Forest Hills Central downs Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in Division 2 boys lacrosse final From The Detroit News

Jack Turcotte knows the devastation of losing in a state championship. Two years ago, as a sophomore, Turcotte watched as Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central lost to East Grand Rapids in the Division 2 boys lacrosse final.

Determined not to relive another such moment, Turcotte played one of the best games of his young career on Saturday, scoring six goals in a 14-8 victory over Pontiac Notre Dame Prep that gave Central the Division 2 state title at Seaholm.

"It means a lot," Turcotte said. "The guys got here two years ago and couldn't do it, but we knew we'd do it this year."

And they have Turcotte to thank. He was ready with an answer when Notre Dame drew close. After it tied the game at 4 two minutes into the second quarter, Turcotte responded minutes later with the go-ahead goal, and again with five seconds left in the half to give Central a 6-4 lead.

Central (18-3) maintained at least a two-goal lead the rest of the game.

"I didn't think I had to do anything," Turcotte, who will play lacrosse at Davenport next year, said of his mind-set before the game. "I knew our team would come through, and everyone worked really well together.

"It was just teammates drawing my guy off me, and I was open in the middle."

A majority of Central's offensive attack -- and Turcotte's scoring -- was in transition, a weakness in Notre Dame's game Central exploited heavily in the second half, particularly the third quarter. Central outscored Notre Dame, 5-1, in the quarter, and was relentless in advancing the ball as quickly as possible.

"We knew where we could attack a little bit more," Central coach Tony Quinn said. "We wanted to take advantage of some of our transition, and that got us a couple good goals in the third quarter, and that kind of helped us push into the fourth quarter and that was big for us."

Brandon Beauregard led Notre Dame (19-3) with five goals, and Mike Frakes, Paul Nardone and Matt Ervinck each scored once.

Nick Covert and Trevor Masotta each scored twice, and Kory Banner, Adriand Heneveld, Mitch Distin and Shane Harrison each added a goal for Central.

"We said before the game today, we had to stop them in transition and stop them in the crease," Notre Dame coach Ben Ingram said. "They killed us in transition and they killed us in the crease. Bounces didn't go our way today -- everything didn't go our way -- but I'm still proud of the kids."

A.J. Hakim is a freelance writer.