Darien’s 2017 boys lacrosse team was ranked as the best high school team in the country according to the Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse national ranking so it made obvious sense that Darien would once again be No. 1 when the Blue Wave led the way as five teams from the FCIAC were ranked among the top seven in the final 2017 GameTimeCT/Register Boys Lacrosse Top 10.
Darien secured its top-ranking status after it finished undefeated (23-0) for the second consecutive year with a convincing 16-3 victory over Cheshire in the championship game of the CIAC Class L Boys Lacrosse Tournament championship game.
Fellow conference member New Canaan finished No. 2 after the 15-6 Rams won their third consecutive state Class M championship with a 9-6 victory over Daniel Hand in the third straight Class M championship showdown of those two teams.
Glastonbury, which fell by a relatively respectable 15-9 margin to Darien in the Class L semifinals, was ranked third.
Wilton was the third FCIAC team ranked among the top four in the final state poll as the 15-6 Warriors were No. 4. They were nipped by Cheshire, 15-14, in the Class L semifinals.
Cheshire (17-6) finished No. 5.
FCIAC members Ridgefield (16-5) and Greenwich (14-6) were ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.
They were followed in the Top 10 by Daniel Hand (14-8), Fairfield Prep (16-4) and Somers (20-1), which defeated Waterford, 19-5, in the Class S state championship game.
FCIAC member Staples (11-7), which was ranked seventh in the preceding poll, received the 11th most points and was among the five teams in the “Others receiving votes” category.
Darien has won four consecutive state championships, the last three in the Class L tournament after winning the 2014 Class M title, and has captured an astounding 11 state championships in the last 13 years. The Blue Wave won the Division I state title in 2005 and that was followed by five straight state Class M crowns from 2006-10 and then the 2012 state Class M title.
Since Darien broke through that longtime New Canaan/Wilton stronghold of dominance and Darien won its first FCIAC championship in 1992, coach Jeff Brameier’s Blue Wave have won 16 of the 26 conference championship games from 1992-2017, including the last four.
So, as Brameier was proud to point out, ever since this current crop of Darien seniors entered the program, those who were varsity players as freshmen have had a run of four FCIAC championships and four state championships while compiling an 89-3 record.
Darien last lost a game at Greenwich, 12-11 in overtime, on May 16, 2015. Darien then won its last eight games of that season, beating Ridgefield in the FCIAC and state championship games, and has finished 23-0 in each of the last two years so “Coach B” and his boys won their 54th straight game with their victory over Cheshire in this year’s Class L state final.
