By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High boys’ lacrosse team held off a fourth quarter comeback bid by Masconomet in a battle of unbeaten’s on Thursday night at Landrigan Field.
The Warriors turned a tense, 7-5 lead early in the 3rd quarter into a comfortable, 12-6 advantage going into the 4th but the Chieftains came back in the final quarter, outscoring Wakefield 5-1 before they ran out of time with the final score at 13-11. The Warriors improved to 6-0 with the victory while Masco fell to 4-1.
Wakefield’s attack was led by sophomore Nick Metsis (3 goals, 2 assists), junior Seamus Cable (1 goal, 4 assists), sophomore John Scarpello (2 goals, 2 assists), junior Brady Walsh (4 goals) and senior Ryan Metsis (2 goals).
Wakefield’s senior goalie Zach Courtright had 6 saves in the win and the defense did well, especially in the 2nd quarter to help turn a 3-3 tie after one quarter into a 7-4 lead at halftime.
The even first quarter let fans at Landrigan know that they had an entertaining game in the works. Cable opened the scoring after a smart cut and nice feed from Scarpello.
Junior Brady Zdanowicz, who battled all night with a tough face-off specialist from Masco, took possession away from the visitors and set up Nick Metsis for a his first on a lefty missile to tie it at 2-2 with 3:42 left in the first. A hustle goal from Ryan Metsis followed in which he outworked the Masco defense to find a ground ball in the attacking zone and scored to take the lead. Masco found the equalizer with 1:35 left.
Wakefield discovered another gear in the 2nd quarter, pushed on by their fans including Wakefield Youth Lacrosse who put on a show at halftime.
Nick Metsis set up Ryan Metsis on a low rip to make it 4-3. Junior Christian DiFlorio made a great play on a clear attempt, checking a Masco player out of bounds which led to a bench minor for the visitors and man up for Wakefield. Walsh made them pay with his first of the night to make it 5-3.
Junior midfielder Cam Sartori, who had multiple impressive sequences in this one, came in after that goal and won the face-off but Masco soon after got it back and scored to make it 5-4.
From there, Wakefield finished with two goals and great possession to maintain the lead. Cable assisted on both, first finding Scarpello and then hitting Nick Metsis who got the shot off falling forward to stay out of the crease until he finished, making it 7-4.
Throughout the second, the Warriors defense, including DiFlorio, junior JP Casey, junior Tommy DeFeo, sophomore Josh Whitman and senior Dan McHugh — the one-man wrecking ball of a clear specialist — stayed in control while Courtright made a couple nice stops to keep his team in front. Courtright’s hustle late with Masco on a man advantage earned possession back by getting to a missed shot behind the net before a Chieftain attacker, giving the Warriors possession and getting the bench pumped up.
The Warriors held onto that spirit of hustle and heart in the third as they went on a 5-1 run to take control after Masco had trimmed the deficit to 7-5.
Nick Metsis muscled a shot past the Masco goalie and then hit Scarpello on a catch-and-shoot to make it 9-5.
Cable later put a hit on the goalie when he cleared and took the ball all the way into Wakefield territory looking to either score or assist. After Cable’s hit broke the ball loose, he later set up senior Kyle Clair who made it 10-6.
Wakefield’s best sequence came on their 11th tally when Cable got a steal and fed to Scarpello who found Walsh, the three Warriors going from one side of the field to the other on three laser-quick passes before a low-angle shot from Walsh was buried.
Walsh followed with a nasty jump shot after a dodge from behind the net, leaping out front of the goal and finishing in one motion to give the home team a 12-6 lead and end a dominant third quarter.
The Warriors didn’t finish as strong as they would have liked, allowing Masco to go on a 5-1 run of their own in the final frame, but the work had been done to seal a huge, early-season victory against a good team.
Wakefield had another tough, non-league test this morning after press time when they welcomed 4-2 Marblehead to Landrigan.
That will be the start of a busy April Vacation Week as they travel to Chelmsford (1-5) on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. and host North Reading (5-2) on Thursday at 10 a.m.