By Kimberly Blackfield

Town Crier Intern

The Palo Alto Tomahawks varsity boys lacrosse team reached the championship round of the playoffs last month.

The Tomahawks are a club team with players from Los Altos, Mountain View and Gunn highs.

In the first round of the Northern California Junior Lacrosse Association playoffs, the Tomahawks beat Branson 16-7.

This put them in the final against Menlo, which prevailed 7-4. Menlo has won three straight NCJLA Division II titles.

The Tomahawks qualified for the postseason by placing first in their division.

They went into the playoffs with only one loss and were undefeated in their division. Their first loss was also to Menlo.

Not bad for a team that won only one game two years ago.

Last season, the Tomahawks showed signs of improvement by finishing a respectable fourth in their division.

So what led to the team’s turnaround?

“(The turnaround) is having a good core of kids returning,” said Tomahawks coach Bill Kurz, a Mountain View resident.

This core includes several players with local roots. The roster includes Los Altos High students Drew Barnekoff, Greg Barnekoff, Peter Hahn and Chris Serviss; Mountain View’s Garrett Bukunt, Taylor Schofield and Ryan Williamson; and Gunn’s Yoav Barlev, Malcolm Brown, Colin Kelley, Kevin Lawrence and Cullen Maroney.

This group helped the Tomahawks rank third in Northern California and ninth in the state.

“It was a phenomenal season,” Kurz said.

The Tomahawks were so dominant during the season that they won all their games by at least three goals.

“A lot of games we didn’t start our starting goalie - we didn’t try to run up the score,” Kurz said.

With several players returning, Kurz expects the Tomahawks to challenge for the championship again next season.