By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Westborough / Bolton — Westborough High senior co-captain Spencer Nagi scored a pair of goals, but saved his best for last to lead his team to a 2-1 OT victory over seventh-seed Wachusett Regional High School in a game held at Nashoba Regional on Nov. 11. The victory clinched the Central Mass. Division 1 championship for the Rangers (13-5-4), its first since 2003, and sends them on to state semifinal competition on Tuesday, Nov. 15 versus the yet-to-be-determined Western Champion. The matchup will be at Nashoba once more at a time to be announced.
“We’re very happy to represent Central Mass. in the state semifinals,” said Westborough head coach John Hillier. “This team has been taking us through a roller coaster every game. They’re like the ‘cardiac kids’. They’ve been very resilient all season long.
“This is our fourth game in eight days and it’s really been a team effort from practice to what we did today. It’s still really just sinking in that we won the Districts.”
Wachusett would get on the board first with a header by senior captain Jonah Smith from a Luke Miller pass that found its way home for the 1-0 advantage in the 24th minute of play.
The Rangers would record the equalizer nearly midway through the second half on a well-timed right side corner kick from Rian Barrett. Nagi launched vertically, remained upright and found the corner of the Wachusett net with a perfectly-executed header.
“The goal was on a corner and we called a play and the ball just hung up there and the player in front of me prematurely jumped on it and I just guessed on it and hit the bottom right corner,” said Nagi. “I was so excited.”
Both teams fought bitterly to the close of regulation before taking a five-minute breather setting the stage for a sudden-victory showdown. With just four minutes elapsed, Westborough’s Greg Amador drew a penalty kick setting the stage for Nagi to seal the title. Nagi came to the line for the kick that was drilled home right side sending Ranger players, coaches and supporters into euphoric celebration.
“I honestly thought if I missed this we were going to lose this game,” Nagi admitted. “Their goalie played me well. He got in my head really well. Wachusett’s a great team. I have so much respect for them.
“I saw the goalie jump a little prematurely and once I saw that I knew if I went to the right side that it was going to work.”
Often weather can play a deciding factor and it appeared that it may be so in this one. The contest was played before a howling west to east wind that eclipsed 40 MPH gusts. Playing with the wind at their backs, each team recorded their first scores but not so for Nagi’s clincher.
Seeded just ninth overall in the standings meant that Westborough would be required to defeat teams ahead of them with superior records but that would not intimidate them in the least.
“When we got the ninth seed we knew that we had to play teams lower than us so it just gave us more motivation,” said Nagi.
The Rangers advanced to the title game matchup with wins over Tantasqua Regional (3-2), St. John’s (1-0) and Doherty (2-1). In the Doherty semifinal at Leominster’s Doyle Field, it was junior Thomas VonDerVellen delivering the knockout punch with an overtime goal to send the fourth-seeded Highlanders home for the winter. The speedy VonDerVellen connected with less than three minutes remaining in the OT session.
“Wachusett’s really well-coached,” said Hillier of his team’s opponent on the day. “They really took it to us in the first 20 minutes of the game. Jason Gaumond does a great job with that program. They went on a great run themselves. I feel very fortunate to be where we are today.”
Members of the 2016 Westborough High Central Mass. Division 1 Boys Varsity Soccer Championship Team are seniors Michael Reh, Isaias Hastenreiter, Vikram Mathew, Jack Walthall, Vinny Rosa, Rebonto Dey, Matthew Bongi, Aidan Merritt, Andre Franca, Conor Hillier, Spencer Nagi; juniors Matt Morin, Rian Barrett, Chris Amador, Greg Amador, Tyler Stott, Matt Rotman, Thomas VonDerVellen, Mikey Eshak, Dylan Connors, Jalen Basquiat, Tor Ramos; sophomores Dan Bugaev, Bill Thakuria, Jake Hughes and Drew Arnold along with freshmen Jackson Barry and Icaro Vieira.