WATERVILLE — Messalonskee’s boys’ lacrosse team looked like the squad Lewiston saw in late May as opposed to the Messalonskee squad it saw at the beginning of the season.
That was bad news for the Blue Devils on Friday.
Third-seeded Lewiston surrendered the opening four goals and 12 of the first 14 in a 14-5 loss to No. 2 Messalonskee in an Eastern Class A semifinal at Thomas College. The Blue Devils trailed for all but 26 seconds.
The Eagles’ offense — Dylan Burton and Austin Pelletier in particular — proved hard to stop. Burton and Pelletier accounted for the first four goals of the contest, each netting a pair. Pelletier opened the scoring at the 26-second mark and netted his second off a bounce shot with 2:32 remaining in the first quarter. Burton tallied two of his four goals in between.
“They’re a good offense,” Lewiston coach Ben Fournier said. “They move the ball well. They execute very well. It’s a challenge.”
Lewiston’s Alex Rivet stopped the bleeding, putting the Blue Devils on the board with 1:35 left in the first quarter off a feed from Mohamed Khalid. Lewiston (11-3) trailed 4-1 after one.
The second quarter looked much like the first. The Eagles (10-4) opened on a 4-0 run with Pelletier and Burton netting first-half hat tricks. Jackson Bernatchez got in on the scoring with 36 seconds left in the half as Messalonskee built a 8-1 lead before Roman Dennis answered seven seconds later for the Blue Devils.
Messalonskee’s eight first-half goals surpassed its offensive total from its first meeting with the Blue Devils, a 9-7 loss in Lewiston on April 23. That loss served as a wake-up call.
“We learned a lot from that first game,” Messalonskee coach Tom Sheridan said. “That was a turning point of our season that day. We had a lot of turnovers offensively that day. We didn’t play good team defense and we gave up some opportunities.”
The Eagles were sharp defensively Friday, holding the Blue Devils to two goals in the first half and blanking them in the third quarter. Offensively, they took advantage of Lewiston miscues.
It was that kind of day for the Blue Devils as their first penalty was assessed to starting goaltender Bryan Wagg for an illegal check and contact to the head in the third quarter. With Wagg sidelined for two minutes, backup goalie David Brimigoin took his place. But he couldn’t slow down Messalonskee’s offense either, as Bernatchez and Dylan Jones scored during Wagg’s penalty.
Brimigoin made two saves in his brief appearance.
Burton beat Wagg for a fourth time late in the third quarter for an 11-2 lead. Burton finished with four goals and two assists.
“The kid can do anything,” Sheridan said of Burton. “He’s that athletic. He’s a hard worker. He creates offense and defense as a two-way midfielder. He does everything out there for us. He can play attack, too. He’s just amazing. The way he sees the field and the way he carries the ball in transition makes it hard to start. A big beast who can run forever.”
Jayden Wilson, whose overtime-winner against Portland pushed Lewiston into the regional semifinals, snapped the Blue Devils’ scoreless streak at 19 minutes, 28 seconds with 5:09 left in the game.
The Blue Devils put together a three-goal run late with Garrett Poussard and Rivet netting goals, but the Eagles squashed any hopes of a frantic comeback with two tallies in the final two minutes.
“They came out ready to play,” Fournier said of Messalonskee. “They executed very well. My guys turned it on the second half, but it was a little too late. They played hard the whole way through and you can’t ask more than that.”
With just four upperclassmen on the roster, Fournier was pleased with making it as far as they did.
“We’ve got a really young team so I’m really proud of making it this far,” Fournier said. “The furthest we’ve made it in three years.”
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