SACO — Thomas Levasseur attended Thornton Academy’s senior athletic banquet Wednesday night wearing neither tie nor coat. Instead, he was adorned with splotches of maroon paint beneath each eye, his hair tousled and his shirt soaked with sweat.

That sort of thing can happen when the playoffs roll around.

“They told us they were going to bite the bullet and take the stench,” he said. “We would just have to get there as early as we can.”

Levasseur helped retain a celebratory air for the evening’s awards by scoring four goals, all in the second half, to help the second-seeded Golden Trojans beat No. 7 Scarborough 12-5 in a Class A South boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal late Wednesday afternoon.

Thornton (12-1) advances to the semifinals Saturday night against No. 6 Kennebunk (7-6). The Rams knocked off No. 3 Bonny Eagle, 9-2, in a Tuesday quarterfinal.

Scarborough (4-9) scored the first goal Wednesday. Four minutes into the contest, with a man advantage, Andrew Granzier converted a feed from Alden Leadley.

“It was a bit of a shocker, but if anything, it woke us up a little bit,” said Thornton senior CJ LaBreck. “Going down 1-0 isn’t a big deal, but it gave us a little jolt. We noticed that we needed to pick it up, and I think that’s what we did.”

LaBreck sandwiched a pair of goals around one by Anthony Bracamonte to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead entering the second quarter. LaBreck and junior midfielder Alec McAlary set up each other for a goal in the second quarter to make it 5-1 at intermission.

LaBreck finished with four goals and an assist, and McAlary had three assists to go along with his goal. Gavin Tanis added two goals and an assist for Thornton, which outscored Scarborough 4-3 in the third quarter and 3-1 in the fourth.

Senior attacker Jared Quintiliani had two goals and an assist for the Red Storm.

“I feel good about the effort the guys put in,” Scarborough Coach Zach Barrett said. “They worked hard. They wanted it. Our execution just wasn’t there.”

Both goalies put forth impressive performances. Thornton senior Ean Patry finished with eight saves, and Scarborough junior Austin Brown made 21 saves.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Brown said. “They move the ball really well and they play at such a fast pace.”

Thornton’s aggressive defense forced Scarborough into 26 turnovers, including three times for failing to reach the goal area within 10 seconds of gaining possession. The Trojans made 18 turnovers.

“The first time we played them, they struggled with passing and catching,” Thornton Coach Ryan Hersey said. “We knew they were going to be better, but we wanted to get on their hands, not give them wide-open looks to the middle, and force them to make (long) passes.”