BURLINGTON — For the first time since 2019, there will be a new Division 1 boys lacrosse state championship team in Massachusetts.
BC High, which lost five consecutive postseason games to to rival St. John’s Prep since 2021 — four of those in the title game — finally went from bridesmaid to bride Tuesday night after Nathan Rogers scored 1:53 into overtime to give his team an 11-10 victory.
St. John’s Prep’s reign as the five-time state champions is now officially over. The Eagles, who were the No. 2 seed in the Division 1 state tournament, saw their season end at 19-3.
Following Rogers’ game-winning goal, the BC High Eagles celebrated not just for themselves, but for those who came before them that came so close, but were never able to beat St. John’s.
The Prep players, stunned and frustrated, spent a long time after the contest sharing emotional hugs, their season one step short of where they expected to be.
St. John’s Prep head coach John Pynchon took full responsibility for his team’s loss.
“I should have taken a time out when we got a stop and picked the ball up with 20 seconds left (and a 10-9) lead. I was going down (the sidelines to call it), didn’t, and we had a turnover. That’s 100 percent on me,” said Pynchon.
Slides, a hallmark of the Prep’s season-long defensive success, was an issue in this semifinal for St. John’s Prep.
“We didn’t execute things we tried to get them to do for whatever reason,” said Pynchon, “and we couldn’t get them to execute it. Again, that’s 100 percent on me as the head coach that we didn’t get it done.”
The Prep’s 27-game playoff win streak, dating back to the start of the 2021 postseason, also came to an end.
BC High (16-6), which moves on to face top seeded Lincoln-Sudbury in Friday’s state final at Worcester State University, never led until Rogers buried the game-winning tally.
St. John’s Prep had killed off three penalties in the fourth quarter and held possession for nearly two full minutes in a tie game before junior attack Ryan McCarthy took a pretty pass from Josh Barton and scored his fourth goal of the game with 50 seconds remaining to give the Eagles a 10-9 lead.
But BC High’s Jackson Ketchen won the ensuing faceoff — he and fellow US Lacrosse All-American Will Crawford of the Eagles battled on the dot all night — and got his team set up in the offensive zone. They lost the ball and Prep gained possession, but quickly turned it over and BC High made them pay when Jacob Adams ripped home a feed from Enzo Serio with just four seconds left in regulation, tying the game at 10-10.
“I think we were so used to being in that moment of being so close,” said BC High head coach Marcus Craigwell, “that this year our senior class took a different approach and has leaned on what we’ve been working on day in and day out. We understood this game was going to be another battle with them, that it would come down to ground balls.
“They’re a great team that’s going to win if we don’t show up. That God we showed up today and we get to extend our season.”
Mattheus Du Plessis had two outstanding saves in overtime prior to Rogers’ winner. He finished with six saves in the second half and OT; fellow senior Max Putney made three saves as his Eagles held a 5-4 halftime lead.
Paul Kosinski had a pair of goals for St. John’s, with Barton adding one and two assists. Beckett Lee had a goal and one helper, with Will Crawford and Thias Tolo also scoring. Freshman Mac Crawford assisted on two goals.
BC High got four goals from Rogers, three more from Adams, two from Ketchen and one each from Jack Belisle and Murphy Belvin, whose snipe made it 9-9 midway through the fourth quarter. Goaltender TJ Emsing had six saves.
It was only the second time that BC High had defeated St. John’s Prep in the postseason, the last coming back in 2013 (an 8-6 second round defeat).
Pynchon was asked if the law of averages came into effect at all.
“Sure, you can look at it that way,” he reasoned. “But I’d look at it the other way as a coach and know that we didn’t coach well enough. You have to come to practice locked in for two hours every day. The coaches have to be so on it, and that’s on me. We weren’t locked in enough.”
In saying goodbye to his senior class, Pynchon took time to single out captains Kevin Correa and Bo Minogue.
“They’re two of the best competitors I’ve ever had,” he said. “Their dedication and how hard they play on an everyday basis, I look up to and admire that. I told them after the game they’re as important to the success and story of our program as any two guys we’ve ever had.”
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN