LEWISTON — Gray-New Gloucester used a dazzling passing and gamesmanship to turn a misty, foggy and chilly Saturday morning into a 13-4 rout against Mt. Blue in a boys’ lacrosse game.

After Friday’s deluge, the game was moved to Lewiston High School due to better playing conditions. It appeared the Patriots felt right home.

Gray-NG’s Andrew LaCerda was a nuisance throughout the entire game, punching in five goals and collecting a pair of assists. But LaCerda had a lot of help from his fellow Patriots. 

Travis Caron whipped up four goals and Gabriel Gendreau sparked G-NG’s offensive punch when he scored back-to-back goals in the opening minutes of the first quarter, with an assist going to Jacob Hines.

“I think our midfielders really in the transition game moved the ball up and down the field,” Gray-NG coach Kris Parkin said. “The defense played really well. They had a good offense — a lot of picks, a lot motion, a lot of movement. I think we did a good job covering it. Goalkeeping — Brannon Gilbert (15 saves) is a great goalie. He had a lot of good saves for us.”

By halftime, the Patriots (1-1) held a 4-2 advantage, with the Cougars (1-1) right on Gray-New Gloucester’s heels.

Mt. Blue’s first goal came from Evan Stone on an assist by Keegan Roberts at 5:05 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Roberts was on the scoring end, with Josh Smith collecting the assist.

“Not a very good game. There was just dumb mistakes,” Mt. Blue coach Kevin Averill said. “We keep making them and doing them … we are not fixing those.

“They (Patriots) played very well. They took advantage of their transition opportunities. There was definitely some textbook fastbreak that they did and they put it back in the net. They took some pretty good smart shots. I thought defensively they played very well. They played smart. Good lacrosse IQ and they just played well.”

LaCerda really asserted himself in the third quarter, scoring three of his five goals. Caron also turned in a hat trick and Kyle Curtis scored during Gray-NG’s six-goal uprising to put some distance between the Patriots and the Cougars.  

The Cougars responded with only two goals during Gray-NG’s offensive push in the third quarter. Dom Giampietro and Caleb Haine each scored a goal, but the Patriots were well on their way to a victory.

In the fourth quarter, LaCerda and Caron collected their final goals, with LaCerda picking up a pair of assists along the way. Kyle Mercier also scored for the Patriots.

The Patriots outshot the Cougars 34-26, and Mt. Blue goalie Nick Fraser made 16 saves.

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