The Marblehead High boys lacrosse team (14-5) entered the Division 2 state tournament as the 20th seed, and as a result it had to travel to Westboro to take on the Rangers (14-4), the 13th seed, last Friday afternoon, May 29, in a Round of 32 game. But that didn’t deter Coach John Wilkens’ young team from staging a furious second half comeback to beat those Rangers, 8-7.
The Marblehead boys were trailing, 4-1 at halftime, but the difference between both halves was “shooting better,” Wilkens said, while adding, “this was a gritty win. We went out there to compete, and give it our best effort, which we did, especially in the second half of this back-and-forth game.”
Tyler Forbes scored the game-winner with just two minutes left on the clock. But the star of the show was senior goalie Colin Maniaci, who turned away 16 Westboro shots. “(Maniaci) made two late clutch saves to preserve the win,” said Wilkens.
Besides scoring the winning goal, Forbes also had two other scores, while assisting on another tally to help pace the offensive attack. Kyle Thibodeau also scored three times to power the attack. Will Kinahan and Grady Becker each scored once. Owen Dulac was the assist leader with two. Reid Wysor was credited with an assist.
Wilkens praised the efforts of senior Grady Becker for taking over the faceoffs that helped maintain possession of the ball in the second half.
The Magicians are now preparing for the Sweet 16 game against the host Mansfield Hornets (19-1), the fourth seed, on Wednesday night, June 3, at 7:30 p.m. The Hornets defeated North Quincy (8-11), the 29th seed, 19-5 on May 28 in its Round of 32 game.
“Beating Westboro was a great experience for our younger players that includes having three freshmen and two sophomores in the starting lineup,” said Wilkens, “but playing Mansfield will present a different challenge, especially for our defensemen.”
