SACO — The Thornton Academy boys lacrosse team battled back from a 6-2 halftime deficit to tie the game in the third quarter of Wednesday’s Class A South quarterfinal game with South Portland, but the host Trojans were never able to take the lead as they fell to the Red Riots by an 11-8 score.

The No. 5 Red Riots would use two goals from Syracuse-bound standout Jack Fiorini and another from Jake Angell to jump out to a 3-0 lead early in the first.

TA would respond with goals from Wyatt LeBlanc and Greg Ruff to cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the second.

Unfortunately for the home squad, it would be all South Portland in the second period.

The Red Riots would get a pair of goals from John Cooper Mehlhorn and a score from Ross Myers to take a 6-2 lead into the break.

“We just started out not moving the ball well … defensively, not really sliding with speed and not really communicating and we get a 6-2 deficit heading into halftime,” said TA coach Ryan Hersey.

The Trojans came out firing in the second half as they would score four goals in the first six minutes of the third to tie the game.

Thomas Pike, Justin Masteller, John Giroux and CJ Labreck would handle the scoring for the Trojans as they quickly erased that halftime deficit.

The Red Riots, who struggled on both ends in the first half of the third quarter, would respond with a goal from Mitchell Adams to retake the lead with 4:12 left in the period.

Noah Edborg answered for TA at the 3:05 mark as he beat the South Portland keeper to tie the game at 7-7.

Once again the Red Riots would respond as Angell beat the TA goalie with 1:51 left in the third to take an 8-7 lead into the fourth.

South Portland took control early in the fourth with Adams scoring just over two minutes into the frame, Fiorini adding another goal at the 8:23 mark and Mehlhorn scoring with 7:35 left to take an 11-7 lead.

Edborg would get his second goal of the game with 6:35 remaining to cut the South Portland lead to 11-8, but that would be as close as TA would get.

“We were able to score a bunch of goals off some fast break and when you do that, your guys start getting tired,” said Hersey, who felt his team needed to be more patient once they tied the game. “They were continuing to try and fast break rather than set something up. It was working, but at some point you have to slow down, put on the brakes and get the ball around.”

Hersey felt the South Portland team that his squad beat 11-5 back in May was much different than the one that stepped onto the Hill Stadium turf on Wednesday.

“They didn’t have that ball movement a month ago,” said Hersey. “We played them about a month ago and they didn’t have that ball rotation, so they made our defenders work, made them get more spread out. They were very patient this time, they didn’t throw the ball away as much and it leads to open goals or good looks and they got a bunch of them.”

The Trojans finish the 2016 season with an 8-5 record and the TA program will have to replace several talented players next season – led by departing captains Isaac Patry and Greg Ruff.

“Their leadership, I told them, they are two of the best,” said Hersey, who watched as his two captains helped lead a young team. “Greg and Isaac did a great job this year. Essentially we had a brand new defense and a brand new offense … so for them to step up and help these guys and really act as a coach to them and a mentor to them was huge.”

South Portland will now face No. 1 Scarborough on Saturday.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.