BRUNSWICK

Year-in and year-out, Don Glover’s Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team faces one of the most difficult schedules in the state.

And, Glover’s Dragons find ways to succeed.

Last year was no exception, as Brunswick went undefeated in the regular season (12-0) and advanced to the State Class A title game with wins over Windham, Cheverus and Lewiston.

What followed was a nailbiting championship battle with Scarborough, with the Dragons coming away with a thrilling 18-17 overtime victory and the championship hardware.

This year there is a change afoot. The Maine Principals’ Association has added a third class, Class C, and shuffled teams around.

Brunswick has landed in State Class B, one of 16 teams that will compete for the Class B title. The Dragons open against Cony at Thomas College in Waterville today (3 p.m.).

“I am on the MPA committee, and morphing into three classes shows that it was time to grow the sport,” said Glover. “I am excited to crown two more (boys and girls) champions this year, which is awesome. For us, our school has shrunk in numbers, which puts us into Class B.”

The schedule, according to Glover, is separate from the classes, with Brunswick facing one of the most difficult slates in Maine. The Dragons host Scarborough (April 23), and travel to South Portland (April 28) and Falmouth

(May 19) among their 12 regular season games.

“This is the best schedule since I’ve been here,” Glover said. “We play four crossover games, and play our KVAC opponents once each instead of twice. We might take some hits in the win column, but we will grow as a team because of these challenges.”

Graduation caused a major hit to Glover’s program, with all of his long poles and most of his defense needing to be replaced. Seniors Jeremy Vuong (goaltender), Holden Andrews (defense), Sam Dorval (defense), Nate Harrower (defense) and Jared Hummer (defense) will provide the defense, with Connor Foye (long stick midfielder), Henry Doherty (captain) and Max Gramins (captain) expected to lead.

Juniors Trey Curtis (goalie), Connor Pendergast (goalie), Nate Girardin (attack), Aidan Glover (captain), Nolan Lyne (attack) and Tyler Nadeau (attack) gives Brunswick a strong offensive/midfield core, while sophomores Jack McDiarmid (midfield) and Chandler Coombs, and freshman Colin MacKinnon (defense) will contribute.

“Having a large defensive graduation and our schedule, this group’s growth curve will be steeper,” said coach Glover. “When given the chance in the preseason, they have taken every opportunity to get better. Offensively, this should be a gifted group, and we have an aggressive defensive mentality on defense, which should serve us well.”

Morse

The Shipbuilders seemed to transition last year, finishing with a 4-8 mark and qualifying for the Class B North postseason (a prelim loss to Winslow, 14-11, followed).

This year, head coach Jay Paulus feels his team is ready to compete for more.

“ Our season last year was a transition year, with many new and young players coming into the squad from the middle school,” said the coach, whose squad hosts Lawrence today in the regular-season opener ( 5 p. m.). “ Once again, on paper, the team looks athletically competitive, very much like my 2010 team. One thing I have learned through the years, it’s not until they step onto the field, under pressure, do I know what I’m actually working with.”

Senior long stick midfielder Kehl Chadwick returns, along with junior middie Jacob Brochu, The sophomore class is solid and a year older, led by attackman Wyatt Hudson, midfielder Braden Olsen, attack Sheamus Mann and defenseman Alden Harkins. Ethan Pascuzzo was a First Team KVAC player last year and returns, and Paulus will look for freshmen Mason Savory and Carter Ouellette to see time on defense.

Dylan Maybee returns to man the cage for the Shipbuilders.

Mt. Ararat

Matt Haskell’s Eagles, after several seasons in Class A, will also move to State Class B and begin their season at home tonight against Maranacook/ Winthrop at 6: 30 p.m.

Last year, Mt. Ararat had an up-and-down season, going 6- 6 before falling to Lewiston, 11-8, in the Class A North quarterfinals.

“ This year we have a younger squad, and with the move to Class B, we have a new schedule against teams we have not seen before,” said Haskell. “I am very excited in what I have seen the first two weeks with this group. This squad has quickly formed a great chemistry and are working together at a high level.”

Haskell will need to replace 12 seniors from last year’s squad, including his starting goaltender, two- thirds of his defense and both longstick midfielders. He will look for big things from seniors Connor Brown ( attack) Zach Caouette (midfield) and Owen Kelly ( midfield), along with junior returnee Sean Roberts (defense).

“ The strength of this group is the upperclassmen, who have taken leadership roles and are taking it upon themselves to bring the younger players up to speed in practice and raising everyone’s level of play,” Haskell said. “Despite the weather and gym practices, this group has worked through many obstacles to prepare for their opening game.”

Key newcomers include seniors Matt Lawrence ( attack), Ryan Mello (defense) and Jake Kirch (goaltender), juniors Hayden

Libby (midfield) and Alex Bryant ( midfield), and sophomores Jake Sargent ( midfield) and Dan Jackson (goaltender).

Freeport

The Falcons will play in the new State Class C region this year, one campaign after finishing 3-9 in the challenging Western Maine Conference and missing out on a playoff spot.

Something else new this year is Freeport High School’s new turf field. The Falcons open their season at their new digs tonight against Fryeburg Academy (6 p.m.).

“We are so unbelievably excited to play on our new turf,” said Freeport coach Geoff Arris. “We’ve been outside since day one and our game is benefiting from it already. All the other seasons we are normally in the gym practicing even after our first two or three games. Now we are actually getting in shape using the field. We are using the space that we have never had and we are moving the ball really well outside.”

As far as success goes, Arris felt his team’s ability to stay in games last year will benefit his Falcons this year.

“ Last season we were actually one of the rare teams that had close games,” said Arris. “ We had seven games that were one- two- or three- goal games. Unfortunately those games didn’t always go our way, but we remained competitive with teams that we weren’t expected to, and I think if we keep the positive attitude and remember what we learned from last season, then we will be successful in many ways.”

Arris saw several players leave after graduation, but returns a solid core. Seniors captain Nate Thomas returns in the midfield after scoring five goals and picking up 47 ground balls last year. Classmates Garrison Thompson turned aside 57 percent of the shots that he saw in goal last year, while James Knighton ( long stick midfield), Andrew St. John (defense) and Jacob Tomm (face-off specialist) are back. Juniors Kaleb Barrett ( attack, 17 goals), Evan Owen ( midfield) and Kohen Bailey ( defense) return, along with sophomores Deven Hannan (captain, defense, 56 ground balls), Steel Crawford (five goals, four assists) and Sam Larochelle (midfield) are expected to see more time on the field.

Newcomers include seniors Harrison Johnson and Griffin Agnese, junior Charlie Ngoal, and freshmen Brett Holden and Ben Gormley.

“Our strengths this year will be our team’s commitment to each other,” said Arris. “We are very lucky to have back Jake Holmes as our assistant. He was my assistant when I first started at Freeport nine years ago, and our philosophy and attitude toward the game will really help our team.

“ I think our greatest strength is coincidentally our weakness. Freeport lacrosse is not use to winning close games. I think that is different this year. These kids are hungry and really want to make a difference on the field. I think they are finally ready to win.”

The move to Class C is something Arris is excited to see.

“ I think that adding a Class C is the best thing that could happen for the sport in the state,” the Freeport coach said. “This is a really good opportunity for schools to improve and compete against teams as far as the tournament goes that are competitive with each other. This will hopefully begin the process of eliminating blowout games, something that no team ever benefits from.

“I think that Class C is a great fit for our small squad. We still have a very competitive regular season schedule within the WMC and we are looking at our four crossover games to be equally competitive and help us get tournament ready. We are ready to return to the tournament.”