The St. Joseph High boys lacrosse team opened and closed the game on 7-0 runs to post a 17-5 win over host North Branford in the quarterfinals of the Class S state tournament on Saturday afternoon.
The No. 18 seed Cadets (11-9), the two-time defending Class S state champions, will face No. 3 seed East Catholic High of Manchester (15-3) on Wednesday, June 8, in the semifinals. East Catholic defeated No. 11 seed Ellington, 15-3, in their quarterfinal round matchup.
North Branford, in just its second varsity season, wrapped up its season at 13-5 overall.
Jared Newel led the Cadets with six goals and five assists, while Kevin Trefz and Ryan Wilson added three markers apiece. Jared Mallozi and Chris Klabonski notched two goals apiece and Nick Celentano had one goal.
Goalkeeper Cillian Donahue made 11 saves in net.
St. Joseph led wire-to-wire. The closest North Branford came was when McKee netted a goal to make it 10-5 with 5:35 left in the third quarter. Newel responded with a tally at 3:18 to spark the Cadets' 7-0 flurry to close the contest.
For North Branford, Connor Odel had two goals and Nico Sommo, Jackson Myers and Brian McKee had one goal each.