Waynflete tuned up for the Class B boys’ lacrosse playoffs by tuning out Freeport on Thursday.
The Flyers rolled to a 20-11 win in their final regular-season game, a little more than three weeks after the Falcons’ zone defense went into shut-down mode during an 8-5 win in their first meeting at Freeport.
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“I think the difference was the energy we brought from the start,” Waynflete Coach Dan Thomsen said. “We were really focused. We’re playing pretty well together right now and that helped out.”
“They controlled the ball and it seemed like they wanted it more,” Freeport Coach Geoff Arris said.
“Every time the ball was on the ground there were two, three and sometimes even four Waynflete guys on it. They never gave up. They ran through everything as hard as they could.”
Waynflete, which outscored its final three opponents by a 50-20 margin, led 9-3 at halftime and 17-7 at the end of the third quarter. A running clock was used twice during the fourth quarter after the Flyers opened a 12-goal lead.
“They played a zone (defense) at first, which threw us off,” said Henry Cleaves, who led the Flyers with six goals and an assist. “When we got the four-goal lead we pushed them out of that zone and forced them to go man-to-man, and once they get into man (defense), I like our middies dodging against anybody. Our middies got past their guys and kept their heads up, which is really effective.”
The outcome didn’t change either team’s placement in the final Heal point standings.
Next Wednesday, fifth-seeded Waynflete (8-4) is expected to travel to Cumberland to play fourth-seeded Greely in a Western Class B quarterfinal, and fourth-seeded Freeport (7-5) is expected to be home against No. 5 Gardiner in the Eastern Class B quarterfinals.
“This doesn’t change anything except that mentally we’ve got to get back up,” Arris said.
“We’re playing our best lacrosse right now and that’s a good thing,” Cleaves said, “but we know we’ve got a tough matchup ahead of us. We always have have a tough matchup in the playoffs but we’re ready for it.”
The Flyers held a 43-27 edge in shots and a 35-23 edge in groundballs. They also won 19 of 30 draws.
“This is our last game on this field and we had to give it all, and we did,” Cleaves said.
Henry Baker-Connick had five goals and three assists for Waynflete.
Timmy Bollinger scored three goals for the Flyers. Cooper Chap and Cal Lewis each had two goals and an assist. Will Burdick had a goal and an assist. Joe Connors scored a goal and Will Nelligan had three assists.
Waynflete goalie Graham Ratner made 10 saves.
Sam Wogan of Freeport scored a game-high seven goals. Ramsay Dodge scored two goals and had two assists for the Falcons. Brady LaFrance scored two goals and Tyler Frey had an assist.
Freeport goalie Zac Wogan made 20 saves.
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