COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Brighton’s boys lacrosse team took the No. 1 ranking in the latest coaches’ poll into the playoffs, and hasn’t had many experiences of playing from behind — the Bengals took a halftime deficit just once in the regular season.

In a rare moment of doubt, the Bengals responded.

Kaden Garden assisted on the game-winning goal to Tennison Schmidt, then added one of his own just under a minute later to help top-ranked Brighton rally past Juan Diego 8-6 in the Utah High School Lacrosse League Class A boys state championship at Brighton High.

“Coaches told us to never give up, and we believe in ourselves,” said Schmidt, who scored a game-high three goals for Brighton. “We weren’t going to let this game slip away from us, and we fought until the end — never gave up.”

Schmidt picked up a ground ball forced by Garden with 3:31 left and ripped a shot that gave the Bengals (16-3) their first lead of the game.

“Everybody was on the floor and I just picked up the ball, saw the open net, and just shot it,” Schmidt said. “It was a lucky roll to me — a lucky roll. It tends to happen.”

Reilly Dumas opened the scoring for No. 2 Juan Diego (16-5), and Tristan Courtney and Zach Madsen gave the Soaring Eagle a 3-1 lead after one quarter.

The Draper-based private school held the Bengals to a goal each in the first two quarters en route to a 5-2 halftime lead. Goalkeeper Sean Edwards made six of his game-high 12 saves in the first half, and Brighton missed an empty-net attempt off the post in the middle of the second quarter.

“Being down 5-2 and having a goalie who was playing like that, but watching those guys fight was my proudest moment,” Brighton coach Brandon Horoba said.

But the second half belonged to the Bengals, who held the Soaring Eagle to one second-half goal, a sleeper by Chantz Hower to keep Juan Diego up 6-3 going into the final period.

“Our defense has been solid all year,” Horoba said. “We have four studs in the back, and a stud defensive middle who get it done every game. They clamped down and did what they have been doing all year.”

Dylan Pearmain pulled the Bengals within a goal with 9:48 left in the game on a transition goal that soared past Edwards. Moments earlier, Pearmain beat Edwards off an uncharacteristic turnover as the Bengals opened the fourth quarter with a goal to help the Bengals score five unanswered to end the game and turn ground balls into goals.

Hunter Albert tied the game with 5:54 remaining, finishing off a goal off a perfect setup by Bryson Taylor to square the game for the final five minutes.

Schmidt gave the Bengals their first lead of the game with his second goal of the night, 7-6 with 3:31 left in the game, finishing off a ground ball-pickup by Gardner.

“When he put those two goals in, it was jubilation on the sideline,” Horoba said. “We were excited that we were finally breaking through.

“Juan Diego’s goalie was unreal tonight, and hat’s off to him — he kept them in this game. When Kaden got those opportunities and took advantage of them, it’s just another example of a senior who kept pushing and pushing and finally took advantage of them.”

Brighton won the state title after being routed by eventual champion Corner Canyon a year ago for the Bengals’ second championship in three years.

“This means so much,” Schmidt said. “Last year was not fun at all for any of us, and the seniors this year did not want to go out like that.

“Let’s hope the momentum rolls over to next year and we get another one.”

CLASS B

WATERFORD 6, BONNEVILLE 2 — At Brighton, goalkeeper Tyler Cramer kept Bonneville off the board in the first half en route to the Ravens' 6-2 win in the Class B final Saturday at Brighton High.

Bonneville was scoreless until Braeden Thornock scored in the final two minutes of the third quarter, but the Ravens took a 6-1 lead into the final period.

CLASS C

WEST LAKE 5, LEHI 4 (OT) — At Brighton, the Thunder (8-7) captured their first state title in a team sport in school history with the extra-period win over the Pioneers.

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