READFIELD — For the relatively short history of Maine high school lacrosse, players from outside Cumberland County might have been willing to sign away their future first-born child or cut a deal with the netherworld for a chance to beat North Yarmouth Academy.

Now, the undefeated cooperative program from Maranacook/Winthrop has done it twice in a single season.

Toby Smith scored four goals Wednesday afternoon and Zach Glazier added three, staking the No. 1 Hawks to a 9-2 victory over the No. 8 Panthers in the Class B East boys’ quarterfinals at McPhedran Field.

“Since we played them early in the year, we knew it was going to be a hard game,” Smith said. “When we looked at some other matchups teams had, we knew we had it hard. We just knew we could play.”

Maranacook/Winthrop (13-0) will host another traditional power, Yarmouth, in Saturday’s semifinals.

The snow had barely melted and given way to muddy earth when the Hawks notched a landmark 6-1 victory in the opening week of the regular season.

And don’t let NYA’s 2-11 record fool you. Most of the Panthers’ schedule is a round-robin with the other schools from the southern hotbed of the sport. They’re the only team to hold the Hawks to fewer than 13 goals in any game.

“They finished with only two wins, but it’s just because of the teams they play,” Glazier said. “They have one of the better defenses we’ve played.”

In addition to winning state championships in 2001 and 2007, NYA won regionals back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.

“They’re trained. They’ve been to championships before. Their program knows how to win,” Maranacook coach Zach Stewart said. “They’ve got (assistant coach Bruce) Myers who started lacrosse in Maine. They’re pretty much one of the last teams we want to see, for sure.”

Confidence and comfort were keys for Maranacook/Winthrop, and there was no better way to achieve them than a quick start.

Smith scored twice in the first four minutes of the game, unleashing a pair of long-range lasers while closely guarded.

“Some games we started off flat and kind of not awake,” Smith said. “It was really key for this game. NYA is amazing. They have good players. It was key to get in, get some goals and get going.”

There was a brief lull after that. But in a 52-second span late in the period, Zack Godbout scored on an assist from Smith, followed by Glazier’s first goal to make it 4-0.

“We came out a little bit slow and picked it up,” Glazier said. “I thought it was a good day for us.”

Alex Tooth added another goal in the opening minute of the second, and the Hawks’ defense — led by Simon Davis, Peter Prescott and Levi Emery in front of senior goalie Zach Bessette — didn’t yield the Panthers many good looks at an answer.

Freshman Brad McLellan put NYA on the board with 4:39 remaining in the half.

Haley Cunningham collected another goal for the Panthers midway through the third quarter, but it was sandwiched between two Smith strikes that made it a 7-2 lead. Glazier and James Canwell had the assists.

“I took the pressure off them and told them, ‘You guys keep playing like the champions that you’ve been.’ That’s how they played today. It was awesome,” Stewart said.

Glazier tacked on two goals in the fourth period for the Hawks, who outshot the Panthers, 42-17.

NYA goalie D.J. Nicholas made 17 saves. Bessette turned away nine shots for Maranacook/Winthrop.

“Usually our defense and goalie are just lockdown, and today they did what they had to do,” Smith said. “I think we all had some nerves. We all made some mistakes, but I think for our first game we all did pretty well.”

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