Last night’s boys lacrosse game between Walpole and Norwood High was a battle between the two hottest teams in the Bay State Herget, but the contest eventually was the Cameron Crown affair as the Rebels sizzling goalie made one sensational stop after another in a 10-2 victory for the unbeaten Rebels.
The final score is no indication o how well or how hard the Mustangs, now 13-5, played. It is, however, a pretty good indication of how well the Rebels executed and defended their turf, despite having both leading scorer Davis Butts and starter Leo Ajemian out with the flu.
The Mustangs took a number of quality shots, many point blank, but were repeatedly turned away by senior Captain Crown, who made 14 saves, many of them of the spectacular kind.
One memorable one came off the stick of Mike Notarangelo, a hard quick release off a one-touch pass from Mike Rossman in the fourth quarter. Notarangelo aimed high, at Crown’s head, and Crown somehow got the stick up and caught the blazing shot.
Walpole shut down Norwood for the whole first half and led 6-0 before Steve Cottens scored an unassisted goal at 5:15 of the third.
“Walpole’s got a great defense,” said Norwood coach Tom DeMaio, whose team wraps up the regular season Monday against Dedham. “They’re real athletic. They matched up pretty well with us; we like to run and dodge, but they’re fast and kept up.”
Norwood had a chance to steal some momentum, especially when the Rebels spent much of the third quarter a man down, but was turned away time and again.
The Rebels led 2-0 after the first period and 5-0 at the half. Paul Orecchio had three goals to lead the way for the Rebels while Greg Nash added two goals and four assists. Walpole also got two goals each from Ryan Izzo and Michael White, a goal by Brian Orecchio, and an assist by Marcanthony Koukoulas. Bob Skunic scored Norwood’s other goal, late in the fourth.
“I thought we played well the first half,” said Walpole coach Jason Andalo. “We tried to key some matchups, which we got guys executing well on. We needed Nash to play well today, and he did, and Crown was huge today.”
Now, 15-0 overall and 13-0 in the BSC, the Rebels can clinch at least share of their first BSC crown tomorrow against a tough Braintree before another big Herget showdown with Wellesley Monday.
