WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Hartford High boys lacrosse player Joseph Barwood had an afternoon to remember Tuesday, pumping in eight goals during the Hurricanes’ 14-4 defeat of Harwood in the Vermont Division II semifinals.
A junior attackman, Barwood split his tallies evenly between halves, helping to send the defending state champions packing. Second-seeded Hartford, back in a title game for the first time since the 2016 and 2017 seasons, will play top-seeded Rice at a time and location to be determined. Field availability and graduations are complicating factors in pinning those details down.
“It was all clicking,” said the 5-foot-11, 160-pound Barwood, who moved past the 100-goal mark in his high school career earlier this season. “I got hot early and scored four (goals) fast, and even after they locked me down, they couldn’t guard me.”
That “lockdown” involved Harwood midfielder Emmett Lisai standing about as physically close to Barwood as possible. Even with the ball at the other end and Barwood called to the sidelines to talk with head coach Grant Whiteway, there was Lisai, so near it appeared that he, too, was receiving instruction.
“I’ve never experienced defense that intense,” Barwood said with a chuckle. “They’d be down in the other zone, and that kid would just be looking right at me. He seemed nice, though.”
Lisai was handed an almost impossible assignment, because when play came their way, Barwood began using opponents as picks and running Lisai into them, then scoring yet again. Highlanders coach Russ Beilke, whose program finished as division runner-up during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, came away shaking his head.
“Like the old saying goes: You can’t stop him; you only hope to contain him,” Beilke said. “That little turnaround, fadeaway jump shot he has? You can’t do that without being an athlete.
“That’s not something everyone can do, even with a lot of practice. If I got to see nothing more of him than that move, I would have been impressed.”
The move in question, during which Barwood curls out from behind the net, then leaps into the air and fires from a sharp angle, produced three goals Tuesday. It was a classic example of a move the defense knew was coming and still couldn’t prevent.
Barwood said the key is dodging with his head and eyes up, allowing him to process information as he moves. Will a second defender slide out of the middle toward him, possibly leaving space for a pass to a teammate on the back side or out high?
Is the goaltender edging away from the near post? Where’s his stick at the moment? It’s all part of the calculus No. 4 runs through his mind in a split second.
“It’s about reading your options and your reaction time,” Barwood said. “I have a fake shot I can do where I land and roll back the other way, but generally, if I load it up and jump, I’m going to shoot the ball.”
Which ball Barwood shoots in college, or whether he shoots one at all, remains an unanswered question. He’s also a standout golfer and skates for the Hurricanes hockey team.
“I’m not big on choosing a college based on a sport,” said Barwood, who started lacrosse as an elementary school student and moved to Massachusetts club competition three summers back. “If I can use golf or lacrosse to help me get into a college I want to attend, I will do that, but I’m not going to pick one solely because of a sport.”
Hartford, which beat the visiting Highlanders, 6-3, during the regular season, scored Tuesday’s first four goals and led, 6-2, after a quarter. That lead expanded to 8-3 by intermission, and when the Hurricanes scored the second half’s first four goals, the celebration got started early. Whiteway, a former Massachusetts high school and college star, left his starters in the whole way.
Hartford’s Gordon Willey had four goals, Cavan Benjamin had two and Aidan Boonyaharn had three assists.
The Hurricanes played their first Vermont playoff game in 1999 and are 0-4 in state championship games. They played twice in the Division II title match (2004, 2006) and twice in the Division III final (2016, 2017). Last season ended with a 7-3 semifinal loss at top-seeded Rice, which was then upset by Harwood in the finals.
“This is the first team Hartford’s had in a long time where the whole offense doesn’t run through just one kid,” Barwood said. “We have tons of kids who can pass and catch and finish. We play as a team, and that’s how you win big games.”
Notes: Hartford sophomore midfielder Brayden Trombly suffered what appeared to be a right foot or ankle injury with two minutes remaining. Also the football team’s quarterback, he was helped off the field and used crutches after the game. … The Hurricanes held a 25-8 shot advantage. … Harwood midfielder Pacie McGrath, whose athleticism caused Hartford trouble at times but who also jawed with opponents and the referees, scored once but removed his equipment midway through the third quarter and sat alone on the bench for the remainder of the contest. The junior did not appear injured. … Willey, who had been growing his flowing blond locks for months, has shorn them and now sports a close-cropped style. … Barwood said he plans to study business in college and hopes to become a certified public accountant at some point. … Whiteway’s full name is Grant Huntley Whiteway III, and his father was a longstanding and successful lacrosse coach in their native Billerica, Mass. Grant Whiteway II made a trip to Hartford earlier this season and helped coach a practice, Barwood said.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.