Ten years, and not much has changed with the Mt. Blue High School boys’ lacrosse program.

The Cougars are undefeated, just as they were for most of 1998 and 1999.

James Black is still involved with the program: Player then, coach now.

And he’s wise enough to recognize that an 8-0 record north and west of the state’s well-defined lacrosse belt doesn’t carry quite the same weight as it does on the other side.

“My junior and senior years, I think we lost a total of one game in the regular season,” Black said. “And we got beat in the first round of the playoffs. One of those years Waynflete was a sixth seed, and they knocked us out.”

Mt. Blue’s spotless season to date is a natural extension of the 2008 campaign, which ended with a one-sided loss to North Yarmouth Academy – another of those established Greater Portland and mid-coast foes – in the Eastern Class B semifinals.

The Cougars’ schedule is theoretically tiered according to ability level and regionalized, although Mt. Blue has played Lincoln Academy of Newcastle twice and is headed to winless Camden Hills on Friday.

“That’s another two-hour bus ride, one way,” Black said.

And so the Cougars are controlling what they may, taking themselves where the competition is.

Recent summers have found Mt. Blue players traveling to indoor tournaments at Howard’s Sports in Topsham and Sukee Arena in Winslow.

Eleven of the Cougars made an even greater commitment of time and money last year, attending the prestigious Syracuse University camp.

“You’ve got to keep a stick in your hand. It’s not like football, where you can just show up and be bigger and stronger and outplay the guy in front of you,” said Black, who also starred on the gridiron at Mt. Blue. “There’s a lot of technique you have to work on all year long in order to get better.”

Black’s 40-man roster includes 11 seniors, all of whom have worked their way up from the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference basement as freshmen and sophomores.

Much of Mt. Blue’s experience roams the attack and midfield areas. Zac Conlogue and Lance Dwight provide proven scoring punch up front. Joe Leclair, Derek Rowe and Travis Robinson comprise a steady group of middies.

The defense is young in front of senior goaltender Ben Altmeier, but sophomore long sticks Anthony Larrabee and Colten Miranda have excelled as they learn on the fly.

With college teams done for the season, Black enjoys the added benefit of several recent Mt. Blue alumni as volunteer coaches at practice.

“I tell the guys that just playing against people who are a higher caliber and have played at a higher level of competition makes you better,” Black said. “The lacrosse in Southern Maine is a lot different. It looks like hopefully we’ll be moving up to Class A next year, and it should help us to play more of those teams.”

Mt. Blue won’t have to wait for the playoffs for a present-day challenge. Gardiner and Morse pose threats to the Cougars the second time around the KVAC slate.

“We’d like to go undefeated,” said Black, “but we have to keep improving. We beat Lincoln only 6-4 the other day after handling them pretty easily the first time. When you’re the No. 1 team, you get everybody’s No. 1 game.”

Saints’ stopper

Freshman initiation isn’t always a forgiving process in boys’ lacrosse. The difference in size between a senior and a newcomer might not look that drastic until the first open-field collision.

Standing in the crease, wearing the pads and holding the big stick has been the great equalizer for Cody Rodrigue of St. Dom’s.

Rodrigue has kept the Saints in the hunt against some of the top-flight opponents in the WMC and SMAA, but coach Jim Dock saw his new goalie’s potential as early as the second week of April.

“He made 30 saves in a scrimmage against Gould Academy, and that was a team that had three post-graduates,” Dock said. “When you have a freshman standing in there against college-age kids and performing that well, you know he’s going to be OK.”

Rodrigue registered 19 more saves against a fusillade of 48 North Yarmouth Academy shots Saturday in a 16-11 loss to the Panthers.

Eddies break through

The Edward Little girls don’t need to feel lonely any longer.

Lewiston, Oxford Hills and Mountain Valley all logged multiple wins through the first two weeks of the regular season while the Red Eddies struggled to an 0-5 start as the area’s only winless squad. The frustration ended Thursday with an 11-8 overtime victory over Mountain Valley.

Carmen Lasagna scored twice in the extra session for EL. Alicia Large led the Red Eddies with five goals as the co-coaching tandem of Jess Somers and Greg Perkins picked up its first win, as well.