Messalonskee’s Walter Fegel, right, tries to out maneuver York’s Jim Neal during the Class B lacrosse state championship game on Friday in Portland. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
PORTLAND — The Class B boys lacrosse final turned into a game of runs. Five in a row for York. Five in a row for Messalonskee.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the final run — and eventually, the state title — belonged to York.
The Eagles fell 12-10 to the Wildcats at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Friday night. It was the first state championship appearance for Messalonskee, which beat Brunswick 18-8 on Tuesday night.
Up 2-0 to begin the game, Messalonskee trailed 8-3 in the second quarter, after giving up five unanswered goals to the Wildcats, two from Kevin Burke, plus goals from Nick Hoy, Evan Anastas and Luke Douris.
I thought it was disorganized (early),” York head coach Bill McNamara said. “Communication issues, jitters. We called a timeout just to try to calm down. I wasn’t overly concerned, it was early in the game, I knew we could right the ship.”
But Messalonskee refused to quit. Walter Fegel scored back-to-back goals, and Ryan Parent added a score late in the quarter. By halftime, the Eagles trailed 8-6. Fegel finished with three goals.
But the Eagles weren’t done. Messalonskee started the second half with goals from Bryce Crowell and Cooper LeClair, tying the game at 8-8.
Messalonskee head coach Tom Sheridan said the Eagles’ comeback showed the kind of fight he expected from his team.
“The kids fought all year, they’ve come a long way,” Sheridan said. “Just to battle back like that. Bryce and Will (Durkee) and Walter, Colby Chavarie out there on defense was doing tremendous. Landen White as well. Those five seniors were huge for us all year long.”
Messalonskee’s student section cheers during the Class B lacrosse state championship game against York on Friday in Portland. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
But Anastas, a sophomore, was too much for the Messalonskee defense, scoring the remaining four goals to seal the win for York. Anastas finished with a game-high six goals.
“I think we expected, with (Crowell at faceoff) that yeah, we were going to be down a couple times,” Anastas said. “He’s a great faceoff guy. We just said that we needed to calm down. Our offense usually scores on every single possession. We just needed to calm down, get the ball, give our defensive team a break, score some goals and we did that.”
Messalonskee stayed strong in possession late, but just could not find an open shot to gain momentum back against the Wildcats.
“I thought we had enough time to get another run at the end there,” Sheridan said. “All across the field, kids stepped up. It’s just tough to end (the season) like this. To lose 12-10 to a team like that, that’s pretty special. Not the result we wanted, but I’m really proud of my team.”
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