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WINCHESTER, Ma. - With the MIAA North Sectional trophy in hand, John Pirani decided it was a great time to quote two of his all-time favorite coaches. "Tony Manzelli used to say, back
in the day, the guys who get to the end are the ones who survive the spring," said Pirani about the longtime Weymouth coach. "The proms, the class nights, the graduations, the
graduation parties, the injuries ... You know we've been at it since February practically. To me it's about surviving." Winchester (20-1) not only survived Friday's
sectional final, they advanced to Monday's Division 2 state semifinal after beating Billerica, 14-6, Friday at Knowlton Field. For the record, that makes it three MIAA North sectional
titles for the Sachems this week following wins by the volleyball and girls' tennis teams earlier in the week. Playoff lacrosse is never easy but jumping out to a 6-0 lead after a
quarter certainly helped the Sachems' cause. "That was huge. We talked about that," said Pirani. "We said, wouldn't it be great to start out 3-4 ahead and we did.
That was great and made a big difference." Grant Murray (5 goals, 1 assist) started things off with two quick goals. Jake Mabardy made it 3-0 before Charlie Ward (5 goals 2 assists)
made it 4-0. Mabardy made it 5-0 before Murray scored off a feed from Ward to end the first 12 minutes up 6-0. Billerica (12-9) would never recover. And that second coach Pirani quoted?
"The thing that I think is solid about this group is that we're solid in all three phases, offense, defense and transition. When Belichick talks about complimentary football,
it's really about complimentary lacrosse." After the first quarter the score went to 7-0 on another Ward goal before Billerica finally got on the board with 4:59 remaining in the
half. It was 8-2 at the break. With the score 9-4 in the third, any hopes of a Billerica comeback ended with three straight Winchester goals by Ryan McCarthy, Mabardy, and Ward. It was 12-4
after three. "I'm very proud of the kids," said Pirani. "They played very hard. They earned it."