PORTLAND — Cape Elizabeth claimed its fourth state title in five years by beating Yarmouth 16-7 in the Class B boys’ lacrosse championship game Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Yarmouth whittled down Cape Elizabeth’s big lead to 8-5 by the end of the third quarter. Then, Finnegan Raymond waded through a mass of defenders to score 95 seconds into the fourth and put the Capers up, 9-5.
“He had a great fourth quarter, he’s had a great season,” Cape Elizabeth coach Ben Raymond said.
Less than a minute later, Remi LeBlanc set up Henry Venden to bring the Clippers back within three goals. Raymond again put the Capers up by four, looping around the net for a goal that made it 10-6 with 8:22 remaining in the game.
“I think we lost our poise for a second there when they were coming back,” Finnegan Raymond said, “and I thought we had to just get it together, and I feel like those goals really helped us overcome the (comeback).”
Then the floodgates opened. Two goals by Connor Thoreck and one apiece from Jacob Brydson and James Boeschenstein over the next five minutes pushed Cape Elizabeth’s lead to 14-6.
“That’s what we want to do the whole time, and once we start executing, that’s exactly what happened,” Finnegan Raymond said.
The Capers jumped on the Clippers early. Owen Thoreck scored 44 seconds into the game and put in the first five goals of the game.
The lead was 7-2 at halftime, and then Yarmouth cut it to 8-5 by the end of the third.
“Give all the credit to Cape, that’s a really good team,” Yarmouth coach David Pearl said. “They swarm the ball, they’re very athletic, they have a high lacrosse IQ. But I’m so proud of the way our guys battled.”
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