Yarmouth boys finish strong with win over Waynflete

Yarmouth seniors Andy Garrett (6) and Michael Guertler celebrate a goal during the Clippers’ 12-5 win over Waynflete Friday night.

Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Portland Press Herald photos.

More photos below.

BOX SCORE

Yarmouth 12 Waynflete 5

W- 0 2 2 1- 5
Y- 3 5 1 3- 12

First quarter
8:43 Y Corey (unassisted)
7:23 Y Garrett (unassisted)
36.2 Y Heywood (Garrett)

Second quarter
9:47 Y Guertler (Garrett)
7:05 W Moorhead (Millspaugh) (MAN-UP)
8:30 Y Hamm (unassisted)
4:50 W Moorhead (Adams)
4:19 Y Hamilton (unassisted)
1:41 Y Garrett (Hamm) (MAN-UP)
29.8 Y Corey (unassisted)

Third quarter
10:44 W Adams (unassisted)
6:28 W Burdick (unassisted)
2:58 Y Garrett (Hamm)

Fourth quarter
9:18 Y Corey (Hamm)
7:54 W Adams (unassisted)
7:10 Y Garrett (Senger)
4:59 Y Corey (unassisted)

Goals:
W- Adams, Moorhead 2, Burdick 1
Y- Corey, Garrett 4, Guertler, Hamilton, Hamm, Heywood 1

Assists:
W- Adams, Millspaugh 1
Y- Hamm 3, Garrett 2, Senger 1

Faceoffs (Yarmouth, 11-9)
W- Makinen-Hall 9 of 20
Y- Primeau 11 of 19, Sullivan 0 of 1

Ground balls:
W- 29
Y- 26

Turnovers:
W- 21
Y- 15

Shots:
W- 22
Y- 38

Shots on cage:
W- 14
Y- 24

Saves:
W (Musgrove) 12
Y (King) 9

YARMOUTH—A year ago, Yarmouth’s boys’ lacrosse team closed the regular season with consecutive overtime losses and couldn’t recover.

The 2019 Clippers, who dropped their last two outings, to Cape Elizabeth and Greely, weren’t about to go into the postseason on a down note again and thanks to a strong effort Friday night, they righted the ship against the defending Class C state champions.

Yarmouth hosted Waynflete in the teams’ regular season finale and the Clippers shot to a 3-0 lead after one quarter and an 8-2 advantage at halftime and they never looked back en route to a 12-5 victory.

Seniors Anders Corey and Andy Garrett each scored four goals on Senior Night and senior defensemen Cole Buchanan and Jake Rogers helped hold Flyers senior standout Miles Lipton without a goal as Yarmouth finished the regular season 8-4 and ended Waynflete’s win streak at nine and dropped the Flyers to 9-3 in the process.

“We had to come out strong tonight and the boys knew that,” said Clippers coach David Pearl. “It’s Senior Night and we have a strong senior class. The boys came to play with confidence.”

Ideal tune-up

Last season, Waynflete edged Yarmouth in an overtime classic, 12-11, in Portland, as after the Clippers forced OT with 9.7 seconds left in regulation, Lipton got the winner for the Flyers.

This spring, the defending Class C champs lost their first two outings, 17-6 at powerhouse Cape Elizabeth and 12-2 at Greely, which was a Class B state finalist in 2018. Waynflete then put it all together, defeating host Wells (17-2), visiting Gardiner (11-2), visiting NYA (18-12), host Deering (12-4), host Freeport (16-10), visiting Lake Region (19-12), host Cony (21-5), visiting Cheverus (24-6) and visiting York (10-7).

Yarmouth, meanwhile, beat visiting Greely in its first game, 13-4, then dropped an overtime heartbreaker at Cape Elizabeth, 8-7, before handling visiting Kennebunk (13-5) and winning at NYA (16-2). After a 13-12 loss at South Portland, the Clippers held off visiting York, 14-11, then won at defending Class A North champion Falmouth (10-4), at Lake Region (15-5) and at home over Scarborough (11-5). Yarmouth had dropped its previous two outings, however, 9-2 at Cape Elizabeth and 13-5 at Greely.

Yarmouth entered play Friday having beaten Waynflete in eight of nine meetings since 2002 (see sidebar, below) and the Clippers would make it nine of 10, thanks to solid performances across the board.

Lipton had a chance to give the Flyers an early lead, but 25 seconds in, his shot was saved by Yarmouth junior goalie Spencer King.

The Clippers then went ahead to stay with 8:43 to go in the first period, as Corey scored unassisted.

Garrett got his first goal, unassisted, with 7:23 on the clock and with 36.2 seconds remaining in the opening stanza, Garrett set up senior Kurt Heywood for a 3-0 lead.

In the first period, Waynflete was hindered by eight turnovers.

The Flyers would settle down in the second quarter, but their deficit grew.

With 9:47 to go before halftime, Garrett set up senior Michael Guertler for a shot which Waynflete senior goalie Ben Musgrove couldn’t stop and Yarmouth had a four-goal advantage.

The Flyers finally got on the board on a man-up situation with 9:05 left, as sophomore Harry Millspaugh set up senior Zane Moorhead.

Junior Gavin Hamm got that goal back for the Clippers 35 seconds later, but after Lipton hit the post, Moorhead got a feed from senior Mitchell Adams and beat King with an over the shoulder shot to pull Waynflete within 5-2.

That’s as close as the Flyers would get though, as 31 seconds later, junior Ben Hamilton scored unassisted for the host team.

With 1:41 on the first half clock, playing man-up, Yarmouth struck again, as Hamm set up Garrett for a goal.

Then, with 29.8 seconds remaining, Corey’s unassisted tally put the Clippers ahead, 8-2, at halftime.

In the first half, faceoffs and ground balls were even, but Waynflete committed five more turnovers, which helped Yarmouth hold a 22-10 shots advantage.

The Flyers made things interesting in the third period, as Adams scored unassisted with 10:44 on the clock and with 6:28 left, junior Oliver Burdick finished unassisted to make it 8-4, but after Lipton was robbed on the doorstep by King, Garrett finished a pass from Hamm in transition and the Clippers still had a comfortable five-goal advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

There, Yarmouth put it away.

With 9:18 remaining, Hamm set up Corey for a 10-4 lead.

Adams got a goal back for Waynflete with 7:54 left, but 44 seconds later, Garrett (from senior Connor Senger) scored and with 4:59 to go, Corey scored for the final time, unassisted, and the Clippers went on to the 12-5 victory.

“We knew we needed to come out tonight and perform and we did,” said Garrett. “That was not a fun game last year. We came into this angry, remembering last year. We knew we needed to win this one.”

“This was a much-needed win,” Buchanan said. “We’ve worked hard in practice. We have the best chemistry we’ve had in my four years. They’re all great guys. That helps us. It was a good feeling to win Senior Night. It was a great night for lacrosse.”

“We didn’t have many caused turnovers, our clearing was really good, (senior) Griffin (Primeau) faced off well and time of possession was in our favor,” Pearl added. “When you play the schedule we do, you have to learn from losses, but you can’t live in the past. We focused on Waynflete. We’ve had this circled since last year because we remember what happened. We feel good about where we are. We’d like to get a few back, but that’s in the past.”

Yarmouth’s offense was impressive, as Corey and Garrett each had four goals.

“If the other team locks (Anders and Gavin) off, we have to dodge more and take on more responsibility,” Garrett said. “I noticed (Waynflete’s defensemen) were sliding adjacent and I cut to the net.”

“I’m so happy for Andy Garrett,” Pearl said. “He’s become a starter as a senior and he’s practiced really well and showed up when it mattered. Waynflete tried to shut off Anders and Gavin. We responded by getting other guys going.”

Guertler, Hamilton, Hamm and Heywood also scored.

Hamm had three assists, while Garrett finished with a pair and Senger had one.

King made nine saves.

Primeau helped the Clippers win 11 of 20 faceoffs.

Hamm and sophomore Wyatt Sullivan each scooped up a team-high five ground balls.

Yarmouth outshot Waynflete, 38-22 (24-14 on cage) and overcame 15 turnovers.

Best of all, the Clippers’ defense was phenomenal, as Buchanan, Rogers and Company blanked the Boston University-bound Lipton.

“Miles is a great player,” Buchanan said. “We were ready to go. Jake and I split the time on him. Jake did a great job. We were able to strip the ball a few times. He’s talented and fast, but we were able to slow him down. We played solid, man-to-man defense.”

“Cole and Jake get credit for (holding Lipton without a goal),” said Pearl. “We have a very good defense. Even in games we’ve lost, they haven’t been runaways. A player like Miles, the best way to keep him off the field is to keep possession and limit his opportunities.”

Reset

Waynflete got two goals apiece from Adams and Moorhead and one from Burdick.

Adams and Millspaugh each had an assist.

Musgrove made a dozen saves.

The Flyers held a 29-26 edge in ground balls, as Mykel Henry led the way with five.

Waynflete turned the ball over 21 times.

“We started the season with two tough games, Cape and Greely, and we ended with two tough games, York and Yarmouth,” said Flyers coach Parker Repko. “(The Clippers) have some talented offensive players, a great faceoff guy and their defense did a great job on Miles.

“We don’t like the feeling of losing. We told the team, ‘This should humble you, but it should motivate you so you don’t feel this way again.'”

Championship dreams

Waynflete projects to be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in Class C and will host a quarterfinal round playoff game next weekend. The Flyers have the pieces in place to make another title run.

“We have a full week to put in some stuff,” Repko said. “We’ve put in a lot of work and effort and have had some success. Now we get to enjoy having homefield advantage. The seniors are hungry. They got a taste last year and they want more. They really wanted this one today, so (losing) should fire them up even more.”

Yarmouth will be second in Class B and won’t have to play a road playoff game (the state final is at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland). The Clippers are one of three top-notch teams (defending champion Brunswick and top-ranked Greely are the others) with a great chance to win it all.

“We’re not done,” Buchanan said. “I think we can get a few more.”

“I think we can compete with any team in our division,” Garrett said. “I’m excited to have homefield advantage. We just have to focus and lock it in.”

“It’s on to the postseason,” Pearl added. “We’re excited. I think homefield advantage in the playoffs is a big thing. We want to play on turf. We had two overtime losses to end our season last year. We exorcised one demon and hopefully we get another chance to face Brunswick.”