WATERVILLE — The Messalonskee boys lacrosse team flipped the script on the best team in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A on Friday afternoon at Smith Field on the campus of Thomas College.
The Eagles screamed out to an 8-0 lead over Brunswick with goals from six different players, and Messalonskee held on to beat the Dragons 16-12 for the program’s first win over Brunswick in five years, according to Eagles head coach Tom Sheridan.
From Austin Pelletier’s unassisted goal in the first minute of play through Will Week’s second goal of the afternoon which prompted exasperated Brunswick coach Don Glover to call timeout at the 7:31 mark of the opening quarter, the Eagles (8-3) never lifted their foot off the collective gas pedal.
“The biggest thing (Friday) was definitely the start,” said senior midfielder Jack Bernatchez, who joined 12 other seniors on the Messalonskee roster who had never beaten Brunswick — including a loss in the regional finals last season.
“We came out on fire. Lots of times, it takes us a quarter or two to get woken up out there. (Friday), we just came out with guns blazing.”
Glover said the same thing about his Dragons (9-2), that they’ve made a habit of starting slowly. On Friday, it cost them.
“As a program, we tend to get scored on first in games and then wake up a little bit,” Glover said. “And it was a combination of that and that (Messalonskee) was just on fire. They played really, really well. They transitioned well, and we didn’t get our feet under us that well. They earned every one of those early goals.”
In all, Pelletier and Connor Smith each netted four goals in the statement victory, while Weeks finished with three scores. Bernatchez added a pair of goals of his own.
“It is a good statement,” said midfielder Dylan Burton, who had a goal and three assists, “It shows we can beat anyone in our conference, and that feels really good.”
Brunswick tried to fight back late in the first quarter, getting three Aiden Glover goals in the final four minutes of the period — including one as time expired to close to within 9-3.
The freshman Glover finished the game with five goals.
But the Eagles stood strong in the second quarter, thwarting any would-be Dragon momentum by holding the visitors scoreless to take a 13-3 advantage into halftime.
“Our midfield definitely led the way,” Sheridan said. “Usually, people are worried about our attack, but we’re just waiting for our midfield to take over and take control of the game. That’s what happened (Friday), and it was just huge.”
Messalonskee expects to see Brunswick again in just one week’s time, when the two meet in the KVAC championship game at Thomas. Sheridan likes the way his team is playing as it closes in on the postseason.
“We definitely saw some things the last time (against Brunswick on May 6) that worked for us,” Sheridan said. “Even though we lost 18-11, we were fortunate enough to put 11 goals on them. We’d been watching film and trying to learn from that, and we saw some things. We don’t usually go open set, but it worked for us (Friday).
“We’ve had some nice battles with Brunswick over the last couple of years, but we could never just put together a complete game along the way. They’re a good offensive team, but the kids fought hard. They definitely wanted this win right there.”
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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