It was a game that featured the top two lacrosse teams in Washington State, with the Issaquah Eagles needing a win to cement themselves as the top dog and the odds-on favorite for a state championship.

Instead, the Bainbridge Spartans showed why they are one of the top programs in the state year in and year out.

Jordan Foster led the way with four goals while the Bainbridge defense kept Travis Wright and the high powered Issaquah offense from lighting them up as the Spartans defeated the Eagles 11-6 Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

It’s the first loss for Issaquah in-state or out of state, as the Eagles had won 17 in a row before Friday’s loss.

“This was our whole season right here,” senior defender Dayton Gilbreath said. “We knew this was a great team and this would be a good game.”

Co-head coach Dejon Hush said even the coaches were fired up for this game.

“They’ve been blowing teams out and we’ve been blowing teams out,” he said. “We were expecting a hard fought battle.”

Before a good sized crowd of Bainbridge, Issaquah and lacrosse fans in general, the Spartans and the Eagles traded shots before Sam Snow got Bainbridge on the board with an unassisted goal with 8:52 left in the first.

Foster scored a few moments later, then Bjorn Ostenson scored off an assist from Snow.

“We were able to play our rough and tumble game,” Hush said. “We’re real good when it comes down to broken plays and finding the open man.

“We were able to run-and-gun a little bit – to get those opportunities and finish them.”

After a timeout by Issaquah, Wright scored a few seconds later by finding a hole in the Bainbridge defense and taking advantage.

Foster scored on a nice bounce shot with 3:35 left off another assist from Snow, but Wright put in another unassisted shot near the end of the first quarter to cut the lead to two.

In the second quarter, both teams turned up the defensive pressure to keep the offense off balance, as Issaquah had problems connecting on passes while Bainbridge was locked down.

“They did a good job possessing the ball, so we spent a lot of time on defense and our defenders got a little tired,” Hush said. “When we got on offense they did a really good job pressing them ball.”

But when Foster finally broke through for a goal off a Garrett Lund assist, the Spartans got hot at the right time.

Max Olsen fed Jordan Wagner for the score, then a few moments later Snow scored on a nice drive to the cage.

Kevin Nguyen finished off the run with a score off a Evan Wright assist just before the half.

But Hush said they weren’t about to let down their guard.

“I’ve played with and against their coach (Brandon Fortier) for several years,” he said. “I know they’re well coached (so) the score doesn’t mean anything. They’re going to come out hard for four quarters.

“That’s what we had to enforce to our kids that hey, this isn’t over. Put the pedal down and keep it going.”

The third quarter was more of the same, as both teams dueled to a draw for most of the third quarter before Nick Yaap put one in off a Wright assist at the 4:34 mark.

Snow got another one in with less than two minutes to go off a Wright assist, but Jake Director put one past goalie Bryce Stevenson for the score and a bit of momentum.

But the Spartan defense wouldn’t relent, keeping the Eagle offense from running anything and visibly frustrating Wright at times.

“We played man-to-man,” Gilbreath said of their gameplan. “We knew our athletes could play with their athletes.

“They’re a great team, but we knew we could match up against them.”

Foster scored his fourth goal of the night when he avoided an Issaquah defender as he was going for the ball to score at the 8:46 mark.

Gilbreath scored the final goal for Bainbridge when Eagle goalie Dan Bressler tried to bring the ball up, but had it knocked away, allowing Gilbreath to score as he beat the goalie back to the cage.

Issaquah still wouldn’t quit, as Alex Bates scored an unassisted goal with 3:44 left, then a few minutes later, the Eagles made some nice passes, with the last one coming from Todd Jones to Wright who scored.

“That last goal was amazing,” Hush said. “They had four straight passes and they had a guy on the doorstep. There wasn’t even a goalie in the goal they faked us out so bad.”

But that was it for Issaquah, as Bainbridge maintained possession for the remainder of the quarter and ran out the clock.

Hush was happy for the win and that Trent Burroughs was okay after coming off in the fourth with cramps.

“My heart drops every time I see him run a little lame,” Hush said. “He’s definitely an integral part of our defense.

“Those three guys (Gilbreath, Burroughs and Casey Weisner are big cogs and when one of them is missing, it’s a different team.”

“It was close the whole way,” Gilbreath said. “It was a great game. I can’t wait for the playoffs.”

Gilbreath also announced that he signed with Air Force this week.

He will play with his brother Bryan on the lacrosse team.

Bainbridge hosted Puyallup last night, then travel to Bellevue Friday night.

Their last game of the season is May 6 against Roosevelt.