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Agoura's Jake East is The Star's Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year

joe curley, ventura county star
·4 min read

Jake East put nearly a decade of his young life into the sport of lacrosse.

The finished product, at the time of his senior season at Agoura High, was as impressive and entertaining an all-around player as the Marmonte League has ever seen in the sport.

Which is why there is an extra layer of emotion in honoring The Star’s All-County Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year.

As he’s saying hello to a college football career at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he’s saying goodbye to lacrosse.

Or, at least, “See you later.”

“Lacrosse was honestly my everything forever,” East said. “I grinded my summers away on the East Coast. I have nothing but love for the sport.

“I’ll love that sport forever. I’m going to miss it so much. Hopefully, I can play it in the future.”

East was such a spectacular athlete at Agoura High that he made a pair of his dreams come true, which forced a decision between them.

Nearly two years after making a verbal commitment to Brown University men’s lacrosse, East decided this year to sign with Cal Poly football.

“When I committed for lacrosse, it was before I had played my last two years of football,” East said. “I just found that I could do what I am doing now.”

A childhood with a stick in his hand ended this spring with a 16-3 Agoura season, which included an unbeaten Marmonte League championship campaign, a No. 6 seed in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoffs and a postseason win over Orange County opposition.

Agoura High's Jake East finished his high school career by starring on the football field in the fall and on the lacrosse field in the spring.
Agoura High's Jake East finished his high school career by starring on the football field in the fall and on the lacrosse field in the spring.

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“Jake is the best athlete we’ve ever had,” Agoura head coach Sean Lindsay said. “There are just athletes who come around in lacrosse who just move differently on the field. They’re real patient and composed. The game moves slower for them. He always had that, even as a kid. He was always in control on the field.”

The playmaking midfielder piled up 45 goals and 46 assists, running a Chargers offense that averaged 14.7 goals per game.

“His ability to stay calm on the field is an inherited trait,” Lindsay said. “There’s certain things athletes have and that’s what Jake had. … He could do a lot on his own, but he was a very unselfish player. He let the game come to him.

“When we needed him to make a play he would make it, but he was unselfish, relaxed and able to focus on his final season of lacrosse.”

The decision to play football over lacrosse came before National Signing Day in February, which, Lindsay said, helped his star player.

“I think he had a lot of pressure off of him,” Lindsay said. “ He knew he was going to play college football. Everything was settled there. He could go into his last athletic season as senior with a more relaxed, no-pressure attitude.”

And he was surrounded by a senior class full of teammates who he had played with growing up, including midfielders Jackson Meehan and Aiden Della Ripa, attackmen Eli Russ and Andrew McCarthy and defender Cody Dembski

“He was playing with his buddies who he’d been with his whole life,” Lindsay said. “That’s really what high school sports is about.”

Agoura High senior Jake East demonstrated his superior all-around skills in his last season playing lacrosse.
Agoura High senior Jake East demonstrated his superior all-around skills in his last season playing lacrosse.

Despite having two seasons interrupted by the pandemic, the Class of 2022 won 48 of 63 games at Agoura, including the first two CIF-SS playoff victories in program history.

“A lot of them are football players, which meant their junior year (when football was played in the spring) was just really tricky,” Lindsay said. “The biggest thing we talked about with the team was maximizing their potential.

“This year was great, we were able to get to a routine we were used to. We took a couple weeks off and got back in our lacrosse routine, preparing to have a season.”

After a 2-2 start, Agoura ripped off 14 straight wins to sweep the Marmonte League and win its opening playoff game, 17-5 over Las Flores-Tesoro.

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East had four goals and four ground balls in the win. Two days later, he also found the net in perhaps his final competitive lacrosse game, a 13-5 quarterfinal loss to powerhouse Tustin-Foothill.

As one door closes, another sun opens for East, who is already in San Luis Obispo preparing for his first college football season.

“Obviously, right now I’m locked in and incredibly excited to get my college journey going,” East said.

The Star's All-County Boys Lacrosse Second Team

  • Rockland Appelgate, Simi Valley

  • Enzo Bar, Agoura

  • Nico Conway, Oaks Christian

  • Cody Dembski, Agoura

  • Brendan Forsyth, Agoura

  • Cayden Guffee, Simi Valley

  • Nolan Kreiger, Grace Brethren

  • Charlie Lyons, Agoura

  • Adam Segal, Newbury Park

  • Justin Sikola, Westlake

  • Aiden Whitehouse, Westlake

  • Eric Yung, Oak Park

  • Javier Zuniga-Gross, Thacher

Joe Curley covers lacrosse for The Star. He can be reached at  joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage of local high school sports, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Agoura's Jake East is The Star's Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year