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Northridge's Lance Keller races downfield during a nonregion boys lacrosse contest against Layton High on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at Northridge High School in Layton.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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Northridge's Wyatt Coombs, left, and Layton High's Taylor Siddoway, right, close in on a high-flying ball during a nonregion boys lacrosse contest on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at Northridge High School in Layton.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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Layton High and Northridge line up before a nonregion boys lacrosse contest on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at Northridge High School in Layton.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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Layton High's Taylor Siddoway celebrates a goal during a nonregion boys lacrosse contest on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at Northridge High School in Layton.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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Northridge's Micah Olsen pushes upfield during a nonregion boys lacrosse contest against Layton High on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at Northridge High School in Layton.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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LAYTON — In a lot of ways, the boys lacrosse programs at Layton High and Northridge are looking for the same thing.

Northridge, a team coming off its third consecutive winning season with coach Reed Keller, and Layton, searching for its first season above two wins with first-year coach Drew Ovard, are rebuilding young rosters and trying to have a bit of fun along the way.

Fourteen goals ultimately decided the third-ever “Battle for the Sword” with Northridge streaking away from Layton 16-2 in its home opener on Wednesday. But through two quarters, the Lancers were anything but out of the match.

Second-year Layton keeper Dylan Shurtliff held Northridge (1-0) to just four goals (two by senior midfielder Lance Keller, and two between senior midfielder Micah Olsen and junior attacker Brigham Tate). Lance Keller is the younger brother of Northridge alum Hunter Keller, now a goalkeeper for Lewis University in Illinois.

Layton, striking inside the net just twice on Wednesday, evened things up early with a goal by freshman newcomer Taylor Siddoway, and later cut its deficit to two via junior midfielder David Murdock with 15 seconds left in the opening half.

In three all-time meetings with Ridge, it’s the best Ovard’s seen from a Lancers squad.

“I haven’t seen Layton play that well against Northridge in a first half,” Ovard said. “Things were going well (and) we’ve got a lot of young guys that’re looking to improve. We have a lot new players, a lot of kids that it’s their first time playing. Most of these kids have never picked up a stick until this year.”

Olsen, tallying a “sock trick” with six goals for Northridge, and Keller, going beyond a hat trick with four goals of his own, broke loose after the half while second-year Northridge keeper Daxton Kendell shut out the Lancers from there.

It’s a brand new season for the Knights, starting the spring with a win and improving to 3-0 against Layton in all-time meetings.

Ironically, Olsen and Keller returned to Park City, home of the same Park City Miners that bumped Northridge out of the 5A state playoffs last year, over the offseason to raise their strength and endurance.

“One of our biggest weaknesses that we really can’t control is just our youth,” Olsen said. “We’re going to have a fun season anyway and we’ll carry on from there.”

As a team, Northridge undertook offseason workouts with the Farmington-based CAMP training outfit to prepare a largely underclassmen group for the high school season.

Olsen’s goals for the season boil down to how his senior class paves the road ahead for the younger Knights.

“I’ve been waiting for my senior year just to play my best and have a fun season for a while,” Olsen said. “We have a great team and so we’re going to have a fun season. … We’re kind of having a rebuild year, so these upcoming seniors, upcoming juniors, they’re going to have a blast. My job is building them up so they can have an amazing senior (or) junior year. That’s my goal.”

Layton, on the other hand, is looking for its first playoff win following a 16-10 loss to Region 1 foe Syracuse in last year’s opening round. That season culminated with the departure of former coach Tim Richards after two seasons.

Northridge travels to defending 6A champion Corner Canyon on Friday. Layton returns home for another foe from Region, Clearfield, in hopes of obtaining its first win of the season.

Both contests are slated for 7 p.m.

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.