FALMOUTH — Falmouth began defense of its Class B boys’ lacrosse state championship by running away with a 27-1 win over York in a Western Maine Conference game Thursday night.

It was opening day for Maine’s spring high school teams, though some teams won’t officially begin their seasons for another week or so. The Yachtsmen got an early start, though, and showed they may be ready to make another title run.

“We come into every game with the same mentality,” said senior attackman Jack Scribner, who led the Yachtsmen with five goals and two assists. “We respect all of our opponents, but we play fast. We play our game.”

Falmouth returns several key players from last season’s championship team.

“We’ve got some older guys and we’ve got some younger guys, and the older guys are definitely leading the way,” Scribner said. “Like I said, we respect every team, but we come and play as hard as we can.”

It was the first win at Falmouth for Coach Dave Barton, who took over for Mike Lebel after spending one season at Edward Little. Lebel’s contract wasn’t renewed after the Yachtsmen won their third state championship during his 10 seasons.

“I’m involved with a lot of youth lacrosse around here and I work for a group called LaxPros, and most of the Falmouth guys have participated in that program,” said Barton, a 2012 graduate of the University of Vermont who teaches fifth- and sixth-grade students in Auburn. “I came into this knowing I knew 90 percent of (the players on) the roster. We hit the ground running, and this group is ready for that.”

Reilly Tucker, who had two assists, and Nate Arrants each scored four goals. Devin Russell contributed three goals and three assists, and Lou Mainella had three goals and one assist.

Falmouth also got two goals apiece from Tom Fitzgerald (who also had an assist), Henry Farnham and Jacob Preston. George Fitzgerald and Kristian Valle were the other goal scorers, and Lyendae St. Louis had an assist.

The Yachtsmen held a 21-0 lead at the end of the first half. They connected on 21 of 28 shots in the first 24 minutes and held a 22-3 edge in center draws.

The second half was played with a running clock, which occurs in high school lacrosse if one team has a 12-goal lead in the second half.

James Boksanski, a junior middie, broke up the shutout when he picked up a loose ball and put in a shot from 10 yards with 6:40 remaining.

It was a tough way for the Wildcats to open the season, but York Coach Garrett McLean tried to find some positives.

“We did get better in the second half,” he said. “I (told) the guys we’ve got to treat it as a new half, we’ve got to change the mentality we came out with and we’ve got to get better, and they did. The scoreboard, unfortunately, didn’t reflect that, but it’s great to come out and take one on the chin. It’s really going to define our season the way we come back from this.”

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