Prep lacrosse falls to Duxbury in title game

CAMBRIDGE – Though they weren’t going to admit it out loud, head coach Chris Sweet and the Duxbury lacrosse team had a little revenge on their mind entering Tuesday’s Division 1 East title game against St. John’s Prep.For it was 365 days ago that the Eagles had knocked the Dragons off their perch as the kingpins of Eastern Mass. lacrosse with an overtime win at Harvard Stadium. On Tuesday, Duxbury put on a clinic of what can only be described as otherworldly lacrosse.Led by six goals from senior Kane Haffey, the Dragons were simply too much for St. John’s to handle, cruising to a 16-9 win and an eighth state title in 10 years.”These boys worked their tails off and it’s all come together for us in the last few games,” Sweet said. “Believe me, 365 days ago was in the back of our heads (Tuesday). It’s nice to be on this side of the outcome this time.”The Eagles (14-8) played an admirable game in defense of their title, but Duxbury’s plethora of speed and talent eventually overwhelmed a staunch Prep defense.”They were a blur,” Eagles coach John Roy said. “We had a little run there in the second quarter but they came out and took the wind out of our sails a bit in the third.”The Dragons (19-3) didn’t waste much time in getting started as Sam Sweet scored 2:02 in. Jimmy O’Connell got the first of his five goals seconds later before the Dragons took off on a run.Haffey scored twice as Duxbury went on a 6-1 run to lead 7-2 after a quarter.The Eagles regrouped and used two goals from Matt Scalise and a goal from O’Connell to close the gap to 8-5 at halftime.”We did a good job of slowing them down in the second quarter,” Roy said.Out of the break, however, the Dragons rediscovered the form they had when the first quarter began as Brian Barry scored at 1:05 and then Haffey scored twice in a two minute span to make it 11-5.”We kind of recharged the batteries and regrouped a little bit,” Sweet said. “That start to the third quarter was big.”Haffey struck again with 4:46 left and Seamus Connolly’s man up goal with 3:47 left gave the Dragons their biggest lead at 13-5.The Eagles didn’t quit as O’Connell, Dan Mini and Colin Blackwell scored in a 49 second span to cut the lead to 13-8 and give Prep faithful a little life. But Paul Hellar snuffed out those hopes with 49 seconds left in the third.Haffey and Barry would trade goals with O’Connell in the final period to account for the 16-9 final.