BRUNSWICK

The last two years ended badly for the Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team, both times at the hands of Cheverus.

On Wednesday in the Eastern Maine Class A final, there was the purple of the Stags on the other end of the field, preparing to take on the Dragons once again.

Was this going to be three straight years of Cheverus ending No. 1 Brunswick’s season, or were the Dragons going to pull through and return to the State A championship game for the first time since a three-year run from 2007- 2009?

Brunswick fans can get their seat cushions out for a trip to Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Saturday (game time is 5:30 p.m.) against Western A champ South Portland (13-1) after the Dragons held on for a 9-8 victory over those pesky and third-seeded Stags.

For the third straight year, it came down to the end, with a long desperation shot from Cheverus defenseman Sean Walsh stopped by Brunswick keeper Chris MrVichin as the final seconds ticked off.

“It has been a while since we have gone back (to the state game), and we are excited as a coaching staff to go back,” said Brunswick coach Don Glover. “South Portland is a good team, and we know that we are going to have to battle. My approach every time we have gone to a state game is we will practice intensely and I want them to enjoy the moment.

“Our goal was not to win a state championship, but to be in a state championship. I want to go in as the underdog, go in swinging and see what happens.”

Momentum shifts

Against Cheverus, the game featured several momentum changes. The Stags led 1-0 after the first quarter on a Nick Schleh goal, but a big defensive play by Dragons Eli Downs, Matt Brooks and Christian Glover changed the momentum as the game shifted into the second quarter. Brunswick’s zone defense seemed to confuse Cheverus.

“I don’t think they expected us to play a zone, something we haven’t played all year,” said coach Glover. “We wanted to catch them offguard, and when we went to zone it ate up a lot of their one-on-one advantages. We clogged it up and played good help defense. We preached possession tonight, knowing that three or four dropped passes out of bounds can cost you a game.”

Brunswick tied the game when Christian Glover went end-to-end before slipping a shot past Cheverus goalkeeper Jamie Biegel. And, the Dragons kept coming. Brooks scored a pair of goals 1:22 apart, and after Cheverus drew within one on a tally by James Kane of Brunswick, the Dragons received a goal each from TJ Sullivan and Cam Glover for a 5-2 halftime lead.

But, Cheverus coach Bill Bodwell and his Stags figured things out to begin the second half. Using speed, Schleh and Jack Sutton scored in the first 2:11 of the second half to get the visitors to 5-4.

Moments later, a hard collision sent Sutton to the bench with an upper body injury.

“We are just not a deep team,” said Bodwell.

Josh Dorr finished off a pass from Brooks, and Sullivan answered Schleh’s third goal to give the Dragons a 7-5 lead. Once again Cheverus drew within a goal, with Schleh taking a pass from Lawson and finishing for his fourth goal with 17 seconds left in the quarter.

“We knew there would be ebbs and flows, and Cheverus is a really good team,” said Don Glover. “We practiced coming into this knowing that we had to be patient and stay poised. We had to have everything line up right. They played an awesome game, but we were able to capitalize on a couple of situations down low.”

A pair of tallies by Cam Glover in the fourth made for a 9-6 game. However, Cheverus refused to go away, getting a goal each from Patrick O’Hanlon and Lawson to make for a 9-8 contest with 5:45 remaining.

MrVichin made two game-saving stops down the stretch, and Lucas McCue blocked a hard shot from Schleh with 1:22 remaining.

“We had to stay in front, but we had no doubt that we were going to pull it off,” said Brooks.

Brunswick gained control and tried to run out the clock. But, a turnover gave the Stags the ball with 48.9-seconds left. Brooks and Sullivan worked to steal the ball back for Brunswick, forcing Cheverus to take a pair of penalties as the time ticked away.

“I am glad that we made it close at the end, down by three, and the boys played a super game,” said Bodwell. “It was more fun to be the stumbling block for Brunswick than the one stumbled on, but it was a good battle, three straight years of good battles.”

“We might have the same thing next year, but we were not going to let it (a loss) happen to us for a third time in a row,” said Brooks.

Glover was pleased with his team’s ability to change its defensive tactics.

“In my 17 years of coaching, this is one of the highest IQ teams that I have had,” said the coach. “We want to have a lot of recipes to use, and with two or three days to train for it, we pulled out the zone and went with it. When you take a Lucas McCue down into lock-offs with Tom Lawson, that shows how good of an athlete that he is.”

The shots were even (24 apiece), with MrVichin turning aside eight shots while Biegel stopped seven. The Stags held a 10-9 edge in faceoffs. McCue, Christian Glover, Cam Glover and Ian Schlosser had three groundballs each for Brunswick.

No. 1 Brunswick 9, No. 3 Cheverus 8

Eastern Maine Class A
Championship

At		Brunswick
Cheverus			— 1142—8
Brunswick			—0522—9

Goals — (C) Nick Schleh 4, James Kane, Jack Sutton, Tom Lawson, Patrick O’Hanlon; (B) Christian Glover, Matt Brooks 2, TJ Sullivan 2, Cam Glover 3, Josh Dorr. Assists — (C) Tom Lawson, Alex Nason, Jack Sutton 2, Nick Schleh; (B) Tyler Hillis, Lucas McCue, Ian Schlosser, Matt Brooks. Shots — Brunswick 24, Cheverus 24. Saves — (C) Jamie Biegel 7; (B) Chris MrVichin 8. Records — Brunswick 13-2, Cheverus 10-5. Up next for Brunswick — State Class A Championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, 5:30 p.m., against South Portland (13-1).