PORTLAND

It wasn’t the ending the Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team wanted, but it was a season that exceeded all expectations.

After Saturday’s Class A State Championship game — an 18-10 defeat at the hands of Scarborough — Dragons’ coach Don Glover was all smiles. As each of his players came up to receive their runners-up awards after the game, Glover gave out big hugs and congratulated them on the season.

At the end of the day, it wasn’t about a lopsided loss to the Red Storm. It was an over-achievement.

Brunswick was just happy to be there.

“When we started off our season, we didn’t think we’d make it this far,” Glover said. “This is a testament to their determination and the kids’ work ethic day in and day out. They’re an exceptional group of kids. For us to be here today, we just took it as icing on the cake.

“We always put this as a goal — to play in the last game of the season. I would never want to put pressure on kids or us as a program to say ‘we want to win a state championship.’ This is about getting to play tonight. This is an honor.”

“We weren’t even supposed to be the best team in our conference,” Dragons’ attacker Josh Dorr said. “We didn’t win the KVAC Championship, but we made it the farthest out of our class. It sucks to lose, but it’s exciting to make it here.”

In rare fashion, Brunswick (12-3) was on its heels from the very first whistle at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Class A South champ Scarborough (12-3) scored just 54 seconds into the game and set a dominant, ball-possessing tone that never shifted.

The Dragons answered the first two opposing scores (goals by Max Gramins and Jameson Cyr), but the Red Storm were just heating up.

A Cameron Nigro goal at 6:33 prefaced a pair from Cam Thibault, who was one of three players with four goals on the night, and Scarborough took a 5-2 lead into the second quarter. In just 12 minutes, Brunswick goalie Logan Ouellette faced 18 shots.

“I really thought we did a great job tonight of putting pressure early in offensive sets and also getting shots on cage,” Scarborough coach Joseph Hezlep said. “That’s something we’ve struggled with a lot this year and we really did a good job tonight of making their saves. It paid off for us.”

It was a similar structure in the second frame, where Marc Gurette gave the Red Storm a goal, again after just 54 seconds. A counter from Dorr was followed by three straight goals from Scarborough to make the score 9-3.

Some positive light for the Dragons came with two minutes to go in the half, when Ben Palizay found Gramins right in front of net for a goal. A minute later, after earning a penalty and getting the ball immediately after the first score, Christian Glover wound up from distance and bounced a ball into the roof of the net.

But, just when Brunswick thought it’d be taking some momentum into the second half, Sam Neugebauer scored for Scarborough with just 14.4 seconds left, moving the score to 10-5 at the break.

“I think just their fastpaced offense,” Christian Glover said of the Scarborough difference maker. “They controlled the ball well, made the little plays and possessed around us. It really tired out our defense.”

One on one

Unlike Brunswick, who constantly moves the ball around on offense and often has an assist attached to its goals, Scarborough used its feet to break down the Dragons’ defense.

The bulk of the scoring plays for the Red Storm came after attackers ran around the danger area and got open enough to fire off a shot. In the third frame, four of their five goals came back-to-back and four were unassisted. More importantly, all four were clean, uncontested shots on Ouellette in goal.

“They’re a dodge-initiating offense, so we knew they’d be trying a lot of iso’s and stuff like that,” Coach Glover said. “We have a lot of young kids. There’s a lot of kids that were out there in situations tonight that weren’t really battle-tested other than one season. Those things start to wear on you a little bit.”

The offensive onslaught begin in the middle of the field, where Scarborough won 20 of the 31 total faceoffs. Long spells of possession led to tired Brunswick legs, which led to more and more shots. Ouellette was up to the challenge with 10 saves, but 46 shots proved to be too much to handle.

The Dragons picked up a bit in the final 12 minutes of play, but each of their three goals were matched by Scarborough, which again scored in the opening minute of the quarter. Despite scoring on almost half of their shot attempts, the Class A North champs managed no more than seven in any quarter. Seven of Red Storm goalie Dominic Joy’s eight saves came in the second half.

“Dom(inic) Joy did a great job in net of stopping them (Brunswick) when they had looks, but we were definitely able to slow them down a little bit,” Hezlep said. “They had to adjust to who they thought they had the good matchup with quite a bit.”

“Joe (Hezlep) and Scarborough deserved it,” Don Glover said. “They tactically did a lot of really good stuff that caught us in awkward situations. Our guys played hard, but I think they had a little bit more depth and took advantage of the opportunities.”

Gramins spent most of his time right in front of Joy’s goal and led Brunswick with three goals. In his final game in the program, Cyr scored twice and notched two assists, while Dorr found two goals. It was just the fifth time all season that the Dragons were held under 11 goals.

Just the beginning

Saturday was Brunswick’s third Class A Championship appearance in a row and sixth since 2007. Like Scarborough, which captured its fifth title in the past seven years after winning four in a row from 2010- 2013, Don Glover’s program is considered an elite one in Maine.

“Coach Glover is one of the best in the state,” Hezlep said. “He is one of the most respected coaches around. The things he can do with the talent that he has is really impressive.”

“Honestly, it’s a testament to the depth and what we’re trying to design,” Don Glover said. “It’s not like ‘hey, let’s put all our eggs in one basket and go after the state championship.’ It’s more ‘how consistent can we be? How much can we build for the long term?’ Having been here 23 years, I’m more interested in the long term.”

Last season, it was a large class of talented seniors that paved the way and helped Brunswick win its second state title (a 13-9 win over South Portland). This time around, despite 19 new faces on the roster, it was again the seniors like Cyr, Nate Granholm and Cole Hillis that led the way.

“Our seniors put in a lot of work this year,” Christian Glover said. “We kind of came into the season as an underdog, but we were willing to put in the grit and hard work and it really showed how dedicated our team was this year.”

“Sixteen seniors gone, a couple kids didn’t come back out for this season, so just hard work in the offseason,” Dorr said. “Everyone realized we’ve got to step it up to be successful. It starts with the youth. (Coach) Glover helps out with the youth, high schoolers help out on Mondays. It starts with the youth and carrying up through. We’re always playing.”

As Don Glover and his staff looks ahead to next season, he has as much depth as ever. Of 23 freshmen in the program, just two were on the varsity roster. He’ll lose 10 seniors, but key, play-making juniors like Christian Glover, Dorr and Palizay will return in pursuit of title number three.

The 2016 campaign may not have ended with a trophy, but it’ll go down, like many others, in the Brunswick history books as one to remember.

“I’d say it’s a success,” Christian Glover said of the season. “It definitely helped with the confidence of our uprising juniors who maybe didn’t get as much field time. I’d call it a success.”

“Words can’t even explain how proud I am of this group,” Don Glover said. “They rose to the occasion above and beyond what we thought we, as a group, were going to be able to achieve. There were times of turmoil and everything else, but I’ll tell you right now, these young men have aspired to getting better. They’ve really amazed us as a coaching staff.”

Scarborough 18,
Brunswick 10

Class A State Championship Game

At Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland Brunswick— 2323—10 Scarborough—5553—18 Goals — (B) Max Gramins 3, Jameson Cyr 2, Josh Dorr 2, Christian Glover, Aiden Glover, Ben Palizay; (S) Sam Neugebauer 4, Cam Thibault 4, Cameron Nigro 2, Marc Gurette 3, Marco Manfra 4, Hunter Lon. Assists — (B) Jameson Cyr 2, Josh Dorr, Christian Glover, Ben Palizay 2; (S) Cameron Nigro, Marc Gurette. Shots — Scarborough 46, Brunswick 22 Faceoffs — Scarborough 20, Brunswick 11 Records — Scarborough 12-3, Brunswick 12-3.