Like most high school coaches, Tobey Farrington doesn’t have the advantage of picking and choosing the athletes who come out for the Scarborough boys lacrosse team each spring.
He works with what comes his way and adjusts accordingly.
Two years ago, when Farrington was in his first season as head coach, he put Andy Clark and Bryan Macphie on an attack line together. Clark was a freshman at the time, MacPhie a sophomore.
In Saturday’s Class A state championship game against Lewiston, the two players worked together to bear the kind of fruit Farrington hoped they one day would.
Clark, now a junior, had four goals and three assists in the 14-2 win, while Macphie, a senior, had five goals and two assists.
“They both bring a little something different to the table,” said Farrington. “Andy is a little bit taller. He sees the field really well and he’s much more comfortable coming from the X (position), behind the net. Bryan is much quicker, probably a little bit more of a finisher and certainly very smooth with his stick skills.
“So they bring two different things to the table, which compliment each other. If you have two finishers out there but nobody to get it to them they’re not going to be very useful. And vice-versa, if you have somebody who can find people but no one’s ever there to be found that doesn’t help either.”
It hasn’t always been that simple. The chemistry between the two, though somewhat natural, took some time to develop entirely.
“Me and B-Mac could always get better chemistry-wise, but we’ve been playing together for three years,” said Clark. “Every year it’s different and every year we do different things, but we always find each other in the end.”
As if on cue, Macphie agreed: “We’ve really grown to know each other and know where we’re going to be.”
According to Farrington, it’s something that has developed through playing together in more than 30 games, as well as hundreds of practices. Last season, Steve Doane transferred to Scarborough from Cheverus to complete the attack line. His presence has made things even easier.
“Even though his numbers aren’t the same as Andy’s and Bryan’s, he was an important part of that whole thing,” said Farrington. “He helped that offense flow and move. There were some games when they were really keying on Bryan and Andy and he broke out.”
Clark and Macphie were the ones who broke out on Saturday, though. And it didn’t take long either.
Macphie made it 1-0 on a quick-stick shot 2:10 into the game, then proceeded to score twice more before halftime.
Clark assisted on two of the goals. With 9:05 to go in the second he found Macphie alone in front, and with 2:07 left he used his height and vision to send Macphie in alone.
Clark had only one of his goals in the first half, but it illustrated the point that Farrington made about the players complimenting each other. He followed up a Macphie rebound that bounced off the cross bar.
In the second half it was more of the same. Clark (42 goals, 16 assists this season) scored three more times, and Macphie (55 goals, 16 assists) had two more.
“We’ve been playing way too long together, I guess,” said Clark.
Not long enough for Farrington.
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