July 5, 2009
Walpole waltzes away with Bay State crown
by Mike Zhe/
It was halftime, and it was bleak.
Walpole, just days removed from its second straight Bay State Conference championship, was staring a familiar playoff obstacle in the face. The Rebels were down 7-2 to Reading in the Eastern Massachusetts Division 2 semifinals, and it seemed that the elusive program aim of an East title would have to wait at least one more year.
Looking at a deficit this size was something new for the Rebels (21-1 at the time), who hadn’t been in a bad situation in a full year, since falling behind 4-1 to Winchester in the same round a year ago.
“I was warming up our goalie before the second half,” ninth-year Walpole coach Jason Andalo said. “I realized that the last time we were losing in a game that badly was last year against Winchester at this time [a game the Rebels rallied to win].
“The players came in and I brought that up. I told them, ‘If you win this game, you’ll remember it for the rest of your lives.’ ”
And then the Rebels went out and started making a memory.
Actually, they didn’t roar out of the halftime gate. With a little more than 20 minutes left to play, they trailed 9-3 and were trudging back to midfield for a draw that followed another Reading goal.
But midfielder Ryan Izzo won the draw, charged downfield and scored, a superb individual effort that gave a deflated sideline some juice. Then fellow middies Leo Ajemian and Davis Butts began taking over, whittling the lead down to a manageable number before tying the game on a Butts goal midway through the fourth quarter.
Ajemian’s fourth goal was the game-winner in overtime, after he collected a rebound of a Butts shot and finished it.
“When we were at halftime down 7-2, people asked me what adjustments we made,” Andalo said. “We just had to play better. If we didn’t play better, we’d lose.”
The rest of the journey was almost anticlimactic. The Rebels dispatched a good — and battle-hardened — Concord-Carlisle team (winner of its previous two games in OT) in the Eastern Mass. final, 11-7.
In the state championship game, the Rebels overwhelmed Central Mass. champ St. John’s (Shrewsbury), 17-8.
It may have taken a mighty comeback to beat Reading, but this was no fluke title for Walpole.
En route to a league-record 24 wins, the Rebels averaged 15.1 goals a game, a program best, while allowing an average of 4.4. No opponent reached double digits.
Butts, who will play at Loyola next year, racked up 60 goals and 117 points, both single-season records. He leaves Walpole with 184 goals and 294 points to his name, both career records, as well as an all-time 70 percent mark in faceoffs.
Sophomore attacker Kyle Guilbert added 55 goals and 78 points, the most ever for a first-year starter at Walpole. Middies Izzo (58 goals) and Ajemian (36 goals), finished the year with 73 and 67 points, respectively. Michael White and Adam Niden also finished the spring with 67 points.
Butts, Ajemian (Springfield), White (Norwich), defensive middie Michael Connors (Vermont), attacker Jake Lamorte (Lasell College), middie Marcanthony Koukoulas (University of Toronto) and goalie Brian Merrigan (Rhode Island) will all be playing in college next year. Defender Peter Bowes, a rising senior, has verbally committed to Loyola.
Even with a talented crew, the Rebels’ expectations coming into the season were tempered. They were replacing, among other players, Greg Nash, the program’s all-time leading scorer before Butts surpassed him.
“The expectation was to try to repeat as Bay State [Conference] champions,” Andalo said. “We knew teams like Norwood and Needham were going to be very good this year. And when you get into the tournament, the goal becomes getting back to the Eastern Mass. final. We’re not the type of team that starts playing for championships during the regular season.”
Vacation week may have been the Rebels’ first indication that they could meet those aims. They sandwiched wins against Division 3 state finalists Scituate and Dover-Sherborn around a one-goal loss to St. John’s Prep, the team that took powerhouse Duxbury to the wire in the Division 1 final.
“(St. John’s Prep) was a loss, but it felt like a playoff game,” said Andalo.
The real playoffs would be even more fun.
Massachusetts
Instead of reaching the century mark, Duxbury had to console itself with a fifth straight Division 1 championship, while gaining a little revenge in the process. The Dragons defeated St. John’s Prep, 13-12, in the state final, capping a wild postseason in which they won their last three games by a total of five goals. Earlier this season, Prep had ended Duxbury’s 99-game win streak against in-state opponents. In the final, Notre Dame-bound Quinn Cully scored six goals, including five in the first half as the Dragons built a 10-5 lead. Garrett Campbell led the comeback for Prep (19-3), which pulled within one late but couldn’t score the equalizer. Duxbury’s march to the championship included wins over Xaverian (10-7) in the quarterfinals and BC High (9-8) in the semifinals.
All-America attacker Kyle Crowley scored three goals, including the game-winner during Scituate’s first possession of overtime, and the top-seeded Sailors successfully completed the defense of their Division 3 title with a 7-6 win over No. 3 Dover-Sherborn. Both goalies were superb. Scituate got 10 saves from Matt Palubicki, while Jeff Williams of D-S stopped 18 shots.
Connecticut
Make no mistake: Princeton is getting a winner. Fairfield Prep closed out its fourth straight Class L championship with a 15-3 win over Simsbury, and future Tiger Tucker Shanley has had a hand in all of them. Prep (17-6) took some regular-season hits playing a tough schedule but got it done when it counted, beating Amity, 9-8, in the quarterfinals, and then Ridgefield, 11-10, in the semis to reach the title game. Bucknell-bound Chase Bailey scored five times in the title game to help avenge a regular-season loss, and John McGoldrick added four goals. Simsbury finished 17-5.
Darien, with its four Class M titles already in hand, completed its drive for five with a 17-11 win over Wilton. Losers to Ridgefield in the Fairfield County final, the Blue Wave rebounded to win their fifth straight Class M title. Chaz Brickman scored a pair of early goals as the Wave built a 7-2 lead and forced Wilton to play catchup. Goalie Andrew West made 14 saves for the winners.
Joe Bacarella scored four goals and set up four others, and St. Joseph’s outlasted Brien McMahon, 12-11, to win the first Class S title in program history. Matt Marini, Pat Moore and Connor Brawley each added two goals for the senior-laden Cadets (16-5), who were in the championship game after falling in the semifinals each of the previous three years. Morgan Faller scored four goals for Weston, which finished 13-9.
New Hampshire
Hanover (19-2) played the role of giant-killer right to the end, lacking only a slingshot. The third-seeded Marauders knocked off powerful Pinkerton Academy in the semifinals before fending off top-seeded Bishop Guertin, 9-8, for the Division 1 championship. Sam Gest made 12 saves for Hanover, which got two goals apiece from Andrew Holzberger, Christian Wolter and Sam Freihofer to take a 9-5 lead with less than four minutes to play before BG mounted a final rally.
Alex Davies scored six goals, and Sean Dippold added three goals and five assists, as Bow (15-1) secured its second straight Division 2 title with a 15-8 win over Dover. The Falcons led 8-4 at halftime and never looked back.
Kearsarge (15-2) spoiled top-ranked Monadnock’s undefeated season with a 10-8 win in the Division 3 final, earning its second championship in four years. Stephen Patch and Sam Morgan scored three goals apiece, and Chaz Giles scored a goal and set up three others for the Cougars.
Rhode Island
Following the precedent of the school’s girls team, which last year won a Division 1 title in its first season of public-school competition, Moses Brown made its debut season a championship one, beating Bishop Hendricken, 10-5, for the Division 1 crown. Ian Deveau scored twice to finish his season with 44 tallies, and Wes Hardman and David Appolonia both found the net four times. The Quakers had previously competed in the SENE league.
In Division 2, Mount Hope (8-5) dethroned Mount St. Charles, 12-5. Nathan Avedissian led the way with five goals, while Ben Choquette added four and goalie Tyler Carreiro continued his stellar postseason in net. It was the first championship for the Mounties since 2005.
Brad Camiel’s overtime goal completed a stunning turnaround for Cumberland, which beat Middletown, 5-4, for the Division 3 title, just one year after going 0-14. Michael Darlington scored twice and had two assists. It was the only loss of the season for Middletown (14-1).
Vermont
South Burlington wrapped up its first state title since 1992, dethroning two-time champion Essex, 7-6, in a tight Division 1 final. Junior Zach Davidson’s two goals in the second half loomed large, and he finished the season with nearly 120 points, earning All-America honors. The Rebels (14-4) also got big seasons from division All-Stars Adam Farmer, Taylor Stout and Evan Cassidy. Essex got two goals and an assist from All-America attacker Marty Vanzo.
Burr and Burton took all the drama out of its bid to repeat in Division 2 early, scoring the first six goals of the game in a 12-6 win over Lamoille. The Bulldogs (15-1) led 6-2 at halftime and 9-5 through three quarters, and were never threatened. Ben Brownlee scored three goals, and he, Trevor Pollock and Chris Murray were named league All-Stars. Spencer Hunt scored three goals for Lamoille, which finished 17-2.
Maine
This time, the Bulldogs took the final step. Playing in its second Class A final in three years, Portland earned its first state championship with a 9-3 win over previously unbeaten Brunswick. Two-time All-America midfielder K.R. Jurgelevich scored three goals, and attack Caleb Kenney added two goals and an assist. Goalie Nick Sterling made eight saves, and his team controlled possession for much of the game. Playing in its third straight Class A final, Brunswick (14-1) got 14 saves from goalie Jeremy Diaz.
Yarmouth celebrated a Class B championship for the second straight season, building a lead on Cape Elizabeth in the final and holding on for a 12-9 win. The Clippers finished unbeaten, winning their fourth title in six years. All-America middie Rob Highland, All-America attacker Steven Petrovek and Evan Henry each scored three goals for Yarmouth, which took control of the game in the third quarter, opening up an 11-6 lead. The Capers (12-3) got two goals from Mike Holden and Tom Foden.
