Latin Academy wins third straight City championship

By Peter Martin, Globe Correspondent | February 19, 2010

Latin Academy won its third consecutive Boston City Championship yesterday 5-0 over East Boston at Matthews Arena at Northeastern University.

The Dragons overcame a lackluster first period effort by turning on the style in the final two frames and taking advantage of a series of Eastie penalties.

''We came out flat,'' Latin Academy coach Rob McCormick said. ''We had a good talk in the locker room after the first and really got the troops going.''

Those troops were led by sophomore Brendon Kerrigan who had two goals and two assists in the game. His efforts were rewarded with the game's Most Valuable Player award.

His linemate and fellow sophomore Kevin Moran chipped in two goals and an assist as well.

''Those guys are leaders for us,'' McCormick said. ''They are really coming into their own this year, we kept that line together to try to get them to build some chemistry and it really worked.''

The Dragons finally got their offense clicking late in the first despite peppering Logan Coughlin for the entire period. Kerrigan drew first blood with a wrist shot thanks to a feed from Moran at the 12:41 mark on the team's ninth shot of the period.

Latin Academy added another goal in the second period, this time from Moran. The sophomore was able to bury the puck in an open net after a pretty series of passes in the offensive zone from Kerrigan and linemate, Michael Clough.

''The guys on the team really wanted to do this for themselves,'' said McCormick. ''They knew that the winner here gets to the state tournament and they were really motivated.''

That motivation showed and the flood gates opened in the final frame when Latin Academy scored three more times. First, Kerrigan scored his second unassisted after a pretty individual move and then Moran grabbed his second, with a helper from Kerrigan.

Latin's final tally came from a freshman, Paul O'Keefe. His goal was icing on the cake coming with less than a minute to play.

The Dragons now return the the Division 3 North sectional tournament for the fourth straight year where they will look improve over last year's one-and-done performance against Tyngsboro.