold | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Bryant Johnson | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| John Alden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| David Jadin | 1 | 0 | 12 | 8 |
| Matt Dooley | 0 | 0 | 13 | 9 |
| Matt Manning | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 |
| Michael Policinski | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
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