GRANBY — Junior Owen Palmateer had six goals and two assists as the Belchertown boys lacrosse team beat Suburban League rival Granby, 11-2, Tuesday, April 23 to remain undefeated in league play.
Three of Palmateer’s goals came consecutively to put the Orioles up 5-1 with 2 minutes, 24 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
“Once you get it going it just flows, you know just keep moving the ball around, keep working, keeps going in,” Palmateer said. “I felt like I was doing good out there. I don’t think I missed too many shots, I felt like everything was on the net so it just felt good.”
Palmateer’s quickness and ability to deke and maneuver around the Rams’ defense left all six of his goals unassisted.
“He’s a great player. … He spent a lot of time in different camps and different travel programs and you can tell,” Belchertown coach Patrick Nee said. “I mean if you watch him compared to other kids, he explodes with his hips and that just comes from a lot more practice, a lot more reps and a lot more time with coaches at all different levels.”
Palmateer also plays for the Connecticut Valley Lacrosse and has spent time at Mark Millon’s lacrosse camp at UMass, according to Nee.
The Rams (1-5, 1-3 Suburban) got one on the board with 3:24 to go in the second quarter, but not much else went Granby’s way during the first half. The Orioles (3-2, 3-0 Suburban) were able to break up almost every offensive opportunity the Rams could produce through the end of the first half.
“They just weren’t valuing the ball, they were dropping the ball, they weren’t making the passes,” Nee said.
Being neighboring towns, Belchertown and Granby have a healthy rivalry and that was apparent with the physical style of play on the field.
“It’s a good rivalry game, it always is because at the younger levels at the Belchertown Lacrosse Association the Granby kids play there and then we have kids that school choice,” Nee said. “There’s a lot of cross-pollination. This was a good game, I mean usually we have a couple little ruckuses but this time we didn’t. You saw some solid, solid play with some sold hitting. There were some good, clean hits.”
Jake Condon scored twice. Tony Martel, Griffin Weiss and Luke Ballard each had a goal for Belchertown. Goalkeeper Nick Fellion played well in net for the Orioles.
