SCARBOROUGH — For one half Thursday evening at Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex, the Scarborough boys’ lacrosse team battled toe to toe with the powerful Yarmouth Clippers.

Then the third quarter began, and the Clippers flipped the switch.

Yarmouth used an 8-1 burst, thanks in large part to securing six straight faceoffs, to break open a close game and roll to a 15-8 victory.

Senior standout Colter Olson led the way with seven goals, five coming in the second-half surge. He added a pair of assists and the Clippers improved to 8-1.

“We made too many mistakes at the beginning and we were rushing too many things, but we knew we had to pick it up in the second half and we shot for the corners, instead of at the goalie,” said Olson, who will play next year at Rutgers University.

The Red Storm (4-5) held a 3-2 lead after one quarter and went up by two early in the second quarter when Wes Merrill scored on a man-down rush. Goals from Colby Carnes, Olson and George Brown gave Yarmouth a 5-4 advantage at halftime.

And then the floodgates opened.

Olson got the surge started with an unassisted goal. Then, after Brown struck off the ensuing faceoff, Olson added another unassisted goal to make it 8-4.

“For me, the first half, I was forcing bad passes, and in the second half, I decided to shoot more,” Olson said.

“(Colter’s) magical,” added Clippers longstick middie Nate Buchanan. “He’s just a wizard.”

After Carnes scored again, Olin Pedersen answered for Scarborough. But goals from Hakon Yeo, Brown, Olson and Yeo again produced an insurmountable 13-5 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

“It was good to face some adversity in the first half,” said Yarmouth Coach Jon Miller. “They were all over us and we weren’t hard enough off-ball. The boys cleaned it up and were patient, and we were an effective offense in the second half.”

Brown and Yeo finished with three goals apiece, while Carnes scored twice. Sophomore goalie Will Redfield made 15 saves for the Clippers.

“We’ve realized we can be a top team in the state,” Miller said. “Next week, we’ve got York and Falmouth, so we have two more tests.”

The Red Storm were paced by Pedersen, who scored three times. Sebastian Furr added a pair of goals, and Merrill, Owen Pepler and Caleb Wandell finished with one apiece. Ben Kerbel made 16 saves.

“(Yarmouth’s) more talented and they overpowered us,” said Scarborough Coach Zach Barrett. “We made a lot of mistakes and they took advantage. That was tough to overcome, but I’m proud of how we came out in the first half and that we finished the game strong.

“We’re a young team and we’re just trying to grow and learn here, and sometimes it hurts. I feel good about the rest of the year. I hope we can finish as high as we can.”