It's almost playoff time for the spring high school sports season, and the Westford Academy boys' lacrosse team sharpened their skills for the postseason with a 10-3 victory over the struggling Lions of Newton South on Tuesday afternoon.
The visiting Grey Ghosts were able to score back-to-back goals within 45 seconds during the first half of the opening quarter, but the Lions responded minutes later as Josh Gordon, who was being relentlessly poke-checked by his defender, cut to the middle of the field and fired a 15-foot tally to make it a 2-1 contest.
The score remained unchanged until the 10:47 mark of the second quarter when Westford's Jason Welch netted a tally.
But pinpoint stick-to-stick passing from the Lions made sure the Grey Ghosts’ lead was not safe: Jake Alexander passed to Justin Klumpp who relayed the ball to the scorer Max Levine.
That cut the deficit to 3-2, but Welch scored again as a Lion penalty was set to expire. Welch’s goal, which was part of a three goal, two assist day for him, ignited a string of five unanswered tallies for Westford that help seal the victory on what was a dreary day weather-wise.
“Considering the conditions, I’m very happy with [the victory],” said Westford coach Gus Bickford. “Came out wet, cold, was kind of concerned with how the team was going to throw and catch. But they were able to move the ball. You know, that’s a tough team we played. Their goalie is very good.”
“[Welch] has been leading the team in points and is just been solid on attack, carrying the ball, passing, and shooting,” said Bickford.
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Meanwhile, Newton South head coach David McCallum was disappointed, but realized that he was up against a superior foe.
“We’re young,” said McCallum. “We can hang there for a little bit, but once one guy gets tired, one guy doesn’t run the play full speed--that’s what kills us really.”
He added, “Westford’s a state tournament team. They’re a good state tournament team, which means that they basically play top competition during the season. We don’t have the horses yet. We’ll get there.”
Despite the loss and the struggling year, McCallum is optimistic.
“When you look at all three programs--the freshman program, the JV program, and our program--most of the goals are coming from underclassmen,” he said. “And then on top of that, the freshman and JV haven’t won this much in more than a decade.”
The loss drops the Lions to 2-15 on the season. Meanwhile, the playoff-bound Grey Ghosts improve to 12-6.