Grafton lacrosse players selected to All-State Tour Team

Hunter Laverdiere and Beckett Heidenthal of Grafton were selected to the Mass Bay Colonials’ boys lacrosse team traveling to Houston on December 10th and 11th to compete in the Best of Texas Lacrosse Tournament. Heidenthal & Laverdiere are two of twenty-two players selected from over two hundred athletes from one hundred twenty-five town lacrosse programs from Central and Eastern Massachusetts. 

“The Mass Bay Colonials is an extension of our community-based youth league, Mass Youth Lacrosse, which was founded to promote and celebrate town-based lacrosse and the elite athletes who commit to their communities each spring,” said Joey Picard, Colonials founder and general manager.

Laverdiere is a fifth-year player with the Grafton Youth Lacrosse Program. He plays midfield and is currently in seventh grade at Grafton Middle School. He is a multi-sport athlete who also plays football and basketball. 

Heidenthal is a sixth-year player with Grafton Youth Lacrosse Program. He plays defense and is currently in eight grade at Grafton Middle School. He also plays basketball and runs cross-country.

The Grafton Youth Lacrosse program has been continuously growing in numbers in both boys and girls participating and is known throughout Central Massachusetts for having an immense respect for the game, creating a place to learn while also producing great competition and strong athletes. 

In addition to performance at the tryouts, players submitted recommendations from coaches, teachers, and community leaders to earn a spot from the selection committee. The Mass Bay Colonials seek to not only bring the most talented youth lacrosse players from Massachusetts, but the players who can proudly represent our state on and off the field.

2022 is the third iteration of the Mass Bay Colonials, but the first time with both a boys and girls team, as Mass Youth Lacrosse added a girls league to the organization in 2022. The Mass Bay Colonials will send a boys team (class of 2027) and a girls team (class of 2027/2028) to Houston to compete against teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and others from across the Southwest.

The boys team will be led by Head Coach Nathan Kittler. Kittler is the head coach at Natick High School and was named the 2022 Eastern Mass Lacrosse Coach’s Association Coach of the Year. Kittler will be assisted by Ed McCarthy, a long-time youth and high school coach who has been a Mass Youth Lacrosse coach and education trainer for the past five years. Rounding out the coaching staff is Tom Spangenberg, the current chair of Mass Youth Lacrosse Board of Directors, former president of the board, and long-time youth coach with Dover-Sherborn Youth Lacrosse.

“As a league, we focus on many important facets of the game designed to grow lacrosse and honor its sacred traditions,” said Spangenberg, “and the Colonials are one such example of how we’re uniting our towns, prioritizing teaching the skills in a fun environment, and promoting the importance of character, community, and camaraderie. We’re thrilled to bring the finest athletes and coaches from our small community to a much larger one in Texas this winter.”

The 2022 Mass Bay Colonials Boys team will have twenty-two athletes representing youth lacrosse programs in Andover, Cambridge, Framingham, Grafton, Hamilton-Wenham, Holliston, King Philip, Lexington, Marblehead, Melrose, Natick, Newburyport, North Andover, North Central, Norwood, Pentucket, Reading, Stoneham, Wachusett, and Wayland.