DALTON, Mass. – After taking its show on the road for a successful month-long trip through the Pioneer Valley, the Wahconah boys lacrosse team was more than ready for opening night at home.
And if it keeps playing like it did in a 26-6 win over West Springfield on Tuesday, Wahconah could be in Dalton for an engagement that goes well into June.
Devin Lampron scored seven goals and Caden Padelford had five goals and eight assists to help Wahcoah improve to 9-0 and officially qualify for the Division 4 State Tournament.
But after starting the week with the No. 3 ranking in the state, Wahconah is not going to be content with just going to the big dance.
And as it begins a streak of seven home games in its final eight regular season contests, Wahconah looks poised to be doing most of its dancing in Dalton next month.
Of course, all that is in the future.
Wahconah’s coach says the team, in a lot of ways, is still motivated by the past.
“It’s a hungry group,” Joe O’Neill said Tuesday. “And I still go back to … a lot of the seniors on the team were here for the Blackstone Valley game, so that’s always in the back of your head, you know?”
For those who don’t, Blackstone Valley is a ghost that has haunted the program ever since the 2019 Central/Western Massachusetts sectional quarter-finals, when the Beavers erased a 7-0 lead to earn an 11-10 win in Dalton.
Even after last year’s success, including the program’s first sectional title and trip to the state Final Four, Wahconah still carries the lesson from three years ago.
On Tuesday, it hit the gas and never looked back after West Side scored late in the first quarter to draw within a goal at 3-2.
Billy O’Neill scored off a ground ball in the final seconds of that quarter to put Wahconah up by two goals, and the hosts proceeded to score the next 20 goals, outshooting the Terriers, 25-1, in the middle two quarters to erase all doubt.
O’Neill finished with six goals. Rylan Padelford had a hat trick, and Jonah Smith scored twice.
When the game was given over to the reserves in the fourth quarter, Brayden Astore and Johnathan Howard each found the back of the net.
Back in the first quarter, when the game was close, Joe Massaro made three saves to keep Wahconah ahead before its offense really got rolling.
“Joe does a great job, and he’s reliable,” O’Neill said. “He clears the ball well. He makes the plays when we need him to.”
Even after a dominating win to complete a season sweep of West Side, O’Neill said there are ways he can keep the squad from getting complacent.
“You have to keep working on the little things and coach the little things all the time,” he said. “And, listen, there were mistakes out there. There were mistakes that we need to clean up, absolutely.”
Wahconah is home again on Thursday to face Agawam, currently second place in the Valley League at 4-1 behind Wahconah (5-0 league). It will be the first of four more home games before it makes its final road trip of the regular season, to Agawam, on May 13.
