South Portland’s boys’ lacrosse team has quickly come of age and in a wild and wacky 2018 season, where Class A South appears to be open for the taking, the Red Riots just might be earmarked for something special.
But then, South Portland dug deep, demonstrated its heart and rallied for a 10-9 victory, one of the biggest regular season wins of recent vintage.
The first period saw Brunswick junior Nate Girardin and South Portland junior Cooper Mehlhorn trade goals, then Dragons junior Aiden Glover and Red Riots junior David Fiorini do the same before senior Max Gramins scored late to give the visitors a 3-2 lead.
Brunswick rattled off goals from Glover, junior Nolan Lyne and sophomore Jack McDiarmid to open it up. Senior Aidan Schifano got a goal back for South Portland, but the Red Riots were down, 6-3, at halftime.
After senior Jack Tierney scored early in the second half for the hosts, Gramins and Glover answered for the Dragons and they appeared in command, but South Portland saved its best for last.
Before the third quarter came to a close, Fiorini and Tierney scored to give the Red Riots life.
Then, in a 23-second span, South Portland drew even, as first Schifano (off a great feed from Fiorini), and senior Charlie Cronin scored to make it 8-8.
With 6:52 remaining, Red Riots junior Logan Doucette gave the hosts their first lead, but 21 seconds later, senior Andrew Eno answered for Brunswick, and after neither team scored the remainder of regulation, the game went to overtime, tied 9-9.
South Portland won the faceoff to start the “sudden victory” extra session and the ball came to Cronin, the soccer standout who is playing high school lacrosse for the first time, and 13 seconds in, Cronin delivered the memorable punctuation mark, finishing to give the Red Riots a palpitating 10-9 victory.
South Portland improved to 3-0 and handed Brunswick its first loss in four outings in the process.
“My team grew up today,” said Red Riots coach Tom Fiorini. “It was a nice comeback victory. The kids showed a lot of heart. This might not be the most talented team I’ve had, but it might be the hardest working.”
Rarity
Brunswick and South Portland have combined to win three of the past four Class A state titles, but the schools hadn’t met before in the regular season.
The Red Riots downed the Dragons, 10-8, to win their first championship in 2014. The following year, Brunswick returned the favor, 11-9.
Last spring, the Dragons returned to the Class A pinnacle, edging Scarborough in an overtime game for the ages, 18-17.
Brunswick moved down to Class B this spring, but remain dominant, opening with decisive wins over host Cony (19-1), visiting Gardiner
(20-8) and visiting Scarborough in a state game rematch (16-8).
South Portland, which was ousted by Thornton Academy in last year’s semifinals, believe that they may be the best team in Class A South this spring. The Red Riots started with victories at Deering (14-10) and Cheverus (14-12).
Saturday, South Portland played from behind much of the game, but did it ever finish strong, as it handed the Dragons their first regular season loss since May 27, 2016.
Cronin’s game-winner made him one of four South Portland players to score twice, as he joined David Fiorini, Schifano and Tierney. Doucette and Mehlhorn had one goal apiece.
Brunswick got three goals from Glover, two from Gramins and one apiece from Eno, Girardin, Lyne and McDiarmid. Glover had two assists, while McDiarmid added one. Goaltender Connor Pendergast made 17 saves. Sophomore Chandler Coombs had a team-high seven ground balls.
“You don’t win all the time in life or in sports,” said Brunswick coach Don Glover. “We’ll analyze it and move on. We were up 8-4 but it could have been much closer. Connor played exceptional in goal and our defensemen played well. I kept telling the guys to possess and have composure. We played a little too haphazard today. We’ve had a high percentage of wins in the faceoff X, but this year, it’s a work in progress. We’re figuring out the right chemistry. ( South Portland) did a phenomenal job.”
Brunswick hopes to bounce back when it hosts Lewiston in a makeup game today (7:30 p.m.) and goes to Edward Little Thursday.
“We’ll walk away from this and process what we need to do,” Don Glover said. “We want to play our best lacrosse in June. The next time we hit the practice field, we’ll have things we need to focus on. Over time, we’ ll get better.”
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