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# Lande, Stover connect late to lift Derryfield past Winnacunnet in D2 boys lacrosse title game
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/lande-stover-connect-late-to-lift-derryfield-past-winnacunnet-in-d2-boys-lacrosse-title-game/
- Published: 2026-06-14T16:30:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-14T16:30:07.000Z
- Description: EXETER - In the end, a championship lacrosse game between the tournament's top two seeds fittingly came down to a single play. With time winding down in the final minute and Derryfield School and Winnacunnet High School tied 7-7, Cougars senior midfielder Garrett Lande held the ball - as well as th
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, boys lacrosse, championship, Derryfield, playoffs, slider, Winnacunnet, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

*Editor's Note: Story used with persmission by the Union Leader.* 

EXETER - In the end, a championship lacrosse game between the tournament's top two seeds fittingly came down to a single play.

With time winding down in the final minute and Derryfield School and Winnacunnet High School tied 7-7, Cougars senior midfielder Garrett Lande held the ball - as well as the game and the season - in his stick.

He stood in the attacking zone, but far from the Warriors net. Facing no defensive pressure, Lande waited. And waited. He knew what to do because Derryfield had run this play - high wing, the Cougars call it - many times before.

Just in case, though, Cougars coach Chris Hettler barked instructions from the sideline.

"At the 20(-second mark), you go," shouted Hettler.

Lande went. He beat his defender and ran toward the Winnacunnet cage, drawing attackman Emerson Stover's defender, then slipped a pass to Stover, who rifled home a shot from about 10 yards with 13.3 seconds remaining.

Winnacunnet's Alec Mitchell controlled the ensuing draw and plowed downfield through traffic, but the Warriors couldn't get off a shot and Derryfield had an 8-7 victory in Saturday's scintillating Division II championship game at Bill Ball Stadium.

"I was a little nervous," said Lande. "Just backing up into the corner, a tie game. But we've run that play in practice and we've run it in games."

Hettler chose the play after taking a timeout with just under a minute left after Winnacunnet had rallied from a 7-4 deficit. He likes the play, he said, because opponents in that situation are often expecting a pick play or a 1-on-1 individual effort.

"They ran it about as well as you could run it, and it was so great that a senior was able to take charge and execute it at the end," said Hettler. "So happy for Garrett."

The title was Derryfield's first since 2023 and eighth in Hettler's 24 years at the helm coaching the Cougars in both D2 and D3.

Derryfield has participated in 10 of the last 11 D2 finals, losing the last two years to Portsmouth.

This spring, the Cougars (18-2) lost twice in the regular season, against Portsmouth (by a 7-6 score) and Winnacunnet (14-13), but may have helped themselves in the process. Derryfield's Postseason Payback Tour featured a semifinal conquest of the third-seeded Clippers (by a 10-7 score) and then Saturday against the top-seeded Warriors.

"We felt coming out of those (regular-season) games that there were just some things we needed to clean up. We had some chances to win both of those games," said Hettler. "In the Winnacunnet game, we spotted them a lead and we came back, and the kids walked out of there saying, 'We can run with these guys. We do not need to be scared if we see them again.'"

There could have been a moment of fright in the second quarter Saturday, though, when Winnacunnet built a 3-1 lead on the second of Liam McNally's goals.

But Dom Cercone's second tally of the quarter cut the deficit to 3-2, and when Stover scored the first of his two with 40 seconds left before halftime, it was 3-3\. And, in a game of surges, the Cougars' surge wasn't finished.

Jackson Hatfield controlled the ensuing draw and made a dash down the middle to score 13 seconds later, and Derryfield led 4-3 at halftime.

"First quarter, second quarter, the offense was kind of struggling," said Lande. "But once we got the chemistry going, we were able to put some in the back of the net. And Liam (goalie Liam England) had one of his best games of the season, the defense played great, and it just all came together."

"Nobody panicked," said Hettler, referring to the early deficit. "We just said that the offense is going to find a rhythm. We're going to put the ball in the back of the net. We just need to keep playing great defense.

"And credit to Liam England. Some incredible saves in really big moments against some big-time shooters on the outside."

Winnacunnet evened the game 4-4 on Brian McCown's strike six seconds into the third quarter. Then came a string of three straight Derryfield goals: by Ryan Maxwell into an unguarded net; by Lande, with a behind-the-back flick; and by Heath Mueller, from straight on.

The score was 7-4, and it stayed that way when England (nine saves) denied Sully Duffy in the final seconds of the quarter.

Undaunted, and backed by solid goalkeeping in the person of Joel Williams (nine saves as well), the boys from Hampton countered Derryfield's surge with one of their own in the fourth quarter. In a 4:26 span, goals by Duffy, Burke Spalding and Spencer Zigler, the final one coming with 2:20 left in regulation, tied the game and set the stage for a fantastic finish.

"The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. We were one goal apart the first time around and one goal apart the second time around," said Winnacunnet coach Pat Snow, whose club is moving up to Division I next spring. "It's tough that somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose in a game like that. But super proud of our kids."

Hettler, who received the customary ice cooler dousing after the game, called the championship "surreal."

"Obviously, our team has talent," he said. "But just the way the season went ... it feels like one of the more unlikely ones that I've won. Really proud of these guys."