YARMOUTH—North Yarmouth Academy’s boys’ lacrosse team produced its best effort to date Monday afternoon at Lewis Field and as a result, the Panthers earned a key interclass victory that will pay some big Heal Points dividends down the road.

Hosting a Greely squad on a two-game win streak, NYA, which had lost two straight, shot to a 5-0 lead after one quarter, as five different players tickled the twine.

The Panthers added a sixth goal early in the second period before the Rangers finally generated some offense, on goals from Bez Mendelsohn and Lukas Cook, but late in the half, after a Greely turnover, senior Brayden Warde scored for NYA, the 100th goal of his career, making it 7-2 at halftime.

The Rangers twice got within four goals in the third quarter and had an opportunity to make things really interesting when they had a 6-on-4 advantage, but NYA senior goalie Jack Curtis made a couple huge saves and sophomore Zach Leinwand and Warde added goals to make it 10-4 heading for the final stanza.

There, Greely made one more push and got within four on a goal from Mendelsohn, but Warde and Leinwand each scored their fourth goals to put it away and the Panthers prevailed, 12-6.

NYA beat the Rangers for the second year in a row, improved to 4-3 on the season and in the process, dropped Greely to 3-5.

“Today was great,” said Panthers coach Peter Gerrity. “It’s a huge win for us. We needed those Heal Points. Everybody got involved in the offense and the defense. We were clicking. We’ve been talking about playing 48 minutes and we feel like if it wasn’t a full 48, we were pretty close today.”

In the mix

The Panthers handled visiting Maranacook in their opener (17-2) and after a 13-9 home loss to Class A power South Portland, beat visiting Gray-New Gloucester (15-2) and host Gardiner (8-6), but last week, NYA lost at home to Wells (9-4) and at York (12-9).

Greely, meanwhile, lost four of its first five games before hitting its stride. The Rangers opened with home setbacks to York (18-8) and Biddeford (6-4) and after edging visiting Messalonskee (16-14), fell at Yarmouth (17-10) and two-time reigning Class C champion Waynflete (12-11). Greely then defeated host Kennebunk (13-9) and Gorham (12-9).

Last year, the Panthers prevailed, 8-2, in Cumberland, their first win over Greely in 11 years.

Monday, on a warm but windy afternoon, NYA did it again.

The Panthers came out firing and after Warde had a shot saved by Rangers goalie Sam Dudek, they went on top to stay with 9:20 remaining in the first quarter, as Wyatt Thomas finished a feed from junior Grey Perham.

A mere 39 seconds later, Gavin Thomas matched his older brother with an unassisted goal for a quick 2-0 advantage.

Curtis then got involved, stopping a couple of shots from Mendelsohn, then with 6:36 to in the first, in transition, Warde fed Leinwand for his first goal, forcing Greely coach Mike Storey to call timeout.

It didn’t help, as Curtis denied Kennedy and at the other end, with 5:57 on the clock, Brogan-Provencher scored for the first time, from Warde.

Warde then got his first goal with 3:27 to go, from Brogan-Provencher, and after another Curtis save on a Kennedy shot, NYA had a 5-0 advantage heading to the second quarter.

“We knew (NYA) was a hot-starting team,” Storey said. “They beat us with hustle and effort from the beginning. They played really well. Their goaltending was great and their defense was sharp.”

Curtis then continued to frustrate the Rangers by saving shots from Mendelsohn, Kennedy, Angus Perry and Cook.

With 4:07 to go in the first half, the Panthers snapped an 11 minute, 20 second scoring drought, when Brogan-Provencher scored unassisted, but 23 seconds later, Greely finally broke through and snapped a 20:16 drought, as Mendelsohn scored unassisted.

With 2:45 left, Cook finished a feed from Hanson, but NYA would recapture momentum late in the half, as after a turnover, Leinwand fed Warde for a 7-2 lead.

The goal was the 100th of Warde’s career.

“It feels great,” said Warde, who will play next year at Connecticut College. “I wouldn’t be here without my teammates, coaches and family members. I want to thank them. It’s been a great ride so far. I knew I was close. I’m really happy that I could get it today and we could come out on top.”

“It’s a huge milestone,” said Gerrity. “(Brayden’s) gone from being a pure goal scorer to contributing all over. He’s become a leader. The other kids look all to him.”

While the goal scoring put the Panthers ahead, Curtis played a huge role as well, stopping 10 shots.

Greely tried to rally in the third quarter, but NYA kept answering back.

A little over two minutes into the second half, Kennedy finished a pass from Cook to cut the deficit to four, but Curtis made a key save on a Cook shot, then with 8:21 to go, the home team got a dose of luck, as a deflected pass bounced right on to the stick of Leinwand, who beat Dudek to make it 8-3.

With 4:42 left, the Cook-to-Kennedy connection produced another score and 16 seconds later, the Rangers had a great chance to creep even closer when Panthers senior Rogers Crowley and senior Jonah Donnelly were both sent off for 30 seconds, but twice, Curtis denied Kennedy and Perry missed wide.

“That was super-big to kill that (6-on-4),” Curtis said. “Whenever we kill penalties, it’s so much fun. The shooters get confident and I just had to stand on my head and make those saves.”

“We don’t tend to practice the many-men-down situations, because they don’t happen very often,” Gerrity said. “Fortunately the penalties were only 30 seconds, so we didn’t have to do it for very long. Then, we were able to take a deep breath. That was a big momentum swing.”

NYA then rebuilt its lead in the final two minutes of the frame, as Wyatt Thomas set up Leinwand for a goal with 1:49 left, then Warde scored unassisted with 57.4 seconds to go, making the score 10-4.

Greely refused to go quietly and after Warde hit the post, Hanson scored unassisted with 7:48 on the clock and with 5:27 left, Kennedy set up Mendelsohn for a goal to cut the deficit to 10-6.

After Kennedy bounced a shot just high and Perry missed wide, Wyatt Thomas fed Warde for his final goal with 2 minutes remaining and 50 seconds later, Leinwand’s final goal (from Brogan-Provencher) brought the curtain down on the Panthers’ 12-6 victory.

“We’re happy with our effort today as a team and I think we battled really hard,” Warde said.

“It certainly felt closer than it was, but to have a little pressure off was good for the guys,” said Gerrity. “It just let them play.”

NYA senior Brayden Warde is congratulated on scoring his 100th career goal following the game by coach Peter Gerrity. Hoffer photo.

Leinwand and Warde both scored four times, Brogan-Provencher added two goals and Gavin Thomas and Wyatt Thomas had one apiece.

Brogan-Provencher, Wyatt Thomas and Warde also had two assists, while Perham finished with one.

Junior Ethan Brochu had a team-high five ground balls.

Curtis dazzled with 15 saves.

“Confidence is a big thing and so is playing with the lead,” Curtis said. “I’ve saved thousands of shots, so I just get in there, trust my instincts and react to the ball.”

“Jack made a lot of big saves,” Warde said. “I’m really happy with how Jack played and how our defense stood in there and played strong.”

“Without (Jack), no doubt it could have gone either way,” added Gerrity. “We lean on him especially against teams like this who can move the ball and shoot.”

NYA had a 37-34 edge in shots (24-21 on cage) and overcame 27 turnovers.

Greely’s offense featured two goals apiece from Kennedy and Mendelsohn and one each from Cook and Hanson.

Cook also had two assists, while Hanson and Kennedy each had one.

Dudek made a dozen saves.

Noah Turner excelled in the faceoff circle, winning 16 of 22 opportunities.

The Rangers had a 43-31 advantage on ground balls (Asa Giffune had a game-high six), but turned the ball over 32 times.

“It wasn’t our best day,” Storey said. “It was just one of those days where we didn’t click from the beginning.”

Key games ahead

Greely hosts Gray-New Gloucester/Poland Wednesday, then plays host to Wells the following Wednesday.

“You always want to keep building in the right direction,” said Storey. “We told the guys we’ve had two bad days out of 40 and this is something we can learn from and build from. We knew from the start we were building this year. We didn’t expect to come out of the gates really hot. We had a positive week last week. We have a lot to build on. There’s going to be ups and downs with a young team.”

NYA looks to keep the good times rolling Wednesday when it goes to Freeport. The Panthers are then idle for a week before going to Lake Region.

“We’re getting where we need to be,” said Warde. “We have a big stretch of games coming up. We want to get back to state championship game and win it.”

“We just have to work together and do what we need to do,” Curtis said. “Our team chemistry this year is the best since I’ve been on the team.”

“We’re excited to be doing what we think we’re supposed to be doing,” Gerrity added. “Last year, we split games with (Freeport). They’ll be tough. We could be great, but we have to keep getting better.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

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