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SOUTH PORTLAND — There’s no such thing as a perfect game in boys’ lacrosse, but South Portland came very close to playing one Wednesday afternoon.

In what was billed as a showdown between two of the top teams in Western Class A, the Riots breezed to a 14-4 win over Scarborough in an SMAA game at George E. Martin Memorial Field.

“We played really, really well today,” said South Portland goalie T-Moe Hellier, who stopped five of the Red Storm’s nine shots on goal. “Our defense was really killing it. Almost all the shots I faced were coming from the outside.”

The Riots, the defending Class A champion, held a decided edge in every phase of the game. They held a 39-19 edge in shots, won 14 of 22 faceoffs, held a 30-14 edge in groundballs and committed just 13 turnovers.

“We’re starting to jell and peak just at the right time,” South Portland Coach Tom Fiorini said. “The offense took a little time. We’ve replaced a lot of kids. We moved a lot of kids around. We’ve been tweaking and messing with it all season and now it’s just starting to come together.”

South Portland (11-1) scored six goals in the final five minutes of the first half to take an 8-1 lead.

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The Riots, while playing very deliberate during several long possessions in the first quarter, took a 2-0 lead on goals by Jack Fiorini.

“We’re a six-on-six team,” Tom Fiorini said. “We like to slow the ball down and play six-on-six offense.”

After Marco Manfra made it 2-1 five minutes into the second quarter by converting a turnover into a goal on a quick counterattack, the Riots turned it up a notch.

“We weren’t going to let them back in it,” said Andrew Whipple, a senior attackman who scored four goals and had three assists. “We saw that 2-1 score, and we said ‘we’ve got to get going. We’ve got to get going.’ We picked each other up, and we just got going. We shifted into a different gear.”

With Lucas Michaud, a senior middie, winning five of the eight faceoffs during the period, South Portland regained possession of the ball after nearly every one of its goals to quickly go back on the attack.

“Sometimes our offense comes out a little slow, but when they get going, they get going,” Hellier said.

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Kam Andrews also scored four goals for the Riots, who won all 10 of their games against SMAA teams during the regular season. Jack Fiorini and Chris Mitchell each had two goals and two assists. Michaud and Kyle Halvorsen each scored a goal. Eben Babbidge had an assist.

Sam Neugbauer scored two goals for Scarborough, which ended the regular season 8-4. Cameron Nigro scored a goal. Braeden Kane and Nathan Howard each had an assist.

The lopsided loss snapped the Red Storm’s five-game win streak.

“It really comes down to execution for us,” Scarborough Coach Joe Hezlep. “We’re still young enough and inexperienced enough even this late in the season we can’t afford to miss chances when we get them.”

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