BRUNSWICK

If you’re a fan of the Brunswick High School boys lacrosse team, you’ve probably heard this before. Trail late, tie game in the waning seconds, then win in overtime.

That was the case in last year’s State Class A title game, and it was very similar on Wednesday.

Second-seeded Brunswick erased a four-goal deficit in the third quarter, tied the game with six seconds left, and a Max Gramins goal 33 seconds into overtime lifted the Dragons to a 14-13 win over No. 3 Yarmouth in a Class B boys lacrosse semifinal.

Brunswick will face No. 1 Greely (11-3), 16-11 winners over Messalonskee, on Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium. The start time will be announced later today.

“We ran a pick on the foreside, Max received the pass from Aiden and he finished on the crease, it was just awesome,” a smiling Brunswick Don Glover said after the game.

It was a tale of two halves. Yarmouth came out of the gates scoring, getting an unassisted goal from Anders Corey one minute into the game. Brunswick followed with a Henry Doherty goal to tie it.

After each team traded goals, Corey gave the Clippers the lead through 12 minutes with an unassisted goal. The visitors continued their pressure in the second quarter, gaining momentum, allowing just a pair of Dragon goals, while keeping high-scoring Aiden Glover off the board.

“Jake Rogers is an unbelievable defenseman. He did a great job of containing Glover,” Yarmouth coach David Pearl said of his junior defenseman, who stuck to the Brunswick standout like glue. “Glover’s goals were in transition as Jake played a really good game. Any team knows how good of a player (Glover) is, and I think Jake did an outstanding job today.”

The Clippers carried an 8- 4 lead into the halftime break. Corey had three goals, while Hamm added a pair. Brunswick had four different scorers in the half, getting a goal each from Doherty, Nolan Lyne, Nate Girardin and Jared Hummer.

Rally begins

Each team traded goals to open the second half. Trailing 9-5 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, Brunswick began its comeback. Following a pair of penalties that left the Clippers two-players short, Aiden Glover found Jack McDiarmid with a crisp pass for the score.

“Penalties hurt us in the third quarter. It gave them the momentum and a couple of goals,” Pearl said. “That really put them back in the game. Being a man down, then two, that took a lot out of us.”

Glover hit the back of the net with an unassisted tally with 1:40 remaining to cut the Yarmouth lead to 9-7. A minute later, Gramins scored off an Andrew Eno helper to pull within a goal. Eno tied the score with 19 seconds remaining and gave the Dragons the lead with 1.5 ticks left off a Gramins assist for a stunning 10-9 Brunswick advantage through three quarters.

“It was discouraging, but we knew we weren’t going to quit,” Girardin said about trailing by four goals. “The captains talked to us at halftime and we were ready to go in the third quarter, we came out started firing.”

“If we hadn’t of gotten that momentum, we wouldn’t be here talking like this,” Gramins added. “We realized it could have been our last game.”

After being outshot 22-11 in the first half, the Dragons had an 8-4 advantage in shots in the third quarter.

Yarmouth’s Cooper May tied the score at 7:03 with his third goal of the game. Corey followed 33 seconds later to give the Clippers (9- 5) an 11-10 lead. It was Corey’s fourth goal of the contest.

Gramins tied the score once again with a nifty spin move after receiving a pass from Aiden Glover with 5:57 left in regulation.

Yarmouth answered yet again, getting back-to-back goals by Preston Jancovic and Hamm to reclaim the lead, 13-11, with 2:32 remaining. Aiden Glover pulled the Dragons back within one with a goal, scoring an unassisted goal after beating the Clipper defense.

After Yarmouth killed another penalty, Brunswick regained possession with 11.5 seconds remaining. Following a Brunswick timeout, Doherty took the ball at the 45-yard line and sprinted towards the net, blasting a shot past Yarmouth goalie Spencer King for the equalizer with six seconds showing on the clock.

“We called that timeout and give it to the senior,” Coach Glover said. “We decided were going to back down and run a sweep, get his hands free and unleash him.”

After a brief break between regulation and overtime, the upbeat Dragons immediately took control after Giradin recovered a loose ball following a Yarmouth win on the faceoff, setting up the winning tally.

“Coach Glover has taught us everything we know about lacrosse,” Girardin said. “I did what he taught me, to run with the ball, so I did. It’s scary, but it was just another game. We needed to take care of business like we know how.”

“Aiden was going to start in behind and we were going to let him move around like he does,” Gramins said of the game’s final play. “We then wanted to create chaos in front of the net, and we did that and the place went wild.”

“It was a hard-fought game on both sides, credit to Brunswick, they showed a lot of fight right until the end of the game,” Pearl said. “It was an exciting game.”

“A lot of really good chess moves going on out there on the field,” Don Glover said. “Coach Pearl is an excellent coach and he’d make a move and we’d counter it, while they countered ours, it was fun.”

Following Gramins’ and Doherty’s three goals, Aiden Glover and Eno each had a pair. The junior Glover added four assists in the win.

Connor Pendergast turned away 14 shots for Brunswick, while Yarmouth’s Spencer King stopped seven in the loss.

Class B Boys Lacrosse Semifinal At Brunswick

Yarmouth— 35140—13
Brunswick—22451—14
Goals — (Y) Anders Corey 4, Cooper
May 3, Gavin Hamm 3, Preston Jancovic 2, Silas Chappell; (B) Max
Gramins 3, Aiden Glover 2, Max
Doherty 3, Andrew Eno 2, Nolan
Lyne, Jack McDiarmid, Nate Girardin,
Jared Hummer.
Assists —(Y) Cooper May 2, Anders
Corey, Gavin Hamm; (B) Aiden Glover
4, Max Gramins, Andrew Eno, Jared
Hummer.
Shots — Yarmouth 35, Brunswick
26.
Saves — (Y) Spencer King 7; (B)
Connor Pendergast 14.
Faceoffs — Brunswick 20, Yarmouth
12.
Records — Brunswick 11-3,
Yarmouth 9-5.
Next up for the Dragons — State
Class B Championship against No. 1
Greely, Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium, TBD.