Nolan Wieczorek, Massapequa more than happy with Nassau Class A championship
Rocco Spallina of Massapequa celebrates a goal against Port Washington with teammates during the Nassau Class A boys lacrosse final on Saturday at Hofstra. Credit: Anna Sergeeva
The roots of Massapequa’s happiness the second the Nassau Class A championship game ended at Shuart Stadium Saturday ran back to the sadness following the final here last year when it fell to Farmingdale.
“Absolutely,” said first-year head coach Kevin Catalano, Massapequa’s JV coach the previous eight seasons. “These seniors wanted it really bad since we lost that game last season. It was just another fuel to the fire. . . . This group is just a special bunch.”
Sophomore attackman Nolan Wieczorek put top-seeded Massapequa ahead with 3:05 left and it went on to beat No. 3 Port Washington 9-7 for its first county crown in boys lacrosse since 2019.
Wieczorek finished with two goals and an assist. Jake Byrnes also scored twice, and Michael Jannotte made eight saves.
“It’s really an amazing feeling for me and everyone else,” the senior goalie said. “From the start of the season, we would call each other ‘family.’ We would call each other ‘our brothers.’ We have a shared feeling right now of excitement. We’re so happy.”
Massapequa (15-4) will face Half Hollow Hills, the 19-0 Suffolk champ, for the Long Island title at 7 p.m. Wednesday on this same Hofstra turf.
“A lot of people are going to call us the underdog,” Jannotte said. “They’re going to say, ‘We don’t think ’Pequa can take it.’ But we’re going to come out hot. We’re going to come out with energy. We’re going to play as hard as we can, and I think we’ll come out with the win.”
They came out with this win after Liam McCarvill had tied it at 7 for the Vikings with 6:48 left.
Wieczorek untied it, bouncing a shot past Max Eynon, who had made nine saves. And Byrnes scored 48 seconds later, putting an exclamation point on it.
“My teammates gave me a great chance, set me up,” Wieczorek said. “It was low on the shot clock. I knew I had to go. They gave me the moment and I just made the best of it.”
The game was tied 2-2 after one quarter. Massapequa led 5-4 at halftime and 7-6 after three. Jacob Apat scored twice for Port Washington (15-4).
“Sometimes, you give the other guy credit,” Vikings coach Glenn Lavey said. “At winning time, they made really big plays. I don’t think it was what we didn’t do. It was what they did at the end of the game.”
