Wheeler ruins fun for Thornton in 10-0 loss

SCARBOROUGH — The pouring rain was the least of the worries of the Thornton Academy boys lacrosse team as it took the field for warmups against Scarborough on Wednesday night at Kippy Mitchell Field.

Two words could best summarize what would eventually lead to a 10-0 loss for the Golden Trojans.

John Wheeler.

Only a sophomore, Wheeler scored seven goals and added three assists to lead the Red Storm over Thornton.

“I’ve watched him for four years now,” Thornton Academy head coach Ryan Hersey said. “He’s the real deal. He’s technically sound. He works hard, he has a great shot. But he’s not lucky. He’s working his butt off out there. He’s getting everything out there. He’s probably the most fundamentally sound kid in our conference, and as a sophomore, you’re a little worried by that.”

The loss is the first major blemish of what has been a successful start of the season for the Trojans, who are now 3-2 on the season, which includes an impressive 6-4 win over Gardiner on April 30.

Scarborough proved to be aggressive from the start of the contest, a style and attitude that would be tough for any team to match, let alone the Trojans.

“They looked like they were playing at a higher level than we were, in all aspects of the game,” Hersey said. “It really seemed to set us back that we didn’t have any time. The last four games, we’ve had time to do what we wanted to do. This game, they were right in our face. As soon as we scooped the ball, they were all over our faces. As we tried to make passes, they were right there the whole time. I think our guys weren’t ready for that intensity.”

After Wheeler scored the first goal of the contest three minutes into the first quarter, the Trojans provided tough defense on the Red Storm. But Scarborough would sneak two goals in the final 13 seconds of play, one by Wheeler and another by Nate Hopkins, that would give the Red Storm a 3-0 lead.

“I felt those two goals with 13 seconds remaining were something we couldn’t come back from,” Hersey said. “It just seemed to go downhill from there.”

Scarborough continued to keep the pressure on in the second quarter, with Wheeler netting two more goals, giving the Red Storm a 5-0 lead heading into halftime. Because of the constant offensive pressure put on by Scarborough, Thornton rarely had the chance to get a shot on goal in the first half.

The game remained status quo in the second half, with the Red Storm adding three goals in the third quarter (two by Wheeler, one by Luke Erwin) to take a commanding 8-0 lead. Jonathan Blaisdell and Kellen Smith added the final two goals in the fourth quarter to seal the game for Scarborough.

“What we said [after the game] was we need to come to practice and play at a whole new level,” Hersey said. “We’ve got to practice at a different level than what we’ve been practicing. What we’re doing right now isn’t going to work. What we told them is they need to come to practice tomorrow ready to work their butts off and ready to try to get us so we’re ready to play them again.”

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