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Massachusetts Enters Playoff Time

irish rugby tours

Massachusetts Enters Playoff Time

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association league is coming to its culmination with the semifinals this week.

Milton HS, which was the 2019 D2 champion, has the #1 seed in D1 this year. Both Milton and Belmont High School going undefeated, the seeding was decided with a coin flip, which Milton won. MHS then plays Lincoln Sudbury in the one semifinal, while longtime rivals Belmont HS and BC High face off in the other.

BC High's only loss of the season was to Belmont HS in the league opener. They got revenge on Wednesday night.

The BC High Eagles beat Belmont HS 29-21, opening up with an early try when scrumhalf Eamon Delaney quickly picked from the base of a ruck just two meters out. Belmont answered to lead 7-5. But over the middle part of first half both teams nailed down their defense, and their exits, a little better.

BCH High went down a player after getting a yellow card for too many high tackles. But the Eagles managed to handle it and No. 8 Antoine Fauche gave BC High the lead after he burst through. The conversion made it 12-7 BC High, and that is how the half would end.

Despite opening the half with 14 players, BC High kept scoring. Wing Jack McNicholl ran in two tries in quick order, the first from the base of a scrum five meters out, and the second on a 60-meter run down the sideline from a counterattack. Belmont responded with a try from Caleb Christiansen to make it 24-14, but Belmont saw a yellow of their own, and scrumhalf Delaney again capitalized on sustained pressure by sniping a try from the base of a ruck on Belmont’s line. With the Eagles up 29-14, Christiansen would score for Belmont with three minutes left, but Belmont had too far to go.

Thursday night Milton takes on Lincoln Sudbury. The winner of that game will face BC High in the MIAA DI final. This is BC's fifth trip to the state final in the last six seasons.