Shearin, Goffstown boys lacrosse beat Derryfield to win D2 title

EXETER – The way Sam Shearin saw it, losing wasn’t an option.

The Goffstown High School senior had been a member of the two Grizzlies boys lacrosse teams that had lost to Bedford in the Division II championship game.

With No. 2 Goffstown avoiding disaster late in Saturday’s championship game against No. 1 Derryfield, Shearin knew it was time to take care of business. As time ticked away, Shearin raced to his right and fired a shot that found the back of the net, giving the Grizzlies a 9-8 win over the Cougars and the program’s first championship.

The goal was Shearin’s fifth of the game, and as soon as it left his stick, he knew it was good. But it almost didn’t happen, as Derryfield – which had outscored Goffstown 4-1 to that point of the second half – rallied to tie the game at 8 and had possession with 1:42 left in regulation.

Although the Cougars (18-2) got a good look, they weren’t able to capitalize, and with 19.3 seconds left, Goffstown (17-1) had a final chance of its own.

“As soon as I saw us get the ball back, and I knew, obviously, they were locking me off in the second half so I couldn’t get it,” Shearin said. “With a deadball situation, I could pick the ball up and the only thing on my mind was that I needed to get the ball and go to the cage. It was going in.”

Christian Marquis then tied the ball up for almost all of the remaining 12.9 seconds on the ensuing faceoff and Goffstown celebrated its first lacrosse championship.

“When you lose by one, you kick yourself, but we had what we wanted, it just didn’t go,” Derryfield coach Chris Hettler said. “We said we were going to go with about 40 (seconds) left and look for a good opportunity.

“It was a great opportunity, we found a guy near the crease and it sort of tipped off the plastic. He didn’t get a really good opportunity at it. You always second guess, but we wanted to have time to create, look, and if something wasn’t there, go to option two. If we had caught it cleanly and it’s in the back of the net.”

A goal there would have capped an incredible comeback for the Cougars, who trailed 5-1 midway through the second quarter, and 6-3 in the final seconds of the first half. But a goal by Lee Sipes (two goals) with 4.4 seconds left before halftime seemed to give Derryfield momentum going into the second half.

Although the Cougars scored just once in the third quarter, they were able to slow down Goffstown and set up the comeback in the fourth quarter.

“We were playing with a little more pressure,” Hettler said. “We fought and we knew we were making them work hard. We felt like we were wearing Marquis down in the faceoff circle. They showed a lot of heart, never gave up and made a run.”

When Joe Costa raced the length of the field to score, pulling Derryfield to 8-7 with 5:14 left, Shearin started to get nervous.

“When they came within one goal, there was some doubt,” he said. “Definitely, I was scared, I’ll say it. We were playing not to lose rather than to win at that point. We were making some stupid plays and throwing passes we shouldn’t have thrown, making simple mistakes.

“(But) you don’t lose three championships in a row, you just can’t do that. All season, we knew. I didn’t think there was any doubt we’d make it back here and once we got into the situation, we knew what we had to do.”