TOPSHAM —  Ben Bishop made his first varsity start for Mt. Ararat a memorable one.

The sophomore scored a career-high five goals as the Eagles clinched a spot in the KVAC championship game and the No. 3 seed in the Eastern A boys’ lacrosse tournament with an 8-2 win over Lewiston in both teams’ season finale on a foggy Wednesday afternoon.

“I guess I just found all of the opportunities that were there,” Bishop said. “I just felt like I was open and the goalie came out to challenge me and every time I just found a way to kind of put it around him, I guess.”

“We’ve had a few injuries and we had a kid who was sick, and we were just getting him back, but Ben has been looking good in practice, so we went with him,” Mt. Ararat coach Matt Haskell said. “It’s a nice little debut.”

Jeremy Williams scored twice for the Eagles (9-3). Ed McGuire was outstanding in goal for Mt. Ararat, stopping 19 shots. Only Max Bolduc and Shawn Gagnier were able to find the back of the net for Lewiston (8-4).

Mt. Ararat’s defense did a good job containing Lewiston’s patient attack. The few times the Blue Devils were able to get an uncontested shot off, McGuire was ready with a quick stick to deny them.

“Eddie had a great game. He bailed us out at least four times that I recall,” Haskell said.

“Their goalie did play very well today,” Lewiston coach Ben Fournier said. “We didn’t come ready to play. Mt. Ararat did, and we paid the price for it.”

Mt. Ararat, which beat the Blue Devils, 8-3, in their  April 30 meeting  in Lewiston, jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a pair of goals by Bishop and one by Williams.

Lewiston got its first goal with 8:29 left in the first half when Reilly Bolduc set up behind McGuire and found Max Bolduc streaking towards the net, to the left of the goalie, to make it 3-1.

Moments later, McGuire made a nice kick save to deny Gagnier’s bid to make it 3-2. That was as close as Lewiston came to seizing the momentum as Williams scored with 1:55 left in the half to make it a three-goal game again. The Devils never got any closer.

The Eagles, or more specifically Bishop, promptly took control of the second half with a tally 1:15 in for a 5-1 lead. Back-to-back cross-checking penalties made it tougher for the Devils to answer.

Back at even strength, Bishop scored twice in 11 seconds to essentially put the game away, first in transition, then after picking off an errant clear-out by a Lewiston defenseman for a 7-1 advantage.

“Originally (on the first goal), I was coming down the side looking for an opportunity to put it in, but then I just saw the defenseman just kind of slide in to cover the pass and the next thing I know, the lane’s open and I just took the shot,” Bishop said.

“We didn’t run hard with the ball in our stick and the Mt. Ararat defenders pressed out and got on our hands,” Fournier said. “We couldn’t handle it and coughed up the ball.”

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