The Scarborough High boys lacrosse team graduated a number of key players from last year’s Class A state championship squad, but with a solid mix of returnees and new talent, the Red Storm remains a top contender.
On Saturday afternoon, the Deering Rams got a first-hand demonstration of just how tough the 2009 edition of the Storm will be.
Scarborough scored early and often and kept the Rams off the board until the fourth quarter on its way to a 13-2 shellacking of the visitors at Scarborough High School. The Storm improved to 3-0 while Deering dropped to 0-2.
Jake Barrett paced Scarborough with four goals and a pair of assists. Nick Broadhurst added three goals, Matthew Mayo scored twice and Danny Clark had a goal and three assists. Brendan Ham, Nathan Hopkins and Peter Moore each scored once. Jimmy Soules, Tennessee Peters and Sam Parenteau added assists.
Clark gave Scarborough a 1-0 lead 1:38 into the game, then assisted on Ham’s score with 3:43 left in the first quarter as the Storm led 2-0 after one.
“We had some really good looks early,” said Scarborough coach Joe Hezlep. “Their goalie made a couple of really nice saves – a couple on Jake Barrett on shots he usually scores on – so credit to him. We started to figure him out a little bit, change where we were shooting from, and it turned out alright.”
Scarborough’s offense really got going in the second quarter. The Storm sprung for five unanswered goals to take a commanding 7-0 lead into halftime. Barrett assisted on Moore’s goal 1:39 into the second, scored his first of the day with 7:41 left (from Peters) and fed Broadhurst for a score with 7:01 left in the half. Broadhurst scored the final two of the half in a span of just over 30 seconds, one coming with 3:42 left and the other with 3:09 to play. Clark assisted on both.
The third quarter provided more of the same as the Storm lead swelled to 11-0 entering the fourth. Barrett tallied with 7:17 left in the third, Mayo found the net with 3:47 to go, Barrett (from Soules) put in another with 2:41 to play, then completed his scoring with 2:05 left.
Deering finally got one past Scarborough goalie Ryan Kane with 8:34 to play in the game on Pat Verville’s goal, assisted by A.J. Asbury. Mayo (from Parenteau) made it 12-1 with 3:42 left. Hopkins scored the Storm’s final goal with 3:04 remaining. Riley Asbury added Deering’s second goal in the game’s final seconds.
Hezlep is pleased with where his experienced defense stands at this point early in the season. The offense is a work in progress, he said, but players are learning roles.
“We’re very talented,” Hezlep said. “We have a few guys that can do a lot of things. On defense we’re a veteran group. We’ve got a lot of guys who have been there before. We’re able to do a lot of things on defense – change matchups, change up slot packages. On offense we have a couple guys who really know what they’re doing and a lot of guys who are starting to fill spots and are still finding where they need to be. As soon as that starts to come together, we’ll see how good we can be.”
Scarborough was scheduled to take on North Yarmouth Academy on Tuesday after the Current’s deadline. The Storm then takes to the road to face highly regarded Portland on Friday (6:30 p.m.) and defending Class B champ Yarmouth next Tuesday (5:30 p.m.).
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