DALTON, Mass. – One night before Wahconah’s seniors graduate from the school, they passed their first test of the Division 4 lacrosse state tournament with flying colors.
Rylan Padelford scored four goals and assisted on two others in a 20-5 win over Seekonk that sends Wahconah into next week’s Sweet 16.
Wahconah scored the game’s first six goals, and the visitors never got closer than five the rest of the way on a night when most of the second half was played with running time.
Ninth-grader Sawyer Padelford matched his brother with four goals, and Devin Lagerwall, Zachary Flaherty and Jonathan Howard each had a hat trick.
Senior keeper Bryce Smith stopped four shots and allowed four goals in three quarters of work before turning things over to Zack Schneider (one save) for the final 12 minutes.
For soon-to-be grads and captains like Smith, Padelford, Brayden Astore and Noah Poirier, the night meant a little something extra.
“Today was really big for us,” said Poirier, who finished with an assist and dominated at the faceoff spot as Wahconah’s “FOGO.”
“It was our last game ever playing at home. So it was just a big game. We had to win it for our school, our team, for everyone here, for everyone who came out to watch.”
Tenth-seeded Wahconah (15-5) advances to the Sweet 16, where they will play at No. 7 Weston (13-4), a 14-5 winner over Bellingham on Friday.
On Saturday, Wahconah embraced the opportunity to home portion of their season on a high note.
“The message was: Let people remember your legacy here,” Wahconah coach Matt Fisher said. “With all the championships we’ve won – I told them we have a great record for the last four years, 71-9, but everyone remembers the last game. So don’t let this be the last game.
“The people who come out and support us day in and day out – play for them. Play for the alumni. And get it done.”
Howard got things started with a bounce shot in the third minute of play. Just 42 seconds later, Flaherty converted a ground ball he picked up in a scramble in front of Seekonk’s goal and made it 2-0. And less than a minute later, Howard scored again, this time with an assist from Lagerwall, to make it 3-0 with fewer than five minutes off the clock.
“At practice, when we were scouting [Seekonk], the goal was to come out and take it to them, and we did that,” Fisher said. “We kept it going. I’m proud of them. No one got complacent. I’m proud of the boys and how they played.
Seekonk got some momentum toward the end of the first quarter when Brady Fitzpatrick got his team on the board to make it 6-1, and for a stretch into the second quarter, the visitors matched Wahconah goal for goal, trimming the lead to 9-3 midway through the second.
But Wahconah scored four straight goals to take a 13-3 lead on Sawyer Padelford’s unassisted tally late in the half and took a nine-goal lead into half-time.
Wahconah then outscored Seekonk, 6-0, in the third quarter, a stretch that included a transition goal from another senior, defender Nathan Miller, who got one of the biggest cheers of the night from his teammates for his effort.
Wahconah will take a six-game winning streak into the Round of 16, where it will attempt to get back to the state quarter-finals for the third straight year, a stretch that started with 2022’s state championship win.
Photos from this game to come.
