By Stephen Ham
Special to the Leader
    After a season opening loss, the Scarborough Boys Lacrosse program got back to basics and it paid off with three wins in one week.
    Coach Hezlep told his troops they had to work harder and play smarter if they were to improve, and his words apparently struck home. In the toughest game of the week, Scarborough traveled to North Yarmouth Academy for a Saturday afternoon game and came away with a hard fought 9-6 victory.
    Beating NYA, last year’s Class B state champs is perhaps the biggest regular season win ever for the young Red Storm program. And although the Storm controlled play for much of the game, using a patient offense that relied on crisp passing to create opportunities, the outcome of this contest was up for grabs for most of the day because they could not finish off the young, but game, Panthers.
    Fortunately, Scarborough was able to count on its defense to hold the Panthers in check until the Red Storm offense finally clicked in the fourth quarter. Senior goalie Joe Kennedy played like a 10-year veteran rather than the first year player he actually is, stopping the NYA attack all afternoon, but really shining on the two occasions Scarborough was two men down. On both, he made multiple stops as the Panther offense poured shots at him. Nick Prince, Mark Strait, and Nick Neugebauer were among the defenders who held NYA at bay, playing a physical defense that didn’t allow many clear shots on goal, limiting angles and knocking the ball loose with hard stick checks.
    Hezlep heaped praise on his defense after the game. “Joe Kennedy was great out there today, and having Jimmy Soules and James Wright able to run around is huge,” he said.
    Offensively, Jake Barrett again led the way for the Storm with four scores, and Danny Clark tallied three in the victory.
    Scarborough had lots of opportunities to score, as NYA took several penalties in the game, but only had one score off of power plays, that one being a terrific sniper shot through multiple defenders by Barrett to open the second half. The Red Storm controlled the ball in their offensive zone for much of the game, with Darren Smith winning nearly all their faceoffs, but they were frustrated by key mistakes at critical times which short circuited what could have been a runaway early on.
    Still, there was definite improvement in play from a week ago and there was a feeling among the spectators that they were watching an inexperienced team mature in front of their eyes. As Hezlep told his charges following the game, “We’re on the welcome mat of playing with the big boys now. We just have to show up and practice hard every day, and continue to play and improve and we’ll be in the house.”
    Commenting on his team’s performance, he said, “We played well. This is a huge victory for us because it shows we can play with the top teams. NYA is a real good team and pushed us hard all day. Our offense finally was able to finish in the fourth quarter and that was the difference.”
    In other action during the week, Scarborough defeated Marshwood 14-3, with Barrett and Hunt each scoring five goals. The Red Storm also beat a determined Falmouth squad 14-5. Falmouth came into the game undefeated and played with Scarborough for three quarters before finally falling to an eight-goal fourth quarter.
    At press time, Scarborough’s next scheduled game is its biggest of the regular season when they face the Portland Bulldogs at home May 27 at 7 p.m.