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Central Catholic dominates, earns program’s second Super 8 semifinal berth

Tuesday, March, 07 By David Willis
Staff writer

BILLERICA — For a few moments, the celebration was timid.

There were a few high-fives and pats on the back for goalie Matt Pasquale. But initially, Central Catholic held back its jubilation.

As the ceremonial hand-shakes finished, however, and the small but boisterous Central fan section began serenading the team, the Raiders’ joy bust through.

“It’s just the greatest feeling ever,” said Central senior Matt O’Rourke. “We wanted this and we knew what we needed to do. This school has been to the Super 8 so many times, and to do this is just unbelievable.”
O’Rourke continued his unlikely emergence as go-to scorer, Pasquale overcame a 103-degree fever to again dominate in net and No. 6 seed Central Catholic rolled over No. 3 Pope Francis 5-1 to complete a sweep of the teams’ Super 8 best-of-3 first round series. Central rolled to a 5-0 victory on Sunday.
“It’s just unbelievable,” said top defenseman Steve Birch. “It’s just amazing. Before this season we had it in the back of our minds that we could do something special and maybe even advance in the Super 8. We wanted it and it’s just crazy.”
With the victory, Central Catholic advances to the Super 8 semifinals for the second time in program history, and first since 2012. The program has never gone to a Super 8 final.
The Raiders will face the winner of the No. 2 Boston College High School and No. 7 Walpole. BC High forced a third and decisive game with a victory on Tuesday.
“This is what we have worked for all season,” said Pasquale. “Not a lot of people believed in us, but we’ve proved them wrong. We are showing everyone that we can play with anyone.”
Pasquale spent the better part of Monday and some of early Tuesday in bed, battling a nasty illness that still left him coughing and weezing during the game. But there was never a question if he would be in net for the biggest game of his career.”
“Just a lot of Pedialyte  and as much sleep as I could get,” said the goalie, who turned in 20 saves and allowed just a garbage time goal in the final minute. “There was no chance I wasn’t going to play. No chance!”
Birch gave Central Catholic the lead with 4:18 to go in the first, blasting home a slap shot from just inside the blue line for his second goal of the season.
Then it was time for O’Rourke to take charge.
The winger — who had just one goal on the season going into the Super 8 — scored with 1:08 to go in the first when he redirected a Nick Foderaro slap shot into the goal.
O’Rourke then made it the first two-goal game of his career with 4:46 left in the second, finding the space between the goalie’s pads with a wrist shot.
“I’ve been trying to dig out the (scoring touch) for a while,” he said. “I’m just a guy that goes into the dirty areas and fights to make something happen.”
O’Rourke now has three goals in two Super 8 contests this winter.
“He’s been a solid player for us all year and we thought he could do more offensively,” said Raiders coach Kim Brandvold. “He was pressing, but sometimes when a senior gets to this point and they know it’s their last year, they go out and lay it on the line.”
With Central already firmly in control going into the third, Thomas Manty scored a goal on a slap shot, then just 12 seconds later off the faceoff Eric Lester scored to make it 5-0 and the rout was on.
“After winning the first game we went into this one knowing what we needed to do to win,” said O’Rourke. “The first goal tilted the game in out favor, and we just kept it going from there.”
Central will now wait to see who it will face in the semifinals. The Raiders fell to BC High 6-0 way back on Dec, 31 and did not face Walpole in the regular season.
“We can’t wait for the next round,” said Birch. “Celebrating this win was the best, and we are going to do everything to get ready for the next one.”