For the first time in the program’s four-year history, the Gorham boys lacrosse team hosted and won a playoff game, as the No. 2 Rams defeated No. 7 Massabesic 14-5 last Wednesday at Gorham High School.

The victory meant hosting a Western Maine Class A semifinal match against No. 3 Scarborough three days later. In that one, the Rams weren’t so fortunate, falling to the Red Storm 14-6 to wrap the season up with a 9-5 record.

“From Day 1 of the season, our No. 1 goal was to win our first playoff game ever,” said Gorham coach TJ Bell after the win over Massabesic. “In all honesty, I thought to myself that I’d pick a goal that I thought we could achieve, then go one higher. That’s what it was, and they did it. I have high expectations for them anyway, and they’ve exceeded that. It’s been fun.”

Gorham put Massabesic away early, scoring the first 10 goals of the game and keeping the Mustangs off the scoreboard for more than two and a half quarters.

“They’re a fast team,” said Massabesic coach Mark Levesque. “They got out on fast breaks, looked for the open man, and they found him.”

Ian Ryan got the Rams started 1:13 into the game, converting a feed from Duncan Allen. Allen tallied 47 seconds later to make it 2-0 a mere two minutes in. It was 5-0 after a quarter and 7-0 at halftime, as Brendan Ryan (2), Ian Ryan, Alex Chase and Luc Robitaille all added goals.

Gorham came out blazing again in the third quarter, as Allen and Brendan Ryan found the net 17 seconds apart before the second half was two minutes old. It was 10-0 after another goal from Ian Ryan when Massabesic’s Jacob Staples rifled a shot from straightaway into the back of the net for the Mustangs’ first score, coming with 4:22 to play in the third. It started a three-goal flurry that gave Massabesic some life. Brandon Levesque scored less than a minute later and Staples scored again with 3:10 left in the third to cut the deficit to seven goals at 10-3.

But Gorham answered with goals from Justin Bahr and Kyle Nielson during a nine-second span to make it 12-3.

Ian Ryan and Bahr added fourth-quarter scores.

Bell, in his first year as varsity coach after being an assistant for two years, credits his team’s growth, work ethic and the newly instituted tiered scheduling format in Western Maine – where teams are matched up based on past seasons’ performance regardless of classification – with helping the Rams make progress as a program.

“We’ve been a varsity program for four years now, so the seniors have been through it and seen the ups and downs,” Bell said. “First, it’s a good group of kids. Second, the schedule (has helped), the way they’ve done it is much more competitive. They set it up in a tier system. If you look at the scores this year in Maine, they’ve all been close scores. That’s kind of why we take the whole ‘put on you hardhat every day’ attitude, because we know it’s going to be hard all season. Playing in five one-goal games really helps you prepare for the playoffs. It gives you confidence going in.”

Against Scarborough, which won the state title two years ago and played a more challenging slate than the Rams during the regular season, Ryan Hunt scored seven goals to lead the Red Storm to a 14-6 and a spot in the regional finals against No. 8 Kennebunk on Wednesday (in a game played after the American Journal’s deadline, see www.keepMEcurrent.com for details from that game).

Hunt put the Red Storm up 1-0 with nine minutes left in the first quarter. But Gorham answered back with 5:06 left in the first, taking advantage of a Scarborough penalty as Brendan Ryan grabbed a rebound and fired it past Scarborough goalie Joe Kennedy.

That goal got the home crowd into the game, but just a couple of minutes later the fans that traveled from Scarborough had another chance to cheer.

With 2:30 left to go in the first quarter, Christopher Kipp got the ball down in front of the Rams’ goal and fired a high shot into the back of the net for Red Storm a 2-0 lead. Hunt scored twice in the final minute of the quarter to give Scarborough a 4-1 lead after one.

Gorham got the first break of the second period with 7:15 left, thanks to a Scarborough penalty. Up a man, Brendan Ryan found Ian Ryan at the side of the Scarborough net and Ian Ryan put it home to cut the Storm lead to 4-2.

But, as he did all game, Hunt had an answer. Just over a minute later, with 6:02 to go in the first half, Hunt got his fourth goal of the game, making the score 5-2 Scarborough.

That’s when things got interesting. With 4:35 left in the half, the Rams got one back when Mike Greatorex took a pass from Brendan Ryan and fired a high shot past Kennedy to make it 5-3.

Twenty-five seconds later, the Rams got on the board again when Chase fired a low, bouncing shot into the Scarborough goal, and just like that, the Red Storm lead was down to one. With 2:53 left to go before halftime, Brendan Ryan got the equalizer as he crossed in front of the net and fired a shot home, tying it at 5-5.

The Red Storm retook the lead with 1:32 left in the half as Daniel Clark set up Hunt for his fifth goal of the game.

Scarborough would get a little breathing room just before the break when Clark wheeled in front of the Gorham net and scored on a turnaround shot with just 9.9 seconds to go before the half, making it 7-5 Scarborough.

Coming out of the break, Scarborough quickly seized the momentum, making it 8-5 on a Kipp goal just 55 seconds into the period.

Hunt got his sixth goal of the game with 6:18 left in the third after scooping up a loose ball and firing a low shot home, and the score was 9-5.

Despite all of their efforts, the Rams couldn’t regain control of the game, and with 4:14 left, the Red Storm took a five-goal lead when Barrett got the ball outside the zone and weaved through the Rams’ defense to score. The Storm would make it 11-5 with 2:19 left in the third when Kipp bounced one home. Barrett made it 12-5 with 43.3 seconds left in the third.

Hunt would get his seventh and final goal of the game with 8:53 left in the fourth quarter and Barrett would close out the scoring for Scarborough with 4:17 left, making it 14-5.

The Rams, despite the fact they were down nine goals with time running out, continued to battle, and with 11.8 seconds to go, got a goal from Duncan Alden to make the final score 14-6.