Marra made all the difference for Pinkerton boys lacrosse in run to second straight D1 title

There were plenty of reasons for the Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse team to think it could win a rematch with Bishop Guertin, despite losing to the Cardinals early in the regular season.

The Astros had been without one of their top long poles and one of their top attackmen, and starting goalie Jack Sweeney sat out the first quarter, as the Cardinals built up a 6-1 lead.

But perhaps the biggest reason for Pinkerton's confidence was a player who, not only was there for that regular-season game, but had been dominating faceoffs for the Astros for the past two seasons.

"Gennaro Marra," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said of what the difference between the two teams was. "For two years, they’ve had no answer for Gennaro. They tried to pressure him, they tried to run on him, but he’s too much of an athlete. He’s not just a kid who faces off. He just won our award in school, we’ve got 3,200 kids in our school, and he is the senior athlete of the year. He’s the best athlete in our school. There’s just no answer for him."

Marra went 22-of-29 on faceoffs in Pinkerton's 14-12 win over Bishop Guertin in the Division I championship game on June 8, and for the playoffs, the senior captain was 64 of 78 (82.1 percent) on faceoffs.

With the Astros down 9-6 entering the fourth quarter of the title game, Marra was at his best, winning the first faceoff and going right down the field to score to swing momentum Pinkerton's way. He ended up winning the next two to set up quick goals for the Astros to tie the game at 9 less than two minutes into the quarter.

"Get a possession," he said. "Some kids come into these games nervous. I feel I’ve played in enough of these games. Once I get out there and take the crowd out of it, you just kind of walk in. That’s what a majority of our guys did. They were able to focus on one objective and that’s win a championship."

Pinkerton pulled of a similar run in the final minute, after Bishop Guertin tied the game at 12 on a goal by Dawson Clark. Marra won the ensuing faceoff, got the ball quickly down the field, and Mason Drouin scored what proved to be the game-winner with 37 seconds left.

"He turned it all around for us," O'Reilly said. "He was winning faceoffs the entire game, but it just changed the momentum when we were down by three goals. He was personally responsible for getting us back in the game because they could not get the ball away from him."

A three-sport athlete, who was also a captain for Pinkerton's football and ice hockey teams, Marra fits the mold of the kind of kids O'Reilly has been used to getting over his tenure coaching football and lacrosse.

"He is one of the nicest kids you’d ever meet," the coach said. "He always has a smile on his face, but he has the heart of a warrior. I love that kid. He’s one of many that I’ve had over the years. That’s the epitome of Pinkerton lacrosse and Pinkerton football, kids who play hard on the field but are good kids off the field."

Marra, who will continue playing lacrosse at Southern New Hampshire University next year, felt good he and the other seniors could go out on top, especially after coming up short the last two football seasons.

"It’s nice to get it in the spring," he said. "We’ve got a lot of multi-sport athletes. We know they’re athletic. All week in practice, we were harping on the middle of the field, don’t let them beat you up the middle. Our offense was able to come out and fall back on the ride, but our attack worked.

"I’d say last year was sweet, but this is amazing, just to be able to cap it off in my last game ever with these guys. I’ve played with them for a while. It feels good to finish out on a high note."