YARMOUTH – Sometimes the outcome of a game can turn on just one mistake.

That’s what happened Friday night when Falmouth played Yarmouth in boys’ lacrosse.

The mistake came when officials caught Falmouth attackman Charlie Fay using an illegal stick.

As a result, Fay had to spend the first three minutes of the second quarter in the penalty box, and the Yachtsmen had to play a man down. It was a chance for the Clippers, who held a 3-2 lead, to pile up the points. They didn’t.

Instead, Falmouth grabbed the momentum and rolled to a 13-6 win.

“That could have really hurt us,” Falmouth Coach Mike Lebel said. “Being three minutes, locked in, to get out of that unscratched was pretty big. That could have been a huge turning point. That could have really broken our back there.”

Falmouth limited the Clippers to two shots while a man down.

“It definitely was a momentum change for us,” said Falmouth defender Mike Ryan. “It really tenses up. You have to get your head in the game. Actually I think it helped us. It pumped our defense up to have everyone in the game early.”

After killing off the penalty, Falmouth (10-1) scored four goals in seven minutes for a 6-3 lead.

“When our defense is stopping plays, it just amps up the whole team, really,” said Fay, who played the rest of the game with a teammate’s backup stick.

“Of course, we want to give the defense a break down there, so we try to hold the ball and we slow things down. Once we slow things down and work the ball, we open up looks and we had nice open looks. We had some dodges and those dodges resulted in good looks too.”

After taking a 3-2 lead with less than two minutes left in the second quarter on the first of two goals by Ian Edgecomb, Yarmouth (7-4) went more than 21 minutes without a goal.

“Our man up really struggled tonight, and they did not play like they did at Scarborough, and they definitely did not play like they did in practice,” Yarmouth Coach David Pearl said.

Last Friday, the Clippers pulled out a 7-6 win over previously unbeaten Scarborough.

“I called a timeout at the beginning of one of the man ups, and they still struggled with that,” Pearl said.

Willy Sipperly, who also had two assists, and Fay each scored three goals. Mitch Tapley and Hunter LaFond each had two goals and an assist. Jack Coleen and Brad Gilbert each scored a goal and had an assist.

For Yarmouth, Sam Torres and Ethan Cyr each scored a goal and had an assist.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH