Region – There was a lot of anticipation leading up to the 2015 Bay State Games Boys Lacrosse Summer Tournament. Fourth-year Central Region Coach Bruno Nardone knew that a gold medal repeat would be tough with a team that featured younger, less seasoned players than the 2014 squad. However, with a lot of great lacrosse talent emerging from Central Massachusetts high schools, he expected a strong performance.
The team started the July 14-16 tournament with two tough losses to the West and South-East Region teams. The team wasn’t clicking on offense, and a number of unforced errors forced them, without much bench depth, to play too much of the game on the defensive end of the field.
On the second day of competition, Central faced the North-East region team. Although Central led for much of the game, North-East continued to battle back, eventually scoring a tying goal with 11 seconds left on the clock.
Eager to avoid a sudden death overtime and to notch out a win, the Central squad laid out a plan. Algonquin Regional High School (ARHS) midfielder Thomas Polutchko won the face-off after a brief scramble and found attackman Nolan Brady in front of the goal for a shot that left his stick a fraction of a second before the final buzzer went off. The ball found the back of the net, and the Central squad had good reason to rush the field for a celebration. In addition to helping with seeding, the hard fought victory seemed to galvanize them as a team.
The third day marked the beginning of the playoffs. Central would be playing the second ranked South-East team. Central came out playing a spirited game on both ends of the field for a decisive win.
Unfortunately, their luck ran out in the final game. Although they played great, Central didn’t have enough to overcome the overwhelming offense of this year’s West region team. After a great tournament run they proudly accepted silver medals and the runner-up spot.
The offense included TJ Melanson, Cam Moran, Nolan Bradley, Jack Boyle, and ARHS players Tyler Kerwin, Matt Cannon and Davis Lemieux. Midfield was balanced by Evan Doherty from Marlborough High School, and Thomas Polutchko, Drew Cammarano, Patrick Boyle, Sam Danberg and Tommy Ackil from ARHS. The defense consisted of five players all from ARHS: Jake Kelleher, Justin Leva, Graham Roche, Michael Guay and goalie Daniel MacDonald.
