Billerica, MA – It was a tale of multiple different games at Billerica’s Marshall Middle School Wednesday night.  The first quarter ended tied at 1 as both teams struggled to find their footing on the wet grass and both starting goaltenders made multiple saves.  The second quarter scoring started off with Billerica running a successful hidden-ball trick on man up capped off by a Russ Tedford goal.  They would add another Slatton strike from Peter Walters before St. John’s Prep got one of their own back when Andrew Belli found Dan Mini.

Prep started the second half with yet another man-up, and quickly tied the score as Andrew O’Connell off a feed from X, and this led to an offensive explosion as both teams traded goals for the next 10 minutes, but Billerica again retained a 1-goal lead at the end of the period after Cam Slatton cleared the ball, drew a flag, and finished a 25-yard bounce shot late in the quarter.

Partially due to several SJP penalties, Billerica was able to control possession and slowly build a lead on goals from Walters, Daniel Trainor and Ben Melaugh to go ahead 10-6 with a little over 2 minutes left.  With the game seemingly over, Prep was able to stage a furious comeback on goals from Joey Cavallaro, Jack Sharrio and an Indian own goal.  Coming out of a timeout with 16 seconds left and the chance to tie, Prep got two great looks, with the first shot going wide with 6 seconds left and Billerica goalie DJ Smith stuffing another one on the doorstep at the final whistle to preserve the victory.

Billerica (13-4) hosts league rival Andover Friday night before closing out the regular season against Lincoln-Sudbury and Xaverian.  St. John’s Prep (8-8) has also already clinched a playoff berth due to a 2nd place finish in the Catholic Conference, and will use games against Duxbury and Medfield to ready themselves for another deep tournament run.

 Billerica

Cam Slatton 3g
Ben Melaugh 3g2a
Daniel Trainor 1g
Russ Tedford 1g
Andy Cunningham 1g
Peter Walters 1g1a
M#28 1a

St. John’s Prep

Joey Cavallaro 3g
Dan Mini 1g1a
Drew O’Connell 1g
Andrew Gallahue 1g1a
Jack Sharrio 1g
Andrew Belli 1a

DUXBURY – Because of the talent the Duxbury defense knows it has, there is no question that playing an aggressive style is the way to go because if that leads to penalties, the Dragons are confident in their ability to kill them off.

Such was the case Wednesday night as the Dragons took nine penalties in all but surrendered just three extra-man goals while holding on late to edge Billerica, 5-4.

Henry Buonagurio also did his part in the cage, making seven difficult saves, including a pair while Duxbury had two players in the penalty box. Paul Hellar paced the offense with three goals, including a pair in the fourth quarter.

“I think everyone is confident with the way we can play six-on-six defense, as well as our man-down unit, because we practice so hard every day to get better,” said senior long pole Matt O’Keefe. “We know we’re going to run into some good teams and Billerica’s a heck of a team. We’ve been playing those guys for a couple years and every time we play them they come out hard. It’s just a lot of fun to play them.”

Duxbury (4-1) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first quarter with goals by Hellar and Chris Williams, the latter coming on a fantastic move in which Williams forced himself through a pair of Indians defenders and got off a rocket of a shot to hit the cage.

Billerica (4-2) came in the second to tie it with scores by Peter Walters and Dan Trainor. Trainor’s goal rivaled that for Williams for top honors on the highlight reel as he collected a nice feed from Ben Melaugh and let loose with a spinning jump shot.

Adam Fitzgerald put Duxbury back on top 1:54 before halftime, but Walters buried a hard shot while man-up to tie things again at 3-3. Meanwhile, the Dragons man-down unit went to work, killing off five straight penalties with O’Keefe producing several key turnovers.

At the other end, Billerica goalie D.J. Smith was making life miserable for the Dragons attack. The UMass-bound Smith stopped nine shots in all in an effort that prompted coach Craig Flynn to say, “He looks like he’s the hottest goalie in the state. We’re glad he’s on our team. He made a lot of big saves.”

In the fourth, Hellar ripped home a rifle shot at 6:46 to put the Dragons back in front, 4-3, and O’Keefe came up with one of his forced turnovers as Duxbury was killing off another penalty. The man-up unit did its part in limited opportunities, with Hellar notching his third tally with the extra man and just 3:11 remaining.

Walters completed his hat trick with a man-up goal of his own with 1:28 left to play, but Duxbury was able to hang onto the ball from there and kill off the remaining time.

“Billerica came to play tonight and hats off to them,” said Duxbury coach Chris Sweet. “They did a great job. They played with intensity and they played with a lot of heart. I thought our guys too but I thought our guys were looking a little bit ahead maybe.”