The Red Storm have reclaimed what, for several years – until 2013, that is – appeared to be their rightful place: After besting visiting Gorham 12-8 in June 15’s A South final, Scarborough rolled into Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on the 18th for the State Championship and ultimately skated past North reps Brunswick with relative ease. Sam Neugebauer, Cam Thibault and Marco Manfra hashed four goals apiece and the Storm never trailed as they plowed to an 18-10 W.
Scarborough vs. Gorham
The Storm entered the tournament ranked first in the South, Gorham, third. And yet, the Rams had topped Scarborough 9-8 at the very beginning of the season – their first time ever doing so – so the outcome of the A South final was far from obvious in advance.
In fact, Gorham kept close with Scarborough for quite some time, the teams trading goals back and forth. The Storm jumped on top first: Having gone man-up, Thibault capitalized, converting a feed from Manfra into a blast past Gorham keeper Carter Landry. Ram Joe Gallant answered two minutes later, though, cutting in low from the right side for a bouncer past Scarborough’s own netminder, Dominic Joy.
Stormer Cam Nigro made it 2-1, and Gorhamite Alex York 2-2; Marc Guerette made it 3-2, and Chris Tucker 3-3. Then, however, Scarborough began to pry open an advantage. They never quit held an insurmountable lead, but nor did they ever fall behind. By the end, Neugebauer had notched four goals and an assist, and Manfra two goals and four assists.
The win bumped Scarborough to 11-3 on the season, and shuttled them into Saturday’s Class A Final. Gorham, meanwhile, retired till 2017 at 12-3.
Scarborough vs. Brunswick
In an effort similar to Gorham’s, Brunswick managed to keep pace with the Storm for a stretch at the beginning of the state championship bout, but when Nigro underhanded a goal past Dragons keeper Logan Ouellette midway through the first quarter, Scarborough’s gloves came off. They charged to a substantial lead from there, and never looked back.
“The plan was just to stick to our game,” said Scarborough head coach Joe Hezlep. “We felt like we’ve been doing a great job putting pressure on teams, and just to continue to do that. Not worry so much about what Brunswick did – they do a lot of things well – but more of just us taking advantage of the matchups we had.”
“Brunswick, great opponent,” said Manfra. “But we came out, played our game, had a better day than them.
Neugebauer began the scoring, just 54 seconds into the game, on a spin move at the left corner of Ouellette’s cage. Thirty seconds later, Brunswicker Max Gramins answered, but less than a minute after that, Thibault put the Storm ahead once again.
Jameson Cyr evened things up at 7:30 – but that’s when the Scarborough boys slipped into their groove. Nigro, Thibault, Thibault again and Guerette all rattled off points in the ensuing minutes to take the game firmly in hand. Josh Dorr then got one back for the Dragons, but Scarborough responded with three more. By the break, the Storm had dashed ahead 10-5.
“Our guys did a great job putting shots on net,” said Hezlep. “That might’ve been the most shots we’ve put on cage all year. That’s definitely a big part of it.”
Scarborough took 54 shots in the contest, 33 of which found Ouellette. By comparison, Brunswick managed to fire off just 27 shots, and only 18 reached Joy.
“We come out as a team,” Guerette said. “We play as a family, move the ball really well, on offense especially. Our D does a great job as well – they don’t get enough credit.”
The Storm continued to control in the downhill minutes. Gramins made it 10-6 to start the third, but Manfra from Guerette got that back, and Thibault, Guerette and Andrew Granzier pushed the Storm all the way out to 14-6.
“Brunswick’s a terrific team,” said Hezlep. “They’ve got some kids who can absolutely play, but Class A was so wide open this year. On any given day, there were five or six teams that definitely could’ve played in this game and put on a good game with anybody. It really was a fun year in Class A this year.”
“We didn’t know much,” said Guerette, asked what the Storm expected from Brunswick. “We based a lot of it off when we played them in preseason. We were a totally different team back then, though.”
Scarborough never relented and in the end took home the winners’ trophy. It is, believe it or not, Hezlep’s sixth in a mere nine years with the program.
Nigro added a pair of assists in addition to his two goals, and Guerette finished with three goals and the one assist.
For additional photography and video interviews with Hezlep, Manfra and Guerette, visit www.keepmecurrent.com/category/sports.
Scarborough’s Eric Murray tracks a Gorham attacker in the teams’ A South Final bout.
Marc Guerette ditches two Dragons on his way upfield for the Storm.
Scarborough middie, senior and Captain Cam Nigro holsters his stick after assisting one of his teams’ 18 goals vs. Brunswick.
Storm middie Cam Jepson fires forward, initiating a round of attack for his boys vs. Brunswick.
Stormer Cam Thibault attacks in Saturday’s Class A State Final.
Sam Neugebauer storms into the Dragons’ personal space bubble in search of yet another goal.
Scarborough attacker Marco Manfra skirts a Dragons defender.
Stormer Eric Quirk clashes with a Brunswick opponent.
Scarborough’s Matt Blaisdell dashes past a Brunswick defender.
Scarboroughite Colin Hayward celebrates after his teams’ 18-10 win over Brunswick.
Scarborough senior Captain Cam Nigro lofts his team’s latest piece of hardware. Nigro is, according to teammates, the only current Stormer to have also been a member of the program the last time it won the Class A State Championship, back in 2013.
The Red Storm show who’s No. 1 after triumphing over Brunswick in the Class A state final.
Scarborough LSD Reece Lagerquist carries the ball upfield for his team vs. Gorham in the A South Final.
Current Publishing sports reporter Adam Birt speaks with Scarborough’s Marco Manfra and Marc Guerette following their team’s state championship win.
Post-game interview with Scarborough coach Joe Hezlep.
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