LEWISTON — The Gorham boys lacrosse team set the tone early in its Class A preliminary matchup against Lewiston on Tuesday at Don Roux Field.

Senior Justin Chasse scored soon after the opening faceoff, quickly answering the question of how ready to play he and his six teammates — who were reinstated to the team earlier in the day following a week of controversy — would be.

“We didn’t waste any time. Right off the bat we were putting them in,” Chasse said. “Right off the bat, the energy was high and the guys worked together. We probably just had one of the best games that we’ve had this season.”

The 12th-seeded Rams hung with the fifth-seeded Blue Devils in the opening half and then pulled away in the second on their way to a 10-6 victory.

Gorham (6-9) advances to face fourth-seeded Thornton Academy (10-4) in the quarterfinals later this week.

Gorham High School’s administration removed the seven seniors from the team last week, a day after head coach Clayton Jones was told not to return to the team. The players were suspended from the team for leaving the bench area during a game against Waynflete on May 30, following a series of protests by the players against Jones, who in turn gave the seniors a silent treatment.

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Tuesday morning, the school told the players that they would be able to return for Tuesday’s preliminary against Lewiston.

Assistant coach Zachary Bryant served as Rams’ head coach after Jones’ dismissal, and over the past week made some tweaks to the offense. The banned players had not practiced with the team since last Tuesday, which left Bryant with a short time Tuesday to catch the seniors up on the changes.

“We started initiating a new offensive scheme, a little bit of a new man-up, so I had about 30 minutes before the game today to introduce them to that,” Bryant said. “Luckily, we had some freshman that really stepped up and filled in roles and did a great job tonight, too. Three freshman goal scorers, so couldn’t be happier than that.

“And I could tell the boys hadn’t put their sticks down, they’d still been working the seven days they were out, so happy to see that.”

Chasse led the Rams with three goals. Fellow seniors Joe Cowan and Brady contributed two and one goals, respectively. The other four Gorham goals were scored by freshmen: Cole Chasse had two and Lucas Graham and Aidan Dudley added one apiece.

“I couldn’t be happier with how our underclassmen stepped up,” Bryant said. “We’re a very senior-heavy team and freshman-heavy team, and we asked the underclassmen to step up in a big way, and they really did.”

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Three of those freshman goals were part of the Rams’ 6-0 scoring streak after halftime, as they turned a 3-3 tie into a 9-3 lead.

Lewiston (10-5) senior Eli Bigelow scored two goals in the final six minutes and junior Cody Dionne added one.

“Eli, he’s taken over a lot of games for us this year, and just kind of been a one-man show, and he tried to do that again today, but, unfortunately, he was pretty gassed from having run hard, again, all game long,” Lewiston coach Ben Fournier said.

Justin Chasse scored the first goal 22 second into the game. He also scored 13 seconds into the second half and netted another goal off a faceoff in the fourth quarter.

“Justin was fantastic at the faceoff,” Bryant said. “Scored three goals, you know, he demanded their respect; if they were going to slide to him, he was going to the rack.”

Lewiston tied the game at 1-1 with 7:24 remaining in the first quarter when Bigelow set up Dionne’s first goal of the game. The Blue Devils went up 2-1 when Aiden St. George scored off an assist from Kyle Graves.

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Cole Chasse’s first goal tied the game in the second quarter, and Gorham when up 3-2 when Brady Alexander put in a rebound.

Liam Hutchinson dropped a pass in front of the goal, but he was able, while getting hit, to tap past Rams goalie Bode Bragdon to tie the game at 3-3 with 15 seconds remaining in the first half.

Justin Chasse and Graham scored in the third to put Gorham ahead 5-3, then the Rams pulled away with four goals during a 2-minute, 8-second stretch early in the fourth quarter to make it a 9-3 game.

“We played hard, Fournier said. “Gorham played a full four quarters, they came out on top today, so kudos to them, they did well.

“Sometimes the bounces go your way, and sometimes they don’t.”


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