YARMOUTH — North Yarmouth Academy has been waiting 10 months to avenge last year’s playoff loss to rival Waynflete.

Thursday afternoon at Lewis Field – after doing just that with a season-opening 7-4 boys’ lacrosse win over the Flyers – Panthers Coach Peter Gerrity told his team that it’s now time to stop focusing on the Flyers.

At least for now.

“We told the guys to savor the moment and be excited about beating Waynflete, but it’s a long season and we’ll probably play again (in the playoffs),” Gerrity said.

Wyatt Thomas sparked a second-half surge with three goals, and a smothering defense, led by senior standout Henry Bergeron, helped the Panthers get the season off to a strong start.

“I think we were a little nervous at the start, but we picked it up in the third quarter,” said Thomas.

“It’s fun to end a season with a rivalry game, but it’s pretty awesome to start with one,” Gerrity added. “The guys were very excited to kind of avenge last year’s loss right off and set the tone for the season.”

Caleb Waterman put the Panthers on top just over three minutes in, finishing a feed from Brayden Warde, but they wouldn’t score again until the second half.

After a sluggish start, Waynflete drew even midway through the second quarter on a goal from Nico Kirby.

Three minutes into the second half, Elliott Oney beat Flyers backup goalie Pauli Mukeragingo (nine saves) to give NYA the lead for good. Thomas scored twice on bounce shots for a 4-1 advantage.

“It’s a slick surface, so the ball can just skip on the turf and go right in,” said Thomas.

Waynflete appeared to get momentum back just before the third quarter ended when Roan Hopkins bulled his way in and beat Panthers goalie Jack Curtis (10 saves), but NYA put it away early in the fourth quarter, as Brayden Warde, Thomas and Noah Pelletier scored in succession.

The Flyers got a pair of late goals from Nils Burton-Johanson, but for most of the game they just couldn’t solve NYA’s defense.

“We had a lot of communication on defense,” said Bergeron. “Our defense is really good all around and we worked well together. We tried to just keep them to the outside and we knew Jack could handle their shots.

“It feels great to win this. It meant a lot to beat them on our field.”

Waynflete, which lost once last season en route to the Class C championship, expects to bounce back quickly.

“We’re a really young team and we’re still trying to figure out our identity at both ends of the field,” said Flyers assistant coach Ralph Nelson, who co-coached the team Thursday, along with Dan Thomsen, because head coach Andrew Leach missed the contest due to a family emergency.

“We’re excited at the opportunity to keep growing and building the rest of the season.”

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