Postseason or not, Goffstown boys lacrosse pleased with progress

Josh Lewis received a complement during the Goffstown High School boys lacrosse team's Wednesday game against Derryfield.

One of the officials, who had worked a couple of the Grizzlies' games earlier in the season, stopped on his way past the sideline to offer his opinion of the team.

"One of the refs, he'd done a couple of our earlier games, and he said from beginning to now, you guys have grown so much," Lewis said. "It might not be seen in this game. I see it, but I see them every day, but I can see the progress.

"We're a young team. We have 12 sophomores and two freshmen. It's a matter of the younger kids having more faith in themselves, having more confidence, standing taller, working harder."

The final score - a 13-5 win for Derryfield - may not have shown where Goffstown (6-8) has come from the beginning of the season, but Lewis guessed that if the game had happened a month ago, the final would have been "a lot more to a lot less."

And despite the growing pains, which included close losses early in the year to Oyster River, John Stark, Merrimack Valley and Timberlane, the Grizzlies still have an outside chance at making the postseason.

Goffstown ends the regular season Friday night at Portsmouth (12-3), and if the Grizzlies can get a win and have Bow beat John Stark, their season will extend by one game.

"Would there be benefit, absolutely, even if it's just one round of playoffs," Lewis said. "Just to have that experience in the back of your mind makes a whole lot of difference the following season. Now you can walk with more confidence."

But even if Goffstown doesn't move on, Lewis feels there's already been a lot of progress made.

"Did we make a lot of progress this year?" he said. "We really did and I think it'll be enough of a benefit. If we don't make the playoffs ... that's not ideal, but I think we can carry what we learned this year into next year in a much better way than I would have anticipated."

Lewis has already seen two players who will be returning step up in the stretch run this season, and both did so one more time against Derryfield. Sophomore Nick Mason had four of the team's five goals, while junior goalie Finn Grant stopped 11 shots.

"(Grant) had a great day and he has progressed a lot," Lewis said. "Huge progression from the beginning of the year to now as a junior, and he was a goalie last year. This year, he really stepped in and said I'm going to do this."

Goffstown takes on Portsmouth at 6:30 p.m. on Friday needing a win to get in the postseason.