BURLINGTON – BC High stared down a familiar foe Tuesday night at Burlington High School and was able to pull aware with sturdy defense and clutch late scoring to beat Acton-Boxboro 13-9 in a Div. 1 state semifinal.
Deadlocked at 6-6 to begin the second half, BC pulled ahead with a goal from sophomore Luke Allen just 49 seconds in. Senior Patrick Maroney would score 21 seconds later to make it an 8-6 lead.
The Eagles defense was smothering in the third frame, but A-B’s Cam Matthews was able to break through for his third of the night with 7:06 remaining to cut the deficit to 8-7.
Senior Will Emsing would collect his third on a rocket from 25 feet out, to regain the two-goal cushion with 4:22 left in the third.
Acton-Boxboro would get within one when Trey Clayton (goal, three assists) netted a bouncer just 39 seconds into the final quarter.
The Eagles would strike back quickly with goals from Maroney and Brody Rice at the 9:11 and 8:01 marks to make it 11-8.
Revolution senior Ryan Cho scored his third of the evening with 3:07 remaining to give A-B some life, but BC High’s Cooper Chapman (two goals) would get it back just 1:05 later, before Hayes McCarron scored with 34 seconds remaining to round out the scoring.
The senior class scored 10 of BC High’s 13 goals.
“Those seniors have been in these moments throughout their career,” said BC High head coach Marcus Craigwell. “They kept their poise, we had some long possessions which extended their defense, and we were able to capitalize.”
The Eagles will move onto the state title game for the third consecutive year against St. John’s Prep, which defeated them each of the last two seasons.
BC High kicked off a raucous first quarter with Emsing’s first of the night. Tyler Clayton and Ryan Cho would score 24 seconds apart to give Acton-Boxboro a 2-1 lead. The Eagles struck back 19 seconds later when Cooper Chapman and Shane McDonnell scored just six seconds apart.
Cho knotted it up 3-3 before Luke Allen and Emsing closed out the first quarter scoring to put BC High up 5-3.
The Revolution slowed down the Eagle attack in the second quarter, and were able to even the score at 5-5 with two goals from Cam Matthews, before Brody Rice reclaimed the lead for BC with 1:56 remaining in the frame. Tyler Clayton would net the equalizer, making it 6-6 just 27 seconds before the buzzer to set the stage for the second half.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” said Craigwell. “We had to show up … we had to stick to our guns and stick to our plan. It couldn’t have prepared us better for the next game.”