SACO — Greg Lodge is approaching today’s Western Class A boy’s high school lacrosse semifinal with a fresh mind.

Just over a week ago Lodge and his Thornton Academy teammates were beaten soundly 15-4 by Scarborough to close out the regular season. The Trojans (10-3) managed to quickly regroup and earned another shot at the high-powered Red Storm after slipping past Massabesic 5-4 in the regional quarterfinals on Wednesday.

“We’ve really got nothing to lose and all the pressure is on them,” Lodge said. “We have to forget about that last game against them, play hard and hopefully things go our way. We’ve got another chance against Scarborough and it feels good.”

The winner of Saturday’s game will move into the Regional Championship against the winner of the other semifinal game between No. 2 Kennebunk and third seeded Marshwood also being played today. The Regional Championship is scheduled for Wednesday.

In preparing for the two-time defending State Champion Red Storm, Lodge said his team has to employ a simple philosophy if they hope to author an upset.

“Possession is going to be a big key,” said Lodge, a senior midfielder who is the Trojans’ top offensive player. “Obviously, when they get the ball they score a lot.

“Our defense has to be big and our offense has to score when we can.”

The talented trio of players that form the core of Scarborough’s offensive arsenal will be a main point of focus for the Trojans. John Wheeler, Jon Blaisdell and Ryan Pallotta have been dangerous offensive weapons all season long. Their abilities were on display in the last meeting between the two teams when they accounted for 13 of the 15 goals the Red Storm scored against Thornton Academy in the regular season finale.

“I really think it comes through John Wheeler and Jon Blaisdell,” said Thornton Academy coach Ryan Hersey. “Not to discredit Ryan, he’s fast and he can finish but he was getting a lot of wide open shots last time against us because of Wheeler and Blaisdell. We have to do a better job of bodying them up and not letting them beat us in the middle.”

Despite posting an 11-1 record during the regular season and earning the No. 1 seed in the Western portion of the tournament bracket, Scarborough plans a similar approach to the game. According to Red Storm coach Joe Hezlep, the key for his team is to try and forget about what happened during the regular season and concentrate on each game as a completely new entity.

“The coaching staff has to work pretty hard to remind the boys that we don’t have an 11-point lead going into the first quarter of this game,” Hezlep said. “We’ve been in this situation before in Scarborough and few times it’s worked out well. But there’s been other times when it hasn’t.

“Our kids know what to expect. They know they have to come into this game like it was any other.”

— Mark Jeanneret at 282-1535, Ext. 323.