SCARBOROUGH—Scarborough’s boys’ lacrosse team needed a jolt Monday afternoon at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex and senior defenseman Drew Witas was eager to the rise to the occasion.

Witas, who spent some time on attack as a junior, scored three times to help spark the fifth-ranked Red Storm to a victory over No. 12 Oxford Hills in a Class A state preliminary round playoff game.

Scarborough was stuck in neutral in a first quarter which ended 1-1. Witas then scored his first goal to help open up a 4-1 halftime advantage.

Witas was even more prolific in the third period, scoring twice in just over two minutes to help the Red Storm open up an insurmountable 11-3 lead and Scarborough cruised from there to a 13-4 victory.

Senior Olin Pedersen scored four goals as the Red Storm won their sixth game in a row, improved to 10-5, ended Oxford Hills’ season at 6-9 and in the process, advanced to meet No. 4 Deering (10-4) in the state quarterfinals Friday at 5 p.m., in Portland.

“Coach (Zac Barrett) says I’m arrogant and I come into every game with arrogance, which I think is a good thing, but I think our team came in with too much arrogance today,” said Witas. “We changed that around in the second half. We just started playing our game.”

Taking care of business

Scarborough has come light years from where it was three games into the season, when it had lost to Windham, Cape Elizabeth and Falmouth by a composite 32-13 margin. The Red Storm proceeded to win nine of their next 11 games, including the final five, to earn the No. 5 seed in Class A (see sidebar for links to previous game stories).

“After the 0-3 start, we realized we could do way better,” said Witas. “We realized we couldn’t be individuals and we started trusting our coaches. We came together as a team and built each other up and here we are.”

Oxford Hills, which just missed the playoffs a year ago with a 6-8 record, posted the same mark this spring, but earned the final postseason spot.

The teams didn’t play during the regular season and had no playoff history.

Monday, on a sunny and warm afternoon (68 degrees at the start), Scarborough needed some time to seize control, but it would eventually do so and advance.

Scarborough senior Sebastian Furr, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring in the first quarter during Monday’s 13-4 home win over Oxford Hills in a Class A state preliminary round playoff game. Derek Davis / Portland Press Herald

The Red Storm turned the ball over the first three times they had it, then senior Sebastian Furr missed wide and Pedersen and Furr had shots saved by Vikings junior goalie Chase Edmunds.

Scarborough then broke through man-up with 6:23 to go in the opening stanza, as Furr took a pass from sophomore Liam Sellinger and found the net.

Oxford Hills drew even with 2:31 on the clock, as senior Owen Marr scored unassisted, beating Red Storm senior goalie Ben Kerbel.

The Vikings had an opportunity to go in front man-up, but Marr missed wide, then had a shot saved by Kerbel.

Scarborough senior Drew Witas winds up to score a second quarter goal.

The Red Storm finally went ahead to stay with 10:47 left in the first half, as Furr set up Pedersen for a goal.

After Edmunds robbed sophomore Nick Harmon, senior Tyler Britton hit the post for Oxford Hills.

On the next Vikings’ possession, they turned the ball over, Witas got possession and raced into the offensive zone where no one stopped him and with 7:34 remaining, he fired the ball into the net to make it 3-1.

“If you leave me 15 yards open, I’m going to shoot it,” Witas said. “That should be the mentality of every single person playing lacrosse, pole or shorty. I played attack junior year, so I still have that mindset.”

After Kerbel saved a shot from junior Neal Heath, Pedersen made it 4-1, from Harmon, with 3:13 to go in the half.

Down the stretch, Kerbel denied both Britton and Heath and Scarborough took a 4-1 advantage to the break.

The Red Storm won six of seven first half faceoffs and enjoyed a 17-8 edge in shots.

Scarborough senior Drew Witas unleashes a shot in the third quarter to score his third goal of the afternoon.

Scarborough then pulled away in the third period.

Junior Kevin Collins won the faceoff to start the second half and got the ball to Pedersen, but his shot was just wide.

With 10:53 left in the frame, the Red Storm found the net, as Pedersen set up sophomore Wes Merrill for a goal.

Scarborough then went man-up and struck again 58 seconds later, as Pedersen did the honors, from Sellinger.

Witas then returned to center stage, first taking a pass from Harmon and scoring with 9:03 on the clock, then scoring unassisted again on a rush with 6:45 left, extending the lead to a commanding 8-1.

“It’s definitely awesome,” said Witas. “Senior year, last game on this field. My job is a defenseman and I had a goal scored on me and that’s what I’m most concerned about, but scoring three goals is a hell of a way to go out.”

“Let’s be clear, I didn’t get (Drew) involved, he got himself involved,” Barrett said. “If he’s going to take the initiative, we’re not going to stop him. He played attack for us last year for half the games. He’s got a great shot. He’s a very good lacrosse player. He brings good lacrosse IQ.”

After Sellinger hit the crossbar, Marr scored in transition, from junior Dean Rudman, with 5:04 remaining, snapping a 21 minute, 27 second scoring drought and the Red Storm’s 7-0 surge.

Scarborough countered 49 seconds later, as Harmon fed Sellinger for a goal.

With 3:43 left in the quarter, Harmon got the ball to sophomore Ryan Gambardella in front and Gambardella, after a pirouette that could land him on the next season of Dancing with the Stars, finished.

Pedersen scored his final goal with 1:26 on the clock, finishing a feed from Furr, and while Marr answered 14 seconds later with an unassisted goal, the Red Storm took an 11-3 advantage to the final stanza.

There, Scarborough added to its lead with 10:15 remaining, as Sellinger found Merrill for a goal.

The Vikings then scored for the final time with 5:42 left, as junior Preston Newcomb finished unassisted, but that goal was matched by the Red Storm 21 seconds later, as freshman Jackson Peters scored, from classmate Avery Currie.

Scarborough slammed the door from there and prevailed, 13-4.

“There was just no energy, no focus at the start,” Barrett said. “I don’t know what it was. Oxford Hills was no pushover, so we had to get back to fundamentals and do the little things right. At halftime, the message was to get back to what we’ve doing all year. We couldn’t do hero plays and go off-script. I’m just happy the guys responded to that and they went out and played more fundamental and made the right plays.”

The Red Storm placed seven different players in the scoring column, as Pedersen led the way with four goals, Witas had three, Merrill two and Furr, Gambardella, Peters and Sellinger all contributed one.

Harmon had four assists, Sellinger added three, Furr had two and Currie and Pedersen finished with one apiece, as 11 of the 13 Scarborough goals were set up by a teammate.

“We have guys who can make plays,” Barrett said. “Having them get that confidence in a game like this is good. We’ve had different guys streak at different times all year. If we can put it all together at the right time, that’s the dream.”

Kerbel made six saves in his three quarters of work. Sophomore Caeden Humpage came on in the fourth period and stopped two shots.

Pedersen and sophomore John Goshorn shared team honors in ground balls with four apiece.

The Red Storm won 15 of 21 faceoffs, as Collins went 14-of-18, had a 32-22 shots advantage (19-12 on cage) and overcame 28 turnovers.

Oxford Hills got three goals from Marr and another from Newcomb. Rudman had an assist.

Edmunds saved six shots.

The Vikings had a 27-20 advantage in ground balls (Rudman and junior Cooper Beaudoin each scooped up a game-high six) and turned the ball over 27 times.

Hello, again

Last Tuesday, host Scarborough shut down Deering’s potent attack en route to a 7-4 victory. The Red Storm also prevailed in the teams’ lone prior playoff meeting, 5-1, way back in the 2004 West Region preliminary round.

Scarborough will have to win at Deering this time around and while that won’t be easy, it’s up for the challenge.

“We’re ready for the next game and whatever it takes to beat them, we’ll do it,” Witas said. “I know we can do it again. I’ve considered us to be an elite team from the beginning. It’s good to be considered an elite team by everyone else.”

“We have to be confident and we have to be aware that they’re sour and they’ll bring everything they’ve got,” Barrett said. “We have to go in thinking about what works for us and focusing on that. We have to have another strong defensive effort and find an offensive rhythm and get enough guys involved that they’re getting a lot of shots and putting them in the back of the cage. We have to try to tighten things up all over the field and if we play our game, I think things will work out for us.”

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