SACO — Thornton Academy’s first Class A South boys’ lacrosse championship would have been sweet regardless of whom the Golden Trojans beat.
But beating the state’s gold standard, defending Class B champion Cape Elizabeth made for an exhilarating celebration Wednesday night at Hill Stadium.
In front of a large crowd, the top-ranked Golden Trojans raced to a 6-1 lead after one quarter and never looked back, going on to a 15-6 victory over the second-seeded Capers.
And if Thornton Academy continues to demonstrate the dominance it has all season, there could be an even bigger triumph to come on Saturday.
With four goals apiece from Noah Edborg, CJ Labreck and Thomas Levasseur and 16 saves from Ean Patry, Thornton improved to 14-0 and advanced to meet Falmouth (13-1) in the its first-ever state final on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
“We’re making history and we love it,” said Labreck, who also had four assists. “We wanted it really badly. We wanted to establish dominance and we did.”
Edborg set the tone just 35 seconds in, finishing a feed from Labreck. Levasseur and Wyatt LeBlanc added to the lead before Sam Dresser got Cape Elizabeth (10-4) on the board.
Before the first quarter was over, Levasseur scored twice and Labreck added another goal for a commanding 6-1 advantage.
“It seemed like our first option was open and guys found it and hit the back of the net,” said Thornton Academy Coach Ryan Hersey.
The Golden Trojans only scored once in the second quarter, on a man-up shot from Nathan Varle. Tate Perkins and Finn Raymond scored for the Capers, but eight first-half saves from Patry helped Thornton Academy hold a 7-3 lead at the half.
“The second half of the season, I’ve seen the ball better, played a lot better and my step has been better,” said Patry. “We knew (Cape) liked to hold the ball, so we didn’t tire ourselves out. We have two All-State defenders and another great defender in the middle, and our middies and LSMs (long-stick middies) played well, too.”
“Ean has really grown over the year,” Hersey said. “He’s been a lights-out goalie. It’s such a huge momentum change for them to be wide open on the doorstep, him to stop them, then us go the other way for a goal.”
After a couple more Patry saves to start the second half, the Golden Trojans broke it open. Wyatt LeBlanc and Edborg scored, and after Archie McEvoy got a goal back for the Capers, Labreck, Tucker Weeks and Edborg all found the net to make it 12-4 after three quarters.
Despite goals from Perkins and Jacob Brydson, Cape Elizabeth couldn’t rally in the fourth quarter, as Labreck scored two more times and Edborg added a goal to close out the victory.
“We were 0-5 (in regional finals), so this one is huge,” Hersey said. “The guys did a great job pushing each other, more than any other team I’ve coached.”
Thornton Academy handled Falmouth 12-5 at home on May 29, but on a neutral field against a foe longing for revenge, the Golden Trojans know that a first state championship won’t come easily.
“We have to come out like we did tonight,” Hersey said. “That would be nice. We have to continue to do what we’ve done all year long and execute to the best of our ability. We wanted Falmouth. We want to beat them to know we’re the best team in the state.”
Cape Elizabeth, which was 2-3 at one point this spring before reaching the regional final in its first season in Class A, got two goals from Perkins and one apiece from Brydson, Dresser, McEvoy and Raymond. Jack Dresser stopped 11 shots.
“We didn’t get off to a great start,” said Cape Coach Ben Raymond. “They’ve got some great players and they shot very well at the beginning of the game. It was too deep a hole. Their goalie had way more saves than he did last time.
“It’s not how you start (a season), but how you finish and how you improve. A lot of kids stepped up and played important roles. We have a great junior class coming back and a big group of sophomores and freshmen who were on the team this year. We’ll be very good next year.”
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