Townsend helped Bishop Brady boys lacrosse build foundation that has program in postseason

Before high school, Tucker Townsend was a hockey player.

Having played since he was 4 years old, it wasn’t until he arrived at Bishop Brady that he decided to give a few other sports in different seasons a try.

First, it was football. Townsend played as a freshman and enjoyed it, but when winter rolled around, it was back to hockey. That spring, he was going to go out for lacrosse for the first time, as the Giants were in need of players and the head coach, Jeff Kaplan, had been persuasive.

But in the spring of 2020, there was no lacrosse season. Although another year went by, Townsend was set on trying lacrosse in the spring, but early in 2021, Kaplan, died of complications from COVID-19, sending a blow not just to the program, but the school and community.

“He was a teacher and he was a great guy,” Townsend said. “He was one of the best guys you’d ever meet. He really wanted me to try (lacrosse) and he was really on me, so when he passed, I found motivation to want to play this sport. After that, I grabbed a stick and I just had a passion for it.”

That passion started during the winter of his sophomore year, when Townsend joined a group of other newcomers to the sport and participated in the New Hampshire Tomahawks indoor lacrosse league.

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“I think my first indoor game, I think my tilt was almost negative, my elbow pad was on my knee,” he said. “I don’t know what was different. I love hockey, I love football, but lacrosse is just a complete package of a sport. Best parts of football, best parts of hockey, and I think it was something to improve on.”

The Giants, though, still didn’t have a coach for the spring, at least until Frank Lamparelli decided to take on the task. With a son, Josh, set to be a freshman on the team, he stepped in to take over as the head coach.

“When he took the job, I could not imagine being in his shoes,” Townsend said. “He thought he was just going to be a parent and watch his son play. He’s taken it in stride. He’s very passionate about the sport and wants us to succeed. He really pushes us to our limits.”

Early on, Lamparelli and his assistant coach, Matt Ward, could see that Townsend could fill the role of faceoff specialist for Bishop Brady. Ward, who handled faceoffs when he played at Bishop Guertin and also continued playing at Air Force, took the raw sophomore under his wing and worked with Townsend on how to take faceoffs.

“He did a lot of training with (Ward),” Lamparelli said. “Tucker is a workhorse. That ball is on the ground, he’s got his nose to the ground, and he’s going after it no matter who is in his way. He’s not afraid of anybody or anything, in a positive way. He’s a groundball machine.”

But with a small roster, Townsend had to be more than just a faceoff guy for Bishop Brady.

“Every one of our guys, we don’t have a big roster, each one isn’t going to exclusively be what they are,” he said. “You might be a middie one shift, but if an attackman goes down, you might have to play attack. Being prepared, being able to step up, every guy has pride in himself, you have to be versatile.”

While his passion for the game moved ahead of the other sports, Townsend’s experience playing them helped improve his lacrosse game.

After his sophomore year was done, Townsend continued playing club with the Tomahawks, and through that, started thinking about the possibility of playing at the next level. With the help of the program’s coaches, including Ruppy Hailey, who is also the head coach at Oyster River-Newmarket, Townsend found what he felt was the best fit for him at the University of New England, in Biddeford, Maine.

“(Hailey) helped me find schools of different sizes, education, all that,” Townsend said. “I wasn’t too sure over the summer what I wanted to do, but I knew that education was going to be my primary focus. I wasn’t going to a school just for lacrosse. I’m not going to be playing until I’m 50 or 60.

“I toured UNE and the classroom and education level really fit my needs. The campus is beautiful. Who doesn’t want the beach in their backyard?”

With senior year still to go, Townsend and his teammates focused on taking the next step with the program, and Thursday afternoon, they’ll see it come to fruition. The Giants, who got into the Division III tournament as the final seed, will take on seventh-seeded Coe-Brown at 4:30 p.m. in Northwoods.

Outside of the open tournament in 2021, its the program’s first playoff appearance since 2017.

“When we started off sophomore year, we had four returning players,” Townsend said. “We were not going to have a team. Those four guys, and coach, had to recruit everyone on the team. Last year, we continued building the foundation. We lost a lot of guys. A lot of younger guys had to step up last year. It was a tougher season, but we built up on that.

“I think the big thing is building up athletes from other sports. I think everyone on our team plays another sport, if not two. Playing other sports really helps with lacrosse.”

And Bishop Brady lacrosse has benefited from having seniors like Townsend.

“He’s an excellent kid,” Lamparelli said. “He is not just a hard worker, he’s a great guy and he puts in the time outside practice. He’s constantly going and working on the field, the first-one-on, last-one-off kind of guy. He did the same in football and hockey, too. He’s a grinder. He just puts the time in.”