BOX SCORE

Scarborough 7 Falmouth 6

F- 1 3 2 0- 6
S- 2 2 0 3- 7

First quarter
5:14 S Rumelhart (unassisted)
3:46 S Baba (unassisted)
1:45 F Berry (Ciraulo)

Second quarter
11:28 S Park (unassisted)
8:45 S Pedersen (unassisted)
2:26 F Skillin-Lanou (Kerr)
59.7 F Ciraulo (Kerr) (MAN-UP)
5.8 F Kerr (unassisted)

Third quarter
10:17 F Kerr (Kaplan) (MAN-UP)
2:30 F Berry (unassisted)

Fourth quarter
11:46 S Park (unassisted) (MAN-UP)
3:23 S Leadley (unassisted)
47.8 S Leadley (St. Germain)

Goals:
F- Berry, Kerr 2, Ciraulo, Skillin-Lanou 1
S- Leadley, Park 2, Baba, Pedersen, Rumelhart 1

Assists:
F- Kerr 2, Ciraulo, Kaplan 1
S- St. Germain 1

Faceoffs: (Falmouth, 9-7)
F- Langdon 9 of 16
S- Carlista 7 of 16

Ground balls:
F- 23
S- 38

Turnovers:
F- 17
S- 19

Shots:
F- 33
S- 26

Shots on cage:
F- 16
S- 14

Saves:
F (Noyes) 7
S (Medeiros) 10

SCARBOROUGH—Scarborough’s resurgent boys’ lacrosse team was lacking a signature victory.

Not anymore.

Monday evening, three weeks after a painful overtime loss at Falmouth, the Red Storm got a chance to host the reigning Class A North champions and once again, there was almost no separation between the title contenders.

But this time, it was Scarborough celebrating at the end.

The Red Storm started fast, as junior Sam Rumelhart and senior Sebastien Baba scored first quarter goals before senior Kaz Berry answered for Falmouth.

Early in the second period, junior Jeremiah Park and classmate Finn Pedersen scored for a 4-1 Scarborough lead, but Falmouth’s potent offense awakened and goals from junior Rory Skillin-Lanou, senior Gio Ciraulo and senior Wyatt Kerr forged a tie at halftime.

With the Red Storm’s offense bottled up in the third quarter, Falmouth went on top on a Kerr goal, then took a 6-4 lead when Berry scored unassisted.

Scarborough would save its best for last, however, snapping a nearly 21-minute scoring drought when Park scored man-up 14 seconds into the fourth period and with 3:23 to go, senior Owen Leadley tied the game.

With the specter of another overtime crucible looming, the Red Storm won it in regulation, as with 47.8 seconds remaining, Leadley scored his second game-winner in three days and Scarborough went on to celebrate a 7-6 victory.

The Red Storm beat Falmouth for the first time in a dozen years, improved to 8-2 and in the process handed Falmouth its second successive loss and dropped it to 8-2 as well.

“This is a big deal,” said Scarborough coach Zach Barrett. “It is exciting, but I wish it wasn’t always this exciting. We’re playing tight games and we’re winning tight games lately, which is awesome. I’m ecstatic we’re making plays at the end when it counts.”

Another battle

On May 4, Scarborough rallied late on a goal from senior Will St. Germain to force overtime, but host Falmouth pulled it out, 10-9, when Kerr scored in OT.

Other than that loss, the Red Storm have been almost perfect this spring, opening with victories at Thornton Academy (8-6), at home over South Portland (18-7) and at Windham (12-6) and after losing to Falmouth,. bouncing right back with a 12-2 home victory over Kennebunk and a 14-7 win at South Portland. After a tough 4-3 home loss to Thornton Academy,. Scarborough won twice last weekend, beating visiting Windham with ease (13-1), then earning a thrilling 6-5 overtime win at Berwick Academy Saturday, on Leadley’s game-winner.

Falmouth has been one of the state’s best teams as well, starting with home wins over visiting Kennebunk (10-6), Windham (10-7), Thornton Academy (9-8), Scarborough and South Portland (14-2). After rallying for a palpitating 9-8 overtime victory at Thornton Academy, Falmouth rolled at Windham (14-5) and fought off host South Portland’s upset bid, 9-6, before stumbling for the first time Saturday at Cape Elizabeth, 14-5.

Monday, on a chilly (57 degrees and dropping at the start) and breezy evening, Falmouth looked to make it 10 straight victories in the series, but instead the Red Storm enjoyed their first win over Falmouth since April 28, 2009 (7-5, at Falmouth) and their first at home over Falmouth since May 7, 2008 (11-5).

Both goalies came up big early, as Park was denied by Falmouth sophomore Drew Noyes and Scarborough senior Josh Medeiros denied Falmouth seniors Satchel Kaplan and Jonah Eng.

With 5:14 left in the opening stanza, Rumelhart opened the scoring, finishing unassisted in transition.

With 3:46 remaining, Baba backed his defender up several steps, then turned and shot past Noyes for a two-goal lead.

After Berry and Ciraulo both missed wide, Falmouth got on the board with 1:45 left in the quarter, as Ciraulo set up Berry for a goal and after Medeiros denied junior Robby Drum, the Red Storm took a 2-1 lead to the second period.

There, just 32 seconds in, Park scored unassisted.

Then, after Medeiros made a save on a bid from Berry, junior James Day intercepted a pass and got the ball to Pedersen, who finished for a 4-1 advantage with 8:45 left in the half.

But that would be it for Scarborough’s offense until the fourth quarter and Falmouth answered back.

After Medeiros denied senior Kurt Robaczewski and Eng and Kaplan hit the post, Kerr set up Skillin-Lanou for a goal with 2:26 left in the half.

After Noyes denied Park, Falmouth made it a one-goal contest with 59.7 seconds remaining, as Kerr fed Ciraulo for a man-up tally.

Then, with just 5.8 seconds left, Kerr faked a defender, then beat Medeiros to forge a 4-4 deadlock at the break.

In the first 24 minutes, Falmouth had a 21-14 shots advantage, but seven saves from Medeiros kept the contest even.

With Scarborough’s offense remaining stagnant, Falmouth took the lead for the first time with 10:17 remaining in the third quarter, as Kaplan set up Kerr for a man-up goal.

Then, with 2:30 on the clock, Berry scored unassisted and it appeared Falmouth was on its way.

But with just 8.7 seconds left, Ciraulo was sent off for unnecessary roughness and the Red Storm started the fourth period man-up.

And just 14 seconds in, Scarborough got back in it, as Park faked out a defender and beat Noyes to end Falmouth’s 5-0 run and a 20-minute, 59-second drought.

“We played really well defensively six-on-six, but unfortunately we took a couple penalties and they moved the ball,” lamented Falmouth coach Dave Barton. “Credit to (Scarborough) for playing well man-up.”

Noyes then preserved the lead by denying St. Germain twice, while Park missed just wide and had a second look saved.

With 3:23 left in regulation, the Red Storm pulled even, as Leadley managed to slip a shot between Noyes and the near post to make it 6-6.

“We got flustered for awhile,” said Leadley. “They came back and scored some goals and we had to recover. I went down the wing and beat the first man. I knew they were catching on to that, so I knew I had mix it up. I cut inside and just got the shot between the goalie and the post.”

Rumelhart threatened to put Scarborough back in the lead, but his shot was saved by Noyes.

Skillin-Lanou then bid to put Falmouth on top, but his shot was just wide.

Falmouth then got the ball back, but with 1:15 to play turned it over, as senior Will Arpin scooped up a ground ball for the Red Storm.

Scarborough then went down and scored the winner.

With 47.8 seconds to play, after getting the ball from St. Germain, Leadley got his chance, dodging to his right, then firing a shot that Noyes, perhaps screened, couldn’t stop and the Red Storm had a 7-6 advantage.

“Will had the ball up top and he saw me open,” Leadley said. “I saw the ball coming toward me and the defender too. I had to make a move, went to the middle and I just shot and it went in.”

“Owen’s made some big plays lately,” Barrett said. “I think he’s gone through ups and downs this season and right now he’s up. He’s a senior who wants to lead the team. He has what it takes to do that.”

Junior Jack Carlista won the ensuing faceoff for Scarborough and the Red Storm called a timeout.

Park then milked nearly 30 seconds off the clock, but the hosts turned the ball over with 13.4 seconds to go, giving Falmouth a chance to force overtime.

Barton called timeout to set up a play.

Falmouth was able to get the ball into the offensive zone, but Kerr, from more than 30 yards away, could only attempt a desperation heave just before the horn.

It went wide and Scarborough was able to celebrate its 7-6 victory.

“It feels great,” Leadley said. “We’re not a one-man show. It had to be a team effort. We fought hard tonight as a team. That loss in overtime really hurt us and fired us up. Coming home and fighting until the end and giving them all we’ve got was amazing. Our defense came up big the whole game and we shut them down at the end.”

“We took our attack off and put our defensive guys on at the end,” Barrett said. “We trust our guys to lock off and take away their opportunities and they did.

“Falmouth put some pressure on us and we got sloppy and tried to do too much and made bad decisions. Credit to them. They got us off our game and it took us awhile to get it back. The boys were fired up for this game. It showed early. They were ready and just had to settle down.”

“We just wanted to get the ball to anybody at the end,” Barton said. “We needed to clear it first and foremost. Then, we got the ball to the offensive end, but (Scarborough senior defenseman) Alex (Callahan) played Wyatt well.”

The Red Storm got two goals apiece from Leadley and Park and one each from Baba, Pedersen and Rumelhart.

St. Germain had the lone assist.

Medeiros made 10 critical saves.

Scarborough had a 38-23 advantage in ground balls (Rumelhart led the way with six, while Leadley and Pedersen each collected five) and overcame 19 turnovers.

Falmouth got two goals each from Berry and Kerr and one apiece from Ciraulo and Skillin-Lanou.

Kerr also had two assists, while Ciraulo and Kaplan had one apiece.

Noyes made seven saves.

Robaczewski had a team-high five ground balls.

Senior Nic Langdon won 9 of 16 faceoffs.

Falmouth enjoyed a 33-26 shots advantage (16-14 on cage) and turned the ball over 17 turnovers.

“We battled back,” Barton said. “I’ll never question this group’s character or compete level, but we couldn’t throw and catch tonight. We faced off well and cleared incredibly well tonight. Drew made some saves. For a long time there in the middle of the game we owned the middle of the field, but we just made too many bad decisions.”

Two tests left

Each squad, which currently leads its respective region’s standings, has two games remaining and a lot of Heal Points still at stake.

Falmouth plays its home finale/Senior Night Friday versus Yarmouth, then closes at Berwick Academy June 2.

“We’ve just got to be better,” Barton said. “Tomorrow’s the biggest day for us. We love this group. They’re fun and they just want to get better. We’re just not good enough right now.”

Scarborough is right back in action Tuesday at Kennebunk, then closes with a doozy, as it hosts a team it’s never beaten, Cape Elizabeth, a team that no one has come close to defeating this spring.

“Our junior and senior group have really brought it this year,” Leadley said. “We were figuring it out two years ago. I know my senior group has always been together and really wanted to do something special this year. We just have to keep playing hard as a team. We just need to keep it going.”

“We’re not there yet,” said Barrett. “I think we’re playing really good defense. We just need to button up a few things there. Offensively, we have figure out what to do when teams throw what Falmouth threw at us, high pressure. We still have too many turnovers. Those are some things we have to focus on.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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