Grafton Downs Mount Greylock in Sectional Final

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- A slow start led to a disappointing finish for the Mount Greylock boys lacrosse team on Saturday.

 

Cole Fontana scored four goals to lead Grafton to a 12-8 win over the Mounties in the Central/Western Massachusetts Division 2 Championship Game at West Springfield High School.

 

Mount Greylock (19-3) scored just two goals in the first half and none in the second quarter as Grafton avenged a loss to the Mounties in last year's C/WMass final.

 

The Berkshire County champions committed 10 turnovers in the first half and were dominated most of the game by Grafton's Matt O'Brien on the faceoff spot.

 

"We kind of got dominated on faceoffs, which led to a lot of extra possessions for them," Mount Greylock coach Brandon Asplundh said. "They're just too good of a team to let that happen.

 

"Throwing and catching wasn't quite where it normally is. Could be the heat. Could be the pressure. We don't really know what it was, but it just wasn't our best day."

 

The Mounties scored the game's first goal when Michael McCormack set up Liam Chenail in the third minute of the first quarter. And midway through the period, McCormack scored his first goal to tie the game at 2-2.

 

But Grafton (15-6) scored the next four, starting with Fontana's go-ahead goal from the edge of the crease late in the first quarter to take a 6-2 lead into half-time.

 

The half-time score could have been even worse if not for nine of Cal Filson's 17 saves before the break.

 

The Mounties cut into Grafton's lead in the third quarter, but not by much. Chenail scored twice to get Mount Greylock within 7-4 going to the final frame.

 

In that quarter, McCormack finally got untracked.

 

Massachusetts' all-time leader in high school scoring had just two goals in his first seven quarters against Grafton -- one in last year's final and one in first quarter on Saturday.

 

But he scored four in the fourth as the teams combined for nine of the game's 22 goals.

 

The last goal of McCormack's illustrious career came with just less than two minutes left, a beauty from the top of the box that zipped between defenders and into the top corner of the goal to provide the final margin.

 

"It hurts right now," Asplundh said. "This was definitely the No. 1 goal. It was our focus for the whole year.

 

"It doesn't mean we're not proud of our season. It doesn't mean we didn't have a great season. We just fell short today on our biggest day."