LYNN — Before Sunday’s Agganis All-Star Boys Lacrosse Game at Manning Field, South coach Geoff Kennedy asked his team: have fun, or win? “They wanted to compete,” said Kennedy, who helms the Gloucester Fishermen during the spring. Well, ask and you shall receive. In proper All-Star fashion, the 12th showdown between North and South didn’t disappoint, coming with more than 20 goals.
In the end, North got the job done, 13-11, behind a two-goal performance from Peabody High’s Johnny Lucas (Saint Anselm). The do-it-all defenseman – who dabbled with the short stick at times – was named North’s Most Valuable Player. Both of his goals were hard-shot bouncers from long distance.
“I was, kind of, just letting them fly out there,” Lucas said. “It was fun. It’s a lot different than a regular game.
” Beyond the action, Lucas was all smiles postgame – mostly because he got to relive some of his Peabody Youth days. “It’s good to get with these guys. I can name at least 10 or 15 kids I’ve played with,” he said.
“It’s just a great experience. I was just coming here to have fun.” On the other side, South MVP went to Arlington Catholic’s Jack Boyle (University of Rhode Island).
All he did was net a hat-trick by halftime, in highlight-reel fashion. “It’s an All-Star game. We had a lot of offensive guys step up [and] I couldn’t be happier,” Kennedy said.
“We tried to push tempo as much as we could, because these guys are great athletes and b.
