The No. 9 Steamboat Springs Sailors boys lacrosse team opened the state playoff Tuesday night at home. The game was not even close. 

The boys were matched up against No. 24 Conifer in Round 1, dominating the visiting Lobos 16-3. 

Steamboat had three unique players with hat tricks in the game including senior George Redfern who buried the first Steamboat goal just 49 seconds into the first quarter. Junior Ethan DiBiaso and sophomore Marshall Moss also had three goals in the game.  

Redfern said the offense excelled Tuesday night because of good communication and “finding the open man. I think we were good matchup-wise, we could beat our man and draw the side and pass it and score the ball,” he said. 

A 16-1 Sailors lead at the end of the third quarter allowed head coach Amos Gilbert to put in some of his junior varsity players who were brought up to the varsity level last week. 

Gilbert praised those players for their hard work and said their addition in practices has given the team a chance to run 6-on-6 drills for both offense and defense in preparation for playoffs. The JV guys earned fourth-quarter play in Gilbert’s eyes. 

“Those guys will get (varsity) letters for playing today, which is awesome,” Gilbert said. “They have given us a lot here in the last week as far as the scout team goes.” 

Next up for the Sailors is Round 2 of the playoffs where Steamboat hits the road to take on No. 8 Grand Junction at 3:30 p.m. Friday on Community Field at Colorado Mesa University. 

Tickets will cost $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. Visit GoFan.co/event/3601413?schoolId=CO17065 to purchase tickets in advance. 

No. 8 Grand Junction earned a first-round bye in the playoffs with an 11-4 record, though the team lost three of its last five regular season games. 

Gilbert said the Sailors are prepared to take on any opponent and are excited for the challenges ahead.

“The narrative for us has been the same all year. We have to worry about what we do and we finished the regular season with that Aspen game and we know where we need to improve,” Gilbert said after Tuesday’s game. “Today was a great opportunity to do that.”