BURLINGTON — How may the Div. 1 boys state finals pit anybody apart from powerhouses St. John’s Prep and BC High once more?
On Sunday, the 2 packages met within the championship for a 3rd straight yr, and the newest chapter within the storied rivalry was far and away the best. Junior attackman Jake Vana buried 4 objectives and dished out a pair of assists, whereas Jimmy Ayers (5 objectives, help) additionally supplied a large spark as top-seeded St. John’s Prep overcame a four-goal fourth quarter deficit en path to capturing its third consecutive Div. 1 lacrosse title with a shocking 16-14 victory over BC High at Burlington High School.
“This was a wild game,” stated St. John’s Prep coach John Pynchon. “I’m just so proud of these seniors. After we lost to (BC High) up at our place, we had a pretty emotional meeting. We brought a photo in of the team from last year. (I said) to the seniors: ‘That was last year. Forget it. We want to go get another one.’ I’m just so proud… it was a dramatic, great lacrosse game.”
While the comeback was unbelievable, St. John’s Prep (22-1) acquired off to a sluggish begin, and the Eagles struggled mightily with containing BC High (20-3) attackman Patrick Maroney. The senior buried three objectives within the first quarter alone, offering his workforce a 4-2 lead on the finish of the primary quarter.
The complete recreation was a sequence of runs nevertheless, and St. John’s Prep responded within the second quarter. Ayers and Vana sniped consecutive tallies to open the body, serving to the Eagles draw even at 4-all with 9:29 left within the half. Ayers would go on to web two extra objectives within the stanza, serving to St. John’s Prep construct a slim 8-6 lead on the half.
Then, BC High erupted within the third quarter. Nolan Hurley tallied a pair of objectives within the body, together with one with 4 seconds remaining. Then in backbreaking trend, St. John’s Prep surrendered yet another aim on the horn, as Shane McDonnell received the following face-off and fed a go to Will Emsing. The Tufts commit sniped twine, and BC High had a 13-9 lead getting into the fourth.
“It could have been really easy to say: ‘Well, we already won the last two years, it was their year, they were bound to win it,’” Vana stated. “But no. We did a full team huddle. We didn’t split into offense, defense. We came together, we all looked at each other. Our slogan is: ‘Together, we are enough,’ where we don’t need any outside help.”
Then, the Eagles staged a rally for the ages. Vana and Ayers opened the ultimate body with a pair of objectives, earlier than Nathaniel Jones added his title to the scoresheet to chop it to 13-12 with 9:24 left.
With 3:08 to play, Ayers buried the equalizer, earlier than Matthew Morrow registered the go-ahead and eventual game-clinching aim with 2:42 left. Vana iced the sport with an open-netter with 40 seconds to play, sealing the newest title for the Eagles.
“That’s what a true team does,” stated Vana. “When your back’s against the wall, they make it count. That’s what we did today. I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com