SCARBOROUGH — Yarmouth High’s boys’ lacrosse team has had so many injuries this season that Clippers have become experts at adapting to adversity.

Few adaptations have worked better than switching senior captain Matthew Beatty from midfield to attack to cover for an injury to fellow senior Henry Vended.

Beatty dished out 10 assists and also scored three goals to lead the Clippers to a 16-11 win Saturday against Scarborough.

Yarmouth, ranked second in Class B North, improved to 4-3. Scarborough, ranked second in Class A South, is now 6-3.

“It’s a testament to Matt’s lacrosse IQ that against a team as great as Scarborough, with defenders as good as Scarborough’s, that he was able to do that,” Yarmouth Coach David Pearl said.

Beatty had no idea he’d reached double-digits in assists.

“Team play; that’s what I was focusing on,” Beatty said. “I mean, if I get the pass off and a teammate puts it in, it’s a combination of the two.”

Beatty was most effective working from behind Scarborough goalie Dominic Joy in what is called the “X” position. From there, he could look to both sides of the cage for cutters bearing down on Joy, or keep the ball swinging.

Bill Jacobs used a hard left-handed sidearm shot to score four goals. Patrick Grant also scored four times, and sophomore Cooper May – another player doing more because of injuries – got three goals in tight traffic in front of Joy.

“We do have some shooters on this team,” Beatty said.

Yarmouth also won 16 of the first 18 faceoffs as it built an 11-5 lead late in the third quarter. Faceoff specialist Ricky Tillotson used his stocky, powerful build to control the ball in a variety of ways. Often times it was Walter Conrad (two goals) running on to secure the groundball.

“We threw every matchup we had at their faceoff guy and it didn’t seem to matter,” Scarborough Coach Joe Hezlep said. “He continued to dominate.”

But in the fourth quarter, Scarborough’s Camden Jepson won six consecutive faceoffs. Not coincidentally, the Red Storm cut the margin to 12-10.

Yarmouth finished things off with a 4-1 edge over the final 3:32. Beatty assisted on three of the goals and scored the other.

Cam Nigro led Scarborough with four goals. Marc Guerette, Sam Neugebauer, and Cam Thibeault each scored twice.

In the first quarter, it was Scarborough that enjoyed the edge in possession.

With the score tied 3-3 as the quarter wound down, a long Scarborough clearing pass was up for grabs. Yarmouth freshman goalie Liam Harke – one more injury replacement – read the play and came out of the crease to check a Scarborough attacker. Harke not only broke up the play, he also drew a retaliatory unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Harke’s hit (and the penalty) fired up the Yarmouth bench. During the two-minute locked-in penalty, Yarmouth scored twice. The Clippers held at least a two-goal lead the rest of the way.

“Liam Harke, our goalie, has just been playing out of his mind,” Conrad said.

“We talk about this game being about momentum and Liam Harke is giving it to us right now.”

Yarmouth’s injury problems continued at Friday’s practice when senior defender and captain Jack Venden broke his foot. Pearl said he is out for the season.

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