CUMBERLAND — Last season, the Greely High School boys lacrosse team missed the Class B South playoffs by percentage points. Rather than do the Heal point trigonometry in their heads, to try and figure out where they could have picked up the points for the playoffs, the Rangers used the missed chance as motivation.
Fast forward to 2018, where Greely made school history Wednesday afternoon. With a 16-11 win over Messalonskee, the Rangers earned a spot in the state championship game for the first time in team history.
“We came in with some expectations. Last year we played one of the toughest schedules in Class B, and that’s how we want it,” senior defender and co-captain Andrew Eckhardt said.
Top-seeded Greely, now 11-3, will face the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Yarmouth and Brunswick on Saturday at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium for the state title. No. 4 Messalonskee ends the season at 8-6.
The Rangers never trailed, and put the game away by scoring five straight goals in the first quarter and first minute of the second. Sophomore Schuyler Wetmore scored three of his game-high six goals in the game’s first quarter, helping Greely take a 5-1 lead after a period. Wetmore’s fourth goal, a behind the back shot over his right shoulder, gave the Rangers a 6-1 lead 39 seconds into the second quarter.
After the early dominance by Greely, the teams played evenly the remainder of the game. For Messalonskee, it was too much to overcome, and was reminiscent of the Eagles’ 18-8 loss to Greely in the regular season.
“They got the jump on us the last time we played them, too. They were all over us in the first quarter,” Messalonskee coach Tom Sheridan said. “I think it’s just intensity, coming in ready to play. Our kids came out a little flat defensively early.”
“We come, and we have a goal in the first quarter to put it away, to set the tempo, and that’s what we do,” Eckhardt said. “We knew that they have an offense, if they get going, are pretty dangerous.”
Ben Kennedy added four goals for Greely, while Andrew Lawrence scored three times for the Rangers. Sawyer Gagnon made eight saves for the Rangers and came up big in the third quarter, helping hold the Eagles scoreless as Greely killed five penalties. Down 12-6 going into the fourth quarter, Messalonskee finally took advantage of the power play when Austin Pelletier scored six seconds into the quarter on a penalty which carried over from the third.
“Offensively, we just didn’t get the possession enough. We’re used to getting a lot more possessions than we did,” Sheridan said.
Pelletier scored four goals for the Eagles, while Colin Kinney added three. CJ Reardon made 13 saves for Messalonskee.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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