AUBURN – Chalk it up to the Saturday morning, graduation weekend, hotter than a breakfast skillet, almost-summertime blues.

Pick a sport, wage a playoff game between two otherwise equal teams in those conditions, and you’re bound to have one show up and the other ship out.

Mt. Ararat looked the part of the latter after falling down two goals, four minutes into an Eastern Class A boys’ lacrosse tournament play-in game. Then came the role reversal, with the Eagles crafting their most complete performance in recent memory and extending their season with a 10-6 victory over Edward Little at Central Maine Community College.

“Oh, this is great. I didn’t want this to be my last game. Of course not. I love playing lacrosse,” said Mt. Ararat senior Zach Drehobl, one of three Eagles with two goals. “I just went out there today like it (could be) my last game and played as hard as I could, just so I’d be content with myself. Same with every other senior here. I know they did.”

Drehobl, Josh Libby and Ryan Clavette each rippled the twine twice for Mt. Ararat (4-9), which rebounded from an 8-5 loss to EL on the same field four days earlier.

The Red Eddies (3-10) might consider an offseason clinic in the intricacies of the oft-misunderstood Heal Point system.

Neither they nor their coaching staff immediately understood that Tuesday’s triumph forged a mathematical tie with the Eagles, necessitating the NCAA basketball tournament-style qualifying game.

“We actually had kids that had already scheduled themselves to work at their jobs on Thursday and Friday,” said EL coach Andy MacIsaac. “We thought we were out of it, so I think we were not emotionally ready for today. We tried to do that as coaches, but I guess we didn’t do enough.”

Despite a flurry of man-advantage opportunities – Mt. Ararat acquired 11 penalties and killed off all but one – EL endured lengthy stretches of offensive lethargy throughout.

After goals by Isaiah Rembert and Zach Bennett gave EL the early 2-0 edge, it was nearly 16 minutes before Matt Nyholm moved the Eddies’ side of the scoreboard again. By that time, Drehobl, Will Bouchard, Mike Rinaldi and Libby connected consecutively and put Mt. Ararat on top for good.

Rembert’s second goal rallied the Eddies within two, 6-4, midway through the third period. Then came another 16-minute drought, one in which the Eagles killed three consecutive minutes of penalty time.

“They showed the discipline they needed to keep the lead. That was the big thing,” said Mt. Ararat coach Matt Haskell, whose team advanced to a Wednesday quarterfinal at Cony. “There were a few opportunities for things to fall apart, but they kept their heads in it.”

Nyholm tallied twice and Shawn Keene added a goal for the Eddies.

Mt. Ararat reached double-digit goals in a game for the first time since 2006.