SOUTH PORTLAND—Scarborough’s boys’ lacrosse team needed this one.

And thanks in large part to some timely offense, combined with some highlight reel saves from senior goalie Ben Kerbel, the Red Storm left Martin Memorial Field with an inspirational victory Friday evening.

Facing South Portland, a Class A state finalist a year ago, Scarborough, which lost its first three games this spring, came of age in the latest thrilling installment of this fierce rivalry.

The teams traded goals in a first period which ended with the Red Storm on top, 3-2, thanks in part to a couple goals from sophomore Wes Merrill.

The Red Riots then shut Scarborough down in the second quarter and behind goals from sophomore Tadgh O’Donnell, junior Beckett Mehlhorn and senior Tim Caouette, held a 5-3 advantage at the half.

The back-and-forth continued in the third period, as Merrill, sophomore Nick Harmon (remember that name) and senior Olin Pedersen scored in succession to put the Red Storm back in front, but in a 55-second span late in the frame, junior Ian House, senior Bryce Gordon and Mehlhorn struck for South Portland, which took an 8-6 lead to the final stanza.

But the Red Riots wouldn’t score again, as Kerbel made a series of dazzling saves, and the visitors saved their best for last.

After senior Drew Witas struck to cut the deficit to one, Pedersen tied the score midway through the fourth.

Then, with 4:27 on the clock, Harmon scored to give Scarborough the lead and three Kerbel saves later, the Red Storm were able to close out a palpitating 9-8 victory.

Merrill and Pedersen both scored three goals, Harmon finished twice and Kerbel made 17 saves, many from point blank range, to help Scarborough win its second straight game, improve to 2-3 and in the process, drop South Portland to 2-2.

“This is huge for us,” said Red Storm coach Zach Barrett. “We’re so young. For those guys to feel what this is like, it’s great. We not only won by a slim margin, but we were behind much of the game. To fight back, dig deep and make big plays, that’s stuff you can’t teach. I couldn’t be happier.”

A brick wall

South Portland which surprised many a year ago my making a run to the Class A state game, only to lose to Cape Elizabeth (17-6), opened the 2024 season at the Capers and lost, 17-4, but bounced back to defeat host Gorham (17-5) and host Bonny Eagle (17-8).

Scarborough, which was ousted by Falmouth in last year’s state quarterfinal round (15-4) to finish 6-10, dropped its first three games this spring, 8-6 to visiting Windham, 12-3 at Cape Elizabeth and 12-4 to visiting Falmouth before getting in the win column Tuesday at Cheverus (12-3).

“Cape and Falmouth are really good teams, but we were upset about Windham,” Kerbel said. “We should have won that one, but we couldn’t finish.”

“I don’t think we had any confidence to keep up at that point (after losing the first three games),” Barrett said. “It was pretty low and we knew we had a lot of work to do. We committed ourselves this week to working on some stuff.”

Last season, the Red Riots beat the visiting Red Storm, 12-3, to cut Scarborough’s all-time edge in the series to 20-6.

Friday, on an evening that began in fading sunlight and ended in chilly darkness, the Red Storm returned the favor thanks to a solid 48-minute effort.

Scarborough came out strong and after freshman Avery Currie was denied by Red Riots’ freshman goalie Umar Weise 48 seconds in, Merrill scooped up the loose ball and fired a shot into the net for a quick 1-0 lead.

South Portland answered with 9:46 to go in the first quarter, as O’Donnell set up senior Tobey Lappin for a shot that snuck past Kerbel and inside the near post.

After Kerbel robbed Lappin point blank, the Red Storm went back in front with 7:09 remaining, as Pedersen scored for the first time, unassisted after beating the defense.

Kerbel preserved the lead by denying Gordon, then Lappin hit the post, but with 3:35 on the clock, senior Caleb Juers finished unassisted to tie the score for a second time.

On the play, Witas was called for a slashing penalty, putting the Red Riots man-up, but it would be Scarborough’s special teams getting the job done, scoring a man-down goal, as out of a timeout, Merrill bulled his way through the defense and finished unassisted with 3:13 left.

A late Weise save off a shot from freshman Landen Baratta kept the score 3-2 heading to the second period.

There, South Portland tilted the game in its favor.

Kerbel initially preserved the lead by saving a pair of shots from Mehlhorn, but with 5:14 to go in the half, the Red Riots went man-up and this time, capitalized, as with 4:52 remaining, Lappin fed O’Donnell for a goal to make it 3-3.

South Portland went in front for the first time with 2:42 on the clock, as Mehlhorn ran around the cage and fired the ball past Kerbel and into the net.

A mere 19 seconds later, after a Red Storm turnover, Lappin set up Caouette for another goal and the Red Riots were in front, 5-3, at halftime.

In the first 24 minutes, South Portland enjoyed a 20-12 shots advantage, but Kerbel made six clutch saves to keep the game close.

Scarborough then went on a run to retake the lead.

The comeback commenced with 8:59 left in the third period, as Pedersen set up Merrill for a goal, snapping a 18 minute, 14 second drought.

After Kerbel robbed House, Harmon tied the score with 7:47 remaining, as he took a pass from sophomore Owen Pepler in transition and found the net.

Kerbel then stood on his head in a figurative sense, keeping the game deadlocked by robbing Gordon, twice denying Mehlhorn and making another save on a shot from House.

The Red Storm then went man-up and after Harmon was denied by Weise, Pedersen took a pass from senior Daryl Hopper and scored with 2:10 on the clock for a 6-5 lead.

But South Portland would reawaken and close the frame on a three-goal surge of its own.

After Kerbel denied Gordon, the Red Riots scored their first goal of the second half and their first in 13:13, as Mehlhorn set up House with 1:10 to go.

Kerbel then gave South Portland an early holiday gift, as his attempted clearing pass was short and was snared out of the sky by Gordon, who only had to take a couple steps and score the easiest goal of his life, into an open net, with 44.5 seconds showing.

“There was nothing I could do about it, so it was next play mentality,” said Kerbel.

After going man-up, the Red Riots struck again with 15.4 seconds to play in the quarter, as Mehlhorn scored unassisted.

South Portland appeared on the brink of locking away victory when the final stanza began, but instead, it would Scarborough stealing the show down the stretch.

Weise preserved the lead early in the fourth period by robbing sophomore Liam Sellinger and saving a shot from Witas, but with 7:04 left, after Kerbel saved a shot from Gordon and Witas won possession in the defensive zone, he took off and wouldn’t be denied, eluding the defense, then firing the ball into the net to cut the deficit to a mere goal.

Kerbel then robbed Gordon to keep hope alive and with 5:59 to play, in transition, Pedersen got the ball from junior Kevin Collins and found the net to forge the sixth and final tie of the evening.

Then, with 4:27 to go, the Red Storm got the go-ahead goal, with a little good fortune mixed in, as Merrill lost control of the ball only to have it bounce right to Harmon in front and Harmon fired the ball into the net for a 9-8 advantage.

“I just saw Wes and he kind of looked over, then it bounced off his stick, I caught it, I just took the shot and it went in,” Harmon said.

Scarborough would hold on for dear life down the stretch, as Kerbel refused to allow the tying goal.

After denying House, Kerbel robbed Gordon again with 2:03 to play.

After O’Donnell missed wide, the teams traded turnovers and South Portland would have three more looks at extending the game.

The first came with 19.1 seconds on the clock, but House shot wide.

Nine seconds later, Gordon attempted to force overtime, but Kerbel made the stop.

Then, with 5.7 seconds to go, Mehlhorn fought his way into position to shoot, but it was just high.

The Red Riots kept possession and tried for one more shot, but the ball was knocked away and the final horn sounded, allowing the Red Storm to rush Kerbel and celebrate their 9-8 victory.

“This was huge,” said Kerbel. “We really needed some wins. Getting one in a game like this will boost us going forward. We played great in the fourth quarter and did our job. That was nervewracking at the end. I trusted my defense and they got some good sticks in there. They got some shots, but not good ones and we got out of here unscathed. This feels awesome.”

“This means a lot,” Harmon said. “They’re a big rival. It feels good to beat them. We fought hard. We went down, went back up, went down again. It was pretty nervewracking at the end, but I trusted the defense and we pulled it off. It feels good to get this one. We just trusted each other and stayed with the process and got what we wanted.”

Kerbel had one of his finest performances, stopping 17 shots, many at crucial times.

“It was just a good night,” Kerbel said. “Sometimes I just don’t know, but whatever it was was working. I was making saves. I got lucky with the pipe a couple times.”

“Ben did a great job making saves and keeping us in the game,” Harmon said.

“Those were point-blank shots and big-time timing,” added Barrett. “If they’d scored, it might not have ended the same way. Ben just played an outstanding game. He’s a big part of who we are. He runs the clear. You can’t put a price on that. He was the biggest reason we won this one.”

The offense was paced by Merrill and Pedersen, who each scored three goals. Harmon finished with two goals and Witas had the other.

Collins, Hopper, Merrill, Pedersen and Pepler all had one assist.

Sophomore Kyle Gambardella had a team-high five ground balls.

Scarborough overcame 24 turnovers.

South Portland got two goals from Mehlhorn and one apiece from Caouette, Gordon, House, Juers, Lappin and O’Donnell.

Lappin also had a pair of assists, while Mehlhorn and O’Donnell added one each.

Weise, who was forced into action with junior Danny Fitzgibbon sidelined, made eight key saves.

“Umar, on short notice, coming in as a freshman, he had an awesome performance,” said South Portland coach Dan Hanley. “I’m proud of him.”

The Red Riots had a 35-29 edge in ground balls (Juers had a game-high six), outshot the Red Storm, 38-27 (25-17 on cage) and only turned the ball over 15 times, but still fell just short.

“I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit,” lamented Hanley. “That’s not a mentality we’ve been in a lot this year. We’ve been in blowouts one direction or another. It’s good for us to face this. It was a great, competitive game and fun to watch and coach. I’m proud of how my guys fought. We had three decent shots at goal at the end and that’s all you can ask for. They got a couple good bounces and the ball didn’t bounce our way today. Credit Ben Kerbel. The kid’s a really good goalie. He made some great saves.”

Growth potential

South Portland looks to bounce back as it stays home to take on Marshwood Tuesday. The Red Riots visit Brunswick Friday of next week.

“There’s not any quit in our guys,” said Hanley. “We’re limited in some capacities, but we’re not limited in effort. We’re continuing to make process. The guys bring their lunch pails every day and work hard. We’re going to continue to get better throughout the year. It’s fun to coach them.”

Scarborough returns home Tuesday to face Thornton Academy, then goes to Oak Hill next Friday.

“This gives us a lot of confidence,” Harmon said. “We’re heading in the right direction. We’re on a roll going into the next game, but it doesn’t get any easier.”

“This is what we needed,” Kerbel said. “It gives us confidence and grit. We’re looking forward to our big game against TA Tuesday.”

“We still have a lot of work to do, but everyone’s bought in,” Barrett added. “We’ll keep plugging along and trying to get better. We hope to keep the train rolling.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. 

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