Wantagh boys lacrosse beats King Park to win first Long Island championship since 2001

Wantagh had a problem to solve — again.

It was down by four in the third quarter and came back to edge South Side in overtime in the Nassau Class C boys lacrosse title game at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. Now it was down by five in the second quarter against Kings Park with the Long Island championship at stake on the same turf.

“We were just getting out of what we do,” Wantagh coach James Polo said. “We started to get panicked a little bit. We calmed them down. There was still a lot of time left. We just had to realize, hey, one goal at a time. One possession at a time on defense and offense, and anything could happen.”

And “anything” did happen. This team had fallen in the Long Island 'C' final a year ago. But history didn’t repeat itself that way. It did repeat itself with another comeback.

The lead shrank to one by halftime. Carter Loughman finally tied it in the fourth. Devin Paccione delivered a goal for the lead and then took out needed insurance with another. And Wantagh hung on to claim a 16-15 win Wednesday for its first Island crown since 2001.

“It’s a special group,” Polo said. “We spent a lot of time together over the past years. To see these guys grow into young men and to get the biggest job done that they could today and that’s coming back from a big-time deficit and believing in one another and battling to the end. Until that whistle blows, we keep on fighting.”

Loughman, the game's MVP, and Paccione scored four goals apiece. Dylan Martini had three. Joe Nicholson had two goals and three assists.

Wantagh (15-4) needs three wins for a state title. It’s on to the Southeast Regional final against Section I champ Somers at 10 a.m. Saturday at Yorktown in Westchester.

“We’re not stopping until they kick us off the field,” Loughman said.

It was 13-11 heading for the fourth, then 14-12.

Dylan Martini fed brother Luke after a turnover — 14-13.

Loughman followed with a man-up goal from the right perimeter — 14-14.

Then Paccione had the ball on the right side with the clock heading for three minutes.

“I heard the coach telling me to go,” he said. “I trust the coaching staff. I trust my players. They put their trust in me to make a play when we needed a play.”

The junior attackman made a run to the front of the cage and scored with 2:59 left for Wantagh’s first lead. He made another play with 1:28 remaining, scoring off a feed from Nicholson.

Kings Park's Jack Salva scored his sixth, cutting it to 16-15 with 56.6 on the clock. Salva nearly tied it with about 15 seconds to go, hitting the pipe.

“Give the ball to your best player on the last play of the game,” Kingsmen coach Tom Nally said. “You got to live with it. He got a good look.”

Salva’s goal gave Kings Park (16-3) a 10-5 lead in the second quarter. But when Loughman scored consecutive goals, the Kingsmen only had a 10-9 edge at halftime.

“They’ve got a lot of very talented offensive players,” Nally said. “We did a good job keeping them at bay for a while. Just couldn’t get the last stop.”