It wasn’t easy. In fact, heart rates rose and jaws dropped. But in the end, the Marblehead boys hockey team was off to TD Garden.

The No. 6 Headers – who began the season 0-6 – defeated No. 2 Shawsheen Valley Tech, 2-1, Saturday evening at Stoneham Arena, punching their ticket to the Division 3 state championship.

Hogan Sedky fed London McDonald for the eventual game-winning goal in the second period (2-1), while Kyle Hart began the scoring with a power-play strike in the first (1-0).

Fast forward to the third period. After a Marblehead penalty – plus a pulled Shawsheen goalie – the opposition had its chances late, but it wasn’t enough to get by netminder Leo Burdge (23 saves). 

Celebration ensued, and now, the mission is one game away from being accomplished. The Headers take on top-seeded Nauset next Sunday at The Garden (TBD).

BOYS HOCKEY

Dover-Sherborn/Weston 2

Winthrop 1

No. 1 Winthrop dropped a heartbreaking Division 4 Final 4 matchup on Saturday, falling to fifth-seeded Dover-Sherborn/Weston in a 2-1 final at Gallo Arena. 

True to MIAA rule, it took two overtimes before the game was sent to a shootout. There, Winthrop failed to strike on its final attempt, and the Vikings’ season came to an end.

Pete Silverman sniped home a goal to put Winthrop ahead, 1-0, but that was all the celebrating the Vikings would do. Still, their season ends with 18 wins, including tournament victories over Tri County, Hudson, and Ashland.

St. John’s Prep 4

Xaverian 0

Large in part to Johnny Tighe’s goal and two assists, his top-ranked St. John’s Prep Eagles flew to Sunday’s Division 1 championship with a 4-0 victory over No. 4 Xaverian.

AJ Farese picked up his second consecutive shutout for The Prep, which outshot Xaverian by 32. Jake Vana, Christian Rosa, Brendan Powers also found twine.

The Prep takes on No. 11 Winchester next Sunday (TBD).

INDOOR TRACK

Peabody High was well-represented at the 2024 Nike Indoor Nationals (March 7-10) at The Armory in New York City. Eli Batista, Dorlyn Morel, Brian Stevens, and Owen Brennan were its top performers. The group finished 10th (3:42.49) in the Emergency Elites Sprint Medley Relay. 

The girls 4×400 relay team of Ava Champigny, Avery Marcus, Madison Barrett and Stella D’Ambrosio ran a personal record 4:14.08 and finished 23rd. 

Declan Smith (5-08.75) and Harrington Senfuma (5-08.75) finished 24th and 31st, respectively. Evan Bedard secured 26th in the triple jump (40-07) and also finished 27th in long jump (20-7.75). 

Peyton Smith finished 28th and set a PR (8.77) in the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries, and also finished 28th (8.13) in the 55-meter hurdle preliminaries. Higgins Middle School 8th-grader, Ella Braz, the daughter of Peabody head coach Fernando Braz, finished 31st in the middle-school mile with a PR of 5:37.10. Batista, Morel, Kobe Avery and Abou Kaba finished 24th in the preliminaries of the Championship Division 4×200 relay (1:32.67). Higgins 8th grader Lea Deronja finished 36th in the Middle School 60-meter dash (8.71).

Marblehead High’s Thomas Carlson and Alex Hersey ended the season on personal-record high notes. Carlson (7.11) finished 146th in the Championship Division’s 60-meter dash preliminary, while Hersey (8.50) finished 102nd in the 60-meter hurdles, also in the Championship Division.