Laxmen roll past Southeastern in D2 south opener

By Jay Turner

Update: The Bulldogs’ playoff dreams were dashed on Wednesday as they fell to 11th seeded Plymouth South 11-8 in the Division 2 south quarterfinals. Canton finishes the season at 12-8 overall.

Four different players scored multiple goals and the defense was an immovable force as the Canton High boys lacrosse team cruised into the sectional quarterfinals with a 16-0 blowout win over Southeastern Regional Vo-Tech Monday night at home.

Senior Griffin Roach (Mike Barucci photo)

The suddenly red-hot Bulldogs (12-7), who earned the third seed in the 16-team D2 south bracket, are looking more and more like title threats as they continue to rack up wins against playoff-caliber teams. Just a few days earlier, they dismantled the No. 6 seed, Old Rochester, 11-3 in the regular season finale, and they already have a win against their next opponent, No. 11 Plymouth South, who were due to visit Canton on Wednesday night, June 5.

The winner of the rematch would then move on to face either No. 2 Sandwich or No. 10 Bishop Feehan, with the resulting winner advancing to the south finals on June 13 at Hingham High School.

While not one to look ahead, head coach Bill Bendell did acknowledge that the path seems achievable and he considers this year’s group to be championship-caliber—as long as they play to their potential.

“I do think we can win,” said the veteran coach. “Just looking at our overall body of work — the fact that we beat King Philip, we played Natick tight, beat Mansfield, lost in overtime to Foxboro, beat Plymouth South earlier in the year, beat Scituate, I think we’ve proven we can play with anybody.”

Bendell said the Bulldogs are clearly battle tested after facing 13 playoff teams over the course of an 18-game regular season, and the strength of their schedule helped vault them to a No. 3 seed — ahead of teams such as unbeaten Bristol-Plymouth (18-0), Martha’s Vineyard (15-3), and Oliver Ames (14-4).

Even their first-round opponent, the 14^th-seeded Hawks, had a slightly superior regular season record. But the advantages ended there for the visitors as Canton took complete control and dominated from start to finish.

The 16 goals scored was the Bulldogs’ second highest total of the season, and they did it while spreading the scoring around with nine different players finding the back of the net, led by Griffin Roach, Andrew Canto and David Allen with three apiece. Brendan Clifford added a pair of goals for Canton while Tommy Vaughan contributed a goal and four assists. Also chipping in with a goal were Dan Cohen, Matt Martin, Jack Stubbs, and freshman Colin Albert.

While the Bulldogs won a majority of faceoffs and generally dominated time of possession, the Canton defense also stepped up, leading the team to its first shutout of the season. Freshman midfielder Sean Connolly assumed goaltending duties and stopped all four shots he faced, while defenseman Brendan Albert locked down the Hawks’ best player in another sensational performance for the senior standout.

“Brendan was a monster,” Bendell said after the game. “He not only shuts down their best player, but he wins the ground ball and goes down the other side of the field and is a threat on that end and helps create offense. He’s a beast, and as a defender he’s one of the best I’ve ever coached.”

Bendell said the Bulldogs were going to need all of their studs, as well as their key reserves, to play well if they wanted to continue this run and go deeper in the postseason. To stay up to date on all of the tournament action, visit the MIAA Tournament page at www.miaa.ezstream.net.

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