For the fourth time in a month, the Lewiston High School boys lacrosse team was faced with the challenge of stopping all three Glovers on the other sideline, this time in the Class A North Regional Final at Brunswick High School. The Blue Devils scored more goals than the previous three contests, but eight simply wasn’t enough.
Aiden Glover notched a first-half hat trick and Christian Glover dished out three assists as another consistent goal rush earned the Dragons a 14-8 win and their fourth straight trip to the Class A State Championship in Portland.
“It’s awesome,” Aiden Glover said. “We had three check marks on the season. It was a good, winning season, win KVACs and then return to Fitzy (Fitzpatrick Stadium) and to get that last one is awesome. We’re all pumped.”
Exactly as it planned after a tight first half in the regional semifinal, No. 1 Brunswick (15-0) shot out of the gates with three quick goals to start the night. Aiden Glover followed a couple minutes of ball movement with a solo high finish at 10:06 and then Max Gramins found Andrew Eno on a fast break at 8:15. Christian Glover picked up a ground ball near the cage and rifled it in to make it 3-0 and put the early pressure on No. 2 Lewiston (14-5) at 5:22.
The Blue Devils scored on the their second shot of the evening via Tanner Cortes, but the hosts had two more coming. Aiden Glover cut sharply inside and finished a pass from Eno at 5:01 and Josh Dorr took a long rip at 3:40 to make it 5-1.
“We knew they’d be pressing pretty hard,” coach Glover said. “We knew they’d be a good, aggressive defense. Play smart, play fast, use your feet. That’s what we’ve been preaching all season, so we kind of just ‘Let’s echo that and keep doing it.’ And that will carry over to Saturday. There’s no secret formula at this point in the season.”
“We just kind of did our thing,” Aiden Glover said. “We had a plan going into it and we kind of just executed it. And then they switched it up with the zone and we figured out a way to crack that too. Credit our coaches for that, definitely.”
Lewiston owned the faceoff in the first quarter and after Sam Payne punched in a goal with 12.8 seconds left in the frame, it led to another finish. Roman Dennis won the opening faceoff of the second and took off running with the ball before dishing it off to Jayden Wilson, who snuck it by Connor Pendergast in the Brunswick cage to make the score 5-3.
That was the closest the Blue Devils got.
Cut inside
Both defenses stood tall for the middle part of the second frame, but Gramins broke through and found space right out of a timeout at 6:46. He scored and then a minute-and-a-half later, Aiden Glover completed his hat trick on a low rip. To start the second half, it was Gramins finishing again just as Lewiston penalty released, moving the score to 8-3.
A Dragons giveaway in the back proved costly as Alex Rivet finished one-onone to put Lewiston back on the board at 7:10, but the zone defense was getting cut open. Palizay darted inside and finished a pass from Aiden Glover right after Dorr pinged one off the post.
“That’s kind of part of our offense,” Aiden Glover said of the cuts. “That’s what we practice and we have to execute it during the game. I feel like we did a pretty good job of that today.”
A mere 40 seconds later, Christian Glover lofted one over to Aiden in the middle and suddenly it was 10-3.
“He’s an exceptional pole,” coach Glover said of Christian. “Usually, the position of long-stick midfielder is more of a defensive specialist, but we keep him around to the point where he’s got kind of a green light in the offensive scheme of the things. His field presence is exceptional, but his understanding of transition offense, head up and feeding, really brings a different element for our offense.”
Christian Glover forced multiple turnovers on defense and took the ball down the field twice on transition runs. He was also the center of a defense that forced many high and wide Lewiston shots in the second half. The Blue Devils managed 28 on the night, but Pendergast blocked 10 that were on target.
“We knew that this would be a good battle, back and forth the whole game,” coach Glover said. “Strategy wise, we wanted to control them because they’re a very skilled group. A lot of underclassmen that are really, really good lacrosse players. And we’re senior-heavy, so let’s try and take control and possess the ball as much as possible. That piece to the strategy definitely paid off for us.”
Senior Bryan Wagg faced 26 Brunswick shots on the other end, making five saves. Lewiston held the face-off edge, 16-13, and tacked on three goals in the final six minutes of the game.
It’s now off to Portland for the Dragons, who will play Scarborough at 10 a.m. at Fitzpatrick Stadium. The hope is to avenge an 18-10 defeat to the Red Storm in last year’s final, but ultimately, getting there is what matters.
“It’s huge,” coach Glover said. “Each year, we establish a goal to say ‘We want to be playing in the last game of the season.’ And then after that, it’s icing on the cake. The other side of the state sorts themselves out, but as long as we’re playing in that last game — for a lot of kids in the state of Maine and a lot of programs, they don’t get to that last game. For us, it’s just an accomplishment getting there. Let the game take care of itself after that.”
No. 1 Brunswick 14, No. 2 Lewiston 8
Class A North Regional Final At Brunswick High School
| Lewiston | — | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | — | 8 |
| Brunswick | — | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | — | 14 |
Goals — (L) Alex Rivet 4, Tanner Cortes, Sam Payne, Jayden Wilson, Pat Racine. (B) Aiden Glover 5, Max Gramins 4, Andrew Eno, Christian Glover, Josh Dorr, Ben Palizay, Henry Doherty. Assists — (L) Ian Hussey, Pat Racine, Roman Dennis, Jayden Wilson, Gunnar Wade, Garrett Poussard; (B) Christian Glover 3, Ben Palizay 2, Max Gramins 2, Aiden Glover 2, Andrew Eno. Shots — Lewiston 28, Brunswick 26. Saves — (L) Bryan Wagg 5; (B) Connor Pendergast 10, Jeremy Vuong 1. Face-offs — Lewiston 16, Brunswick 13. Records — Brunswick 15-0, Lewiston 10-5. Up next for the Dragons — Class A State Championship against Scarborough, 10 a.m., at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
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