SCARBOROUGH – Goals were at a premium in the Western Class A boys’ lacrosse final Wednesday.

Third-ranked Scarborough prevailed 5-3 in a defensive showdown against fourth-seeded Thornton Academy.

Scarborough (10-5) will face Portland on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium for the state championship.

“Both goalies made a ton of saves today, and both defenses played really well,” said Scarborough Coach Joe Hezlep. “We really wanted to move the ball in transition. And keep the ball away from their (best) midfielders.”

Scarborough outshot Thornton, 30-25. John Blaisdell had two goals for the Red Storm, and Tennessee Peters, Andrew Jones and John Wheeler also scored.

“We had heard Thornton Academy was really improving, so we knew we had to come out and play tough,” said Blaisdell. “We’re going to have to look to our defense again on Saturday.”

Scarborough took a 3-0 lead when Blaisdell scored twice in the first quarter, with 9:22 left and then with 7:18 left, and Peters made it 3-0 with 1:05 to play.

Codie Dube of Thornton scored the only goal of the second quarter, making it 3-1 at halftime.

The Red Storm made it 4-1 on Wheeler’s goal with 9:24 remaining in the third quarter.

The Trojans got a goal from Chris Dolewa with 6:56 left in the game before Matt Mayo of Scarborough hit the post in a race to the Thornton goal following a charge to midfield by goalie Thomas Allain.

Jones then scored with 25.4 seconds to play, finishing a flurry of five shots with a scoop and underhanded shot to make it 5-2.

Thornton pulled within 5-3 with 25.8 seconds to play.

“We just didn’t seem to click offensively,” said Thornton Coach Ryan Hersey. “They really did a phenomenal job picking off some of our passes and getting off and going. We credit them. They got to the ball and they were gone.”

The Trojans (8-7) won seven of their final eight games — a remarkable turnaround after starting the season 1-6.

“What really started our win streak was remembering to be positive no matter what happened,” said Hersey. “That proved very powerful.”

Scarborough will focus on shutting down prolific midfielder Caleb Kenney of Portland in the state final.

Kenney scored 10 goals against the Red Storm in the team’s last meeting.

“They have two excellent middies we are going to have to do a better job in shutting down,” said Hezlep.

He said his team looks forward to the challenge, and believes the players are peaking at the right time.

“We lost some games early but are really starting to play better,” said Hezlep.

Staff Writer Jenn Menendez can be contacted at 791-6426 or at:

jmenendez@pressherald.com