The Nantucket boys lacrosse team made history on June 15 after winning the Division 4 state championship 7-6 against the Sandwich Blue Knights. It was the first state title in program history and the first state title earned by any Nantucket sports team since the 2011 Whaler football team beat Boston Latin Academy in the Super Bowl.

“I still can’t believe it,” senior captain Cole Chambers said after the game. “I can’t believe this is happening right now. It is crazy. This is what we all dreamed of and worked for our whole lives.”

The Whalers were the No. 1 seed in the tournament while the Blue Knights were the No. 3 seed. Chambers and sophomores Arann Hanlon and Nolen Mosscrop scored two goals each while senior Colby O’Keefe scored once.“This means everything, to be honest. One last ride with my brothers,” senior midfielder Ryan Davis said. “I grew up playing with these kids every day, every season, and these brothers were always by my side. It means everything to be with them through this entire thing.

”Throughout the game, sophomore goalie Jeremy Jenkinson was sensational for the Whalers. He finished with nine saves on the scorecard, but it was undoubtedly more. Jenkinson stepped up over and over for his team, making several elite stops at timely moments including one with his arm as time expired in the game. “It was a good thing I saw it well [on June 15] because [the day before] I wasn’t seeing it well in practice so I was a little nervous,” Jenkinson admitted. “But today, I saw it pretty good. Means everything to win it for the community and the boys."

"That might have been one of the best games Jeremy has ever had,” senior captain Griffin Starr added. “He stepped up and is just a great kid. I say he deserves to be league MVP and I say that with no disrespect to Logan.” Poulin [star Nauset midfielder], but Jeremy has to be up there.”

O’Keefe said scoring in the title game will be a memory he cherishes for the rest of his life. He said he couldn’t describe in words the feelings of happiness he felt when the clock hit zero and the Whalers became state champions.

“Ending our high school careers on a dub doesn’t happen to many people,” O’Keefe added. “It only happens to one team in our division, and that’s us. So we are excited about it.”

Head coach Sam Aloisi, who has coached the Whalers’ program for 11 years, said it was a special moment to win the first state championship of his coaching career with this group of players.

“This is awesome, and this is the group to do it with,” he said. “They deserve it. If anybody does, it is these guys. They put in a lot of time, a lot of commitment. This is a fitting end for these seniors. They earned it. They earned it all.”

Nantucket finished the season with a 16-1 regular season record and 21-1 record overall. Aloisi felt the Whalers' lone loss this season, which came against Falmouth on April 9, 13-6, was one of two turning points for this team. He also pointed to the Whalers’ narrow 7-6 victory over King Philip on May 5.
“We went away and we got embarrassed over there,” Aloisi said of the team’s first performance against Falmouth. “Then Falmouth came over, these guys woke up, and we beat them. Then we went away and we’re down 6-4 to King Philip in the fourth quarter but come back and win that game. That was when it was looking like these guys were for real. They had made up their minds of what they wanted to do and what they wanted to be. After that King Philip game, that is when I felt like they may be able to win the state championship. When we scheduled it, we did so as sort of a reach game and these guys came back to win it.”

Much of the boys lacrosse team’s core was made up of members of the Whalers’ football team, including Chambers, Starr, O’Keefe, and Hanlon.

Knapp softly tossed a puck in a scrum happening at center ice. The story circulated across the state as the loss of Knapp derailed an otherwise terrific season for the Whalers. Nantucket finished the regular season with a 15-4-1 record and earned the No. 2 seed in the Division 4 state tournament after making it all the way to the state semifinal the year prior.

“I mean I wish Braden [Knapp] could be here with us,” Davis said while reflecting on their state championship. “This is for him. This is for everybody. This is for the whole Nantucket community.”

Without Knapp, the Whalers still managed to win a pair of games in the hockey state tournament before losing 4-1 to Stoneham in the state quarterfinal. Senior captain Griffin Starr, who also played goalie for the hockey team and was the Whalers’ captain, said the shenanigans at the end of the hockey season motivated the lacrosse team all year long.

“After hockey season, we jokingly said we were going to see Sandwich in the finals [in lacrosse],” Starr said. “We kind of just wrote it up as a joke, but this honestly could not have been written up any better. The last three years Sandwich has made it to this game and now they go home sad for the third time in a row.”

The title game was played the day after the Nantucket High School graduation. All of the senior players bailed on the post-graduation festivities—including the annual beach party—to head home and get a good night’s sleep. “They [earned] a bigger party tonight,” Aloisi said after the game.