LEWISTON — St. Dom’s drive for 25 will have to go through the defending champions.
No. 1 Falmouth won back-to-back Class A West crowns in impressive fashion Tuesday night, scoring four goals in the first 17 minutes and grinding out a 5-2 win over No. 2 Scarborough in the final at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Tyler Jordan scored a hat trick to steer the Yachtsmen (16-5), who won their seventh consecutive game.
Falmouth advanced to the state showcase here at 6 p.m. Saturday against St. Dom’s, which beat Bangor, 3-1, in the first game of Tuesday’s championship doubleheader.
Falmouth won its initial state title in 2013, defeating Lewiston. St. Dom’s will vie for its 25th. The West has won the top prize eight of the past nine years.
Jordan, a senior forward, scored the first two Falmouth goals.
He cashed in freshman Robbie Armitage’s feed at 5:32, then made it 2-0 in unassisted fashion at 10:35.
Falmouth wasn’t done in the opening period, and again it was a rookie helping to inflict the damage. Freshman Chris Camelio set up junior defensive captain Andre Clement 37 seconds before intermission.
Another unassisted tally, this one from senior Brandon Boehm, made it 4-0, chasing Scarborough’s starting goalie, Ben Bragg, at 1:38 of the second.
Scarborough (14-6-1) got on the board with 9:01 remaining in the middle stanza. Jake Gross converted on the power play, courtesy of Cam Loiselle and Matt Henderson.
There weren’t many opportunities to cut into the deficit for the Red Storm, who shut out the Yachtsmen, 2-0, early in the season before dropping the rematch, 4-3.
Falmouth held Scarborough to seven shots through two periods and enjoyed a 24-17 overall edge.
Eric Grantz gave the Red Storm life with 11:17 left. Grantz cut it to 4-2 by chasing down his own wild shot off the boards and shuffling the follow-up past Falmouth goalie Dane Pauls.
Relief netminder Alex Cherry of Scarborough was unscored upon to that point, and it took a phenomenal solo effort by Jordan to break through.
Jordan’s diving stab from the seat of his pants put it away with 4:04 to go. The Armitage twins, Robbie and Reece, furnished the assists.
Pauls finished with 15 saves. Cherry made 12 stops.
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