LYNN — Before Sunday’s Agganis All-Star Boys Lacrosse Game at Manning Field, South coach Geoff Kennedy asked his team: have fun, or win?
“They wanted to compete,” said Kennedy, who helms the Gloucester Fishermen during the spring.
Well, ask and you shall receive.
In proper All-Star fashion, the 12th showdown between North and South didn’t disappoint, coming with more than 20 goals.
In the end, North got the job done, 13-11, behind a two-goal performance from Peabody High’s Johnny Lucas (Saint Anselm). The do-it-all defenseman – who dabbled with the short stick at times – was named North’s Most Valuable Player.
Both of his goals were hard-shot bouncers from long distance.
“I was, kind of, just letting them fly out there,” Lucas said. “It was fun. It’s a lot different than a regular game.”
Beyond the action, Lucas was all smiles postgame – mostly because he got to relive some of his Peabody Youth days.
“It’s good to get with these guys. I can name at least 10 or 15 kids I’ve played with,” he said. “It’s just a great experience. I was just coming here to have fun.”
On the other side, South MVP went to Arlington Catholic’s Jack Boyle (University of Rhode Island). All he did was net a hat-trick by halftime, in highlight-reel fashion.
“It’s an All-Star game. We had a lot of offensive guys step up [and] I couldn’t be happier,” Kennedy said. “We tried to push tempo as much as we could, because these guys are great athletes and better lacrosse players.”
Speaking of pushing the tempo, look no further than the first quarter. North jumped ahead, 5-4, by its end, and neither side led by more than a goal.
Marblehead’s Charlie Grenier (Gettysburg) got in on the action, tucking an underhand, low-to-high ball into the mesh early for South.
Kennedy – whose game plan is, normally, to stop guys like Grenier – couldn’t have been happier.
“On the Gloucester side of things, it was good to see some Marblehead guys, and Essex Tech, who we normally play during the season,” he said. “It was nice having them on the same squad, instead of having to dodge them.”
That said, you could say the story of the first quarter was about Steven Lake (7 saves; Thomas College) of St. Mary’s, who made six big saves during the span.
The narrow nature continued, but in the third quarter, North pulled ahead by three goals after Melrose’s Max Kleinbub (Boston University), Peabody’s Matt Bettencourt (Johnson & Wales), Masconomet’s Owen McNally (Clark), and Central Catholic’s Conor Shanahan (Nichols) all scored in succession.
Despite Grenier scoring his second goal to cut it to 13-11 late, a face-off recovery from North’s Arthur Chiaradonna sealed the deal in the fourth quarter.
After handshakes and MVP announcements, both teams came together for some group photos at midfield.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys. There was great camaraderie,” Kennedy said. “It would’ve been fun to see these guys move the ball around a little bit more… but it’s their last high school game. Let them have their fun and enjoy the day.”
