DETERMINED TEWKSBURY SKATES TO STATE FINAL
Sellout crowd watches Redmen top Woburn in 6-4 thriller
STONEHAM >> Jason Lavoie didn’t leave anything to chance.
The junior forward broke open a 4-4 stalemate by scoring the game-winning goal, as the top-seeded Tewksbury boys hockey team defeated No. 4 Woburn, 6-4, in a Division 2 state semifinal in front of a sellout crowd of 1,596 at Stoneham Arena on Saturday night.
The Redmen (21-3) advance to face No. 11 Boston Latin for the state championship on Sunday at the TD Garden, the time to be announced. The Tanners end their solid season at 15-6-1.
“It felt like a heavyweight title fight,” said Tewksbury coach Derek Doherty. “A great, great matchup. I knew we had our hands full with Woburn tonight. They play hard. The one thing about our kids is that I always believed in them. Even when we got down by one goal we didn’t panic as a coaching staff. We believed in them.”
Tewksbury’s three-headed monster line of Matt Cooke, Tyler Bourgea and Jeremy Insogna wreaked havoc, accounting for four goals and eight points. But it was Lavoie’s tally at 8:37 of the third, that proved to be the difference-maker, bringing them back to Causeway Street for the second time in three years.
“It feels great,” said Lavoie. “We were here two years ago, but the whole mission was to come back to the Garden and we got it done.”
It took mere seconds to get Tewksbury’s offensive machine in motion. Bourgea tipped a Cooke shot past goalie Logan Roderick (28 saves). And when Cooke connected on a Bourgea feed just 27 seconds later, the Redmen held the 2-0 lead. Insogna picked up the other helper on the goal.
Woburn hung tough. Avery
Powers keyed the comeback, providing a power-play goal less than a minute later, with Jack Lee and Matt Mahoney assisting.
Tanner junior forward Niko Tortola took charge a little later. He scored the equalizer off a clean breakaway, tying the contest up at 2-2 with 2:57 remaining in the period. Tewksbury outshot Woburn 12-11 at the end of the first period.
Tewksbury’s top line continued to buzz the net with alarming frequency in the second period. Insogna scored off a onetimer from the right slot, giving the Redmen the 3-2 lead at 3:09 of the middle period. Bourgea provided the pass, picking up his third of four points in the game.
Woburn’s offense was paced by senior Matt Mahoney’s slick stickhandling. The Tanners continued to chip away. Dillon Scalesse scored off a beautiful cross-ice feed from Luke
Hughes, beating David Karlberg (26 saves) high glove side, tying the game with 8:44 remaining in the period.
Karlberg remained razor sharp, however, making a nifty split glove save on Powers with 2:51 left in the middle period. The Tanners outshot Tewksbury 12-7 in the second period.
Finn Murphy gave the Tanners their first lead by scoring early in the third period. The junior forward was fed by Powers and Darby Ciavardone, giving the Woburn the 4-3 edge at 1:04. The Tanners’ second line was sharp, accounting for three of their four goals.
Peter Civitarese provided a spark for the Redmen. The senior forward glided down the left lane, unleashing a shot that found nothing but net, knotting the game at 4-4 at 5:05.
Lavoie took it from there. The junior forward buried a tap in off a behind the net feed
promising rookie to a lost quarterback. This was more than a month before Bill Belichick shelved Jones for good.
By then, it was already evident Jones was not good enough to overcome his circumstances and lead a winning operation; circumstances that are better described as poor roster talent. Herein lies the first lesson.
The Patriots failed, bewilderingly so, to capitalize on Jones’ cost-controlled rookie contract. In 2021, he proved he was a capable starter, when supported by a proper coaching staff and offensive line. He was a pocket-bound point guard, to be sure; a quarterback who could not extend plays or generate explosive gains on his own.
Jones would guide winning, rather than drive it himself. But instead of spending the extra cash to add explosive players, the Patriots stood pat. They ranked among the cheapest teams by cash spending the past couple seasons, when Jones played on a teamfriendly contract.
If/when the Patriots draft a rookie next month, they must spend on explosive weapons. The front office reportedly intend to take a “big swing” at top free-agent wideout Calvin Ridley. That’s a good start, but this offense — which currently owns the worst skill-position talent in the league — needs more.
Next: maintain a healthy partnership with the quarterback.
Before Jones broke on the field before our very eyes, his relationship with Belichick fractured. Belichick considered trading him after just two seasons because
of how his young quarterback rubbed him the wrong way, and barely uttered his name publicly. Meanwhile, Mayo has said repeatedly he wants to connect with players personally, even “coach out of love,” as Belichick’s replacement.
Again, a good start. But the Patriots need more.
Next: ensure the next quarterback’s mentally tough and acts as a unifying force in the locker room. While Jones’ commitment was never questioned, his immaturity flashed on the field and behind closed doors. There were signs of that immaturity in the draft process, before the Patriots picked him 15th overall, as the fifth quarterback drafted in that class.
Eventually, enough veterans were turned off by Jones’ antics amid losing stretches, particularly on defense, that he lost most of his teammates by midseason.
Wolf sounds determined to add a quarterback who won’t foster the same type of environment.
“First of all, being someone that can elevate his teammates, someone that your teammates want to play for,” Wolf explained last month at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I think that’s an extremely underrated thing that people don’t talk about that much. Leadership’s important, and obviously physical talent. We wouldn’t be talking about these guys if they weren’t physically talented.”
Lastly: find a quarterback who can create yards and points on his own. This trait has never been more valuable in the NFL, at the end of the scoring boom when defenses are sitting back in two-high coverages and daring offenses to run and throw for short gains. Explosive plays correlate more strongly with winning than any statistic outside of
turnovers, and are increasingly hard to come by.
That is, except when you have a quarterback who can scramble and/or extend plays out of structure. A quarterback with these abilities is akin to an NBA player who can make a tough shot late in the shot clock, after his team’s set play has gone awry. Jones could only operate within structure, something the best quarterbacks in the league — Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert — don’t require.
Why? They’re among the most accurate and athletic passers in the league, an unbeatable combo.
All told, the Mac Jones era was a failure. But failure at the quarterback can be contained to the time he spent here.
If — and only iff — the Patriots listen and learn from their past as they search for his replacement.