WALES — Oak Hill/Monmouth/Lisbon had the last major run of a fast-paced Class C semifinal that was full of runs Wednesday at Stacen Doucette Memorial Field.
The second-seeded Raiders’ final push propelled them past third-seeded Wells 16-12 into the Class C boys lacrosse state final, against top-seeded Waynflete on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
Travis Caron paced the Raiders (13-0) on Wednesday with six goals and five assists.
“It feels amazing. I couldn’t do it without my teammates,” Caron said. “I love each and every single one of them. I have depended on all of them, I am very thankful.”
Wells’ offense was paced by Preston Briggs, who finished with four goals.
“I can definitely appreciate the back-and-forth, they have a good team,” Wells coach Matt Petrie said. “We are extremely young, most of our contributors are freshmen and sophomores. We have some talented seniors and juniors, as well. I don’t want to take away anything from them, they worked hard this year.”
The semifinal matchup went back and forth from the start. Wells struck first, taking a 1-0 lead a minute into the game when Briggs beat Oak Hill goalie Nick Michaud.
The Raiders then went on a three-goal run: Travis Caron tied the game, fellow attacker Tiger Hopkins gave Oak Hill the lead and Gavin Leet set up D’Andre Daniels for a goal that made it 3-1 for the Raiders.
Caron said that the Raiders realized the Warriors were going to score, and that it was important to not be frustrated when they did.
“(You) don’t let one goal from the other team let you down,” Caron said. “Keep your head up and move forward.”
The Warriors went on a four-goal run of their own in the middle of the first quarter. Nathan Bolduc scored his first of the period, Gayvn Petrie tied the game, Connor Whitten put Wells up 4-3 and Bolduc added his second of the quarter.
In the final minute of the first quarter, Riley Worth scored for the Raiders, and Caron, who assisted on Worth’s goal, tied the game at 5-5 early in the second.
Briggs put the Warriors up 6-5 in the second quarter before Caron tied the game again at 6-6 before halftime.
“It was definitely a nerve-racking first half, and I think (we) finally woke up in the second half,” Raiders coach Joe Hinkley said. “We pulled it together and played Oak Hill lacrosse.”
Hinkley said Wells did a good job of slowing down Hopkins as much as possible without double-teaming him.
“They played straight-up (defense) on him. I thought they were going to shut him off, but they didn’t,” Hinkley said. “The defenders played a (heck) of a defense on him. They made (Tiger) work for it.”
Hopkins, the school record holder for points in a single season, still put in three goals.
Both teams found their form again in the third quarter, starting with the Raiders, who took a 8-6 lead thanks to goals by Caleb Richard and Caron.
Oak Hill found itself in penalty trouble in the third quarter, and the Warriors took advantage with another four-goal flurry. Gavyn Petrie scored twice, Bolduc once and Connor Woodward scored from a long distance to give Wells a 10-8 lead.
The Raiders’ biggest, and most important, run of the game, started late in the third quarter when Hopkins cut the deficit 10-9. Then Oak Hill scored five straight goals in the fourth quarter. Caron tied the game at 10-10, and Gabe Samson scored to give Oak Hill an 11-10 lead. Hopkins, Samson, Caron and Ryan Foster stretched the lead to 15-10.
During the Raiders run, Wells took a two-minute locked-in penalty which helped Oak Hill to get the big lead.
“It’s a part of the game, you got to stay clean and you have to stay out of the box,” Petrie said. “The officials called a great game — of course, I screaming and doing everything I can to get an edge. The officials called a great game, a penalty at the end of the game is as bad as a penalty at the beginning of the game. They took advantage of their (man-up situations) and we took advantage of (ours).”
Briggs fired in two goals to get Wells within three, but Foster capped the Raiders’ scoring with his second goal of the fourth quarter to make it 16-12.
Waynflete (13-1) advanced to the state title game by defeating fourth-seeded North Yarmouth Academy 11-4 on Wednesday.
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