HISTORY MADE: Nantucket boys lacrosse wins first state title in win over Sandwich

HYANNIS — In more ways than one, the Sandwich and Nantucket boys lacrosse teams made history on Saturday at Barnstable High School .

For the first time, two Cape teams faced off in a state championship game. The clash marked the first time a state title game was played on the Cape.

For their first title in program history, the Division 4 top-seeded Whalers defeated the No. 3 Blue Knights 7-6 in a back-and forth game.

“It's a little bit surreal at the moment,” Nantucket head coach Sam Aloisi said. “The kids earned it and they deserve it.”

In games where there is a championship on the line, there are always players that step up to the moment to help their team to victory.

Insert Nolan Mosscrop.

The Comeback Kid

Suffering a shoulder injury, sophomore attacker Mosscrop missed his entire freshman season, and some of this season.

Aloisi said that Mosscrop had been struggling with his confidence, but came up huge today.

Mosscrop knew the injury had affected his game and knew it was time to do something about it.

“This season I had to ramp it up because I was behind everybody else and it showed,” Mosscrop said.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, the game was tied 4-4. Mosscrop had been quiet the first three quarters. With 5:30 left, Jack Halik found Mosscrop in the front of the net and he drilled a goal into the back of the net.

About one minute later, Mosscrop scored his second goal of the quarter and just like that, the Whalers led 6-4 with just over four minutes left in the game.

'A teamwork game'

“Everybody played together,” Mosscrop said. “If it was one person scoring every goal, we wouldn’t have won. It was a teamwork game and that’s how we did it.”

As the final buzzer sounded, the team ran over to sophomore goalie Jeremy Jekinson, who also had some big saves throughout the game, as they celebrated their historic moment.

“Jeremy has kept us in the game a lot all year. He’s a tough kid and doesn’t lose his head. He gives up a goal or two and he stays right with it. I’m looking forward to another two years with him,” Aloisi said.

Blue Knights' three-year run

For the third straight season, Sandwich made the Div. 4 state championship and came up just short.

“I’m not going to pity because I lost three in a row,” Sandwich head coach Mike McNeil said. “To be able to get here is extremely difficult and we were able to do it three years in a row.”

The first all-Cape state championship had all the makings of a great matchup The game consisted of four ties, which included after the first and second quarters.

'Evenly matched'

“We worked hard and I think that was as evenly matched of a state tournament game that you're going to get,” McNeil said.

The Blue Knights attempted a comeback after they trailed by one goal after the third quarter, and even had a chance to score with eight seconds left that could have sent the game into overtime.

McNeil said that Sandwich played a full 48 minutes and just came out on the wrong side.

Although it was not the result he wanted, McNeil said he is proud of his kids.

“There is a victory there in having the opportunity to be able to work with these kids and the pleasure of coaching them,” McNeil said.

The Blue Knights will graduate eight seniors from this year’s team.

The future of boys lacrosse

The Cape and Islands boys lacrosse teams have arrived and they are not going anywhere.

There were four Final Four teams (Falmouth and Nauset in Div. 3), two state finalists, and 10 overall teams that made the state tournament this season. Those four teams were also all ranked in the top five.

Now, the Cape and Islands has a state champion in the Whalers, who only suffered one loss the entire season.

If you didn’t know about Cape and Islands lacrosse before, now you know.

Contact Courtney Jacobs at cjacobs@capecodonline.com . Follow him on X/Twitter: @CJ_Journalist.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: HISTORY MADE: Nantucket boys lacrosse wins first state title in win over Sandwich