Following its regular-season matchup with Mt. Blue, the Lewiston boys’ lacrosse team had a feeling it might see the Cougars again come playoff time.

On Wednesday, the cards fell in that direction.

Following a near-perfect season in 2003, this year’s Blue Devils struggled against three KVAC opponents, and it was that third loss, a setback to Messalonskee, that proved to be the difference between a preliminary game and a bye.

“I think that game was the one that made the light bulb go off in the kids’ heads,” Lewiston coach Tom Fournier said. “They finally I think started to get the message that we can’t go down in a game 7-1 or 4-0.”

Still, Lewiston may get what it wants in the end: A rematch with Mt. Blue.

In the preliminary round, the No. 6 Blue Devils will take on No. 11 Oxford Hills, the final team to make the tournament and the team with the lowest Heal Point Index of any team in the tournament, West or East.

“We can’t overlook them,” Fournier said. “We beat them 9-4, but that game was called in the third quarter in the rain. If we do in fact get by them, we will get to face Mt. Blue, which is something we have talked about wanting to do.”

Should Lewiston advance past the Vikings, No. 3 Mt. Blue will be waiting.

Despite a perfect record, KVAC champion Brunswick will be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern brackets after Yarmouth. The Clippers also finished the season with an unblemished record and the number of top teams they played outweighed the Dragons’ wins.

Mt. Blue’s only loss on the season was to Brunswick, and they came in at No. 3, followed by Messalonskee (losses to Brunswick and Mt. Blue) and North Yarmouth Academy. NYA actually had four losses on the season but its eight wins were apparently over better opponents than the nine wins Lewiston managed.

“We have no problem with that,” Fournier said. “They played a much tougher schedule than we did.”

Freeport is the No. 7-seed and will face Oak Hill in a preliminary round matchup on Saturday, while No. 8 Cony will face rival Gardiner in its first game. The winner of that contest will face Yarmouth, while the winner of Freeport/Oak Hill will face Brunswick.

In the West, Fryeburg squeaked into the tournament as the No. 12-seed and draws No. 5 Portland in the first round. Should the Raiders advance, they would face the No. 4 Red Riots of South Portland. Cape Elizabeth is the top seed in the West with a 10-2 record, just ahead of Marshwood, which finished with an identical 10-2 mark.

Waiting game

While the boys teams and Western girls teams square off in preliminary action on Saturday, the Eastern girls will wait and watch.

With just seven teams making the playoffs, the first game any of the girls in the East will play won;t be until Tuesday, June 1.

With identical 7-5 records, Lewiston will travel to Brunswick for their teams’ quarterfinal game. The winner will then face undefeated No. 1-seeded North Yarmouth Academy on Friday, June 4.

In the two-seven matchup, Mountain Valley (4-8) will face No. 2-seed Yarmouth (9-3), while No. 3 Mt. Ararat (9-3) will take on No. 6 Messalonskee (5-7).

Kennebunk will be the top seed in the West, going into the tournament with a perfect 12-0 record. Greely is second with a mark of 10-2.

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