May 19, 2005

King Capers No Longer Ruling Pine Tree State

It's a situation familiar to many high school lacrosse fiefdoms: one dominant team rules the kingdom, keeping their foot on the collective throats of other programs, essentially making the sport their own private domain.

From the creation of the Maine high school lacrosse championship, the state chalice has resided almost exclusively in Cape Elizabeth, a small, affluent community on the pastoral coast just north of Portland. The Capers have advanced to the title game for the past 15 years and have won 13 crowns, hoisting the trophy every year from the inception of the playoffs in 1990 through 2001.

But of late there have been a couple of cracks forming in the dynasty. North Yarmouth Academy ended the streak in 2002 and, after Cape Elizabeth recaptured the magic in 2003, Yarmouth High School prevailed and entered the 2005 season as the defending champions. So is the king dead?

"If you asked me during last season, I would have said we had some dynastic qualities, but we lost to Yarmouth in the state finals," said Ben Raymond, a former CEHS player who has been the Capers head coach since 1998. "It's definitely evened out in the past few years. More kids are playing the sport and the youth leagues have really developed."

The field may have evened out, but Cape Elizabeth is still considered by many to be the team any prospective state champion must play past. The Capers have raced out to a 9-2 record so far this spring, including a victory over defending champion Yarmouth, 8-6.

"A lot it is has to do with the kids and some with the tradition," said Raymond, who also moonlights as the men's head lacrosse coach for Division III Southern Maine. "The players go to camps on their own and there may be a bigger commitment here than in other towns. It's nothing to do with me or the program; it's what the players want."

Raymond has leaned on his defense and his transition game so far this year. The Capers have allowed more than seven goals just once - to prep power Bridgeton Academy - and have limited opponents to less than two goals in their last four games.

Raymond credits three of his 13 seniors as important cogs in the development of this next installment of the Cape Elizabeth franchise. Dan Rautenberg has led the attack so far while Brett Brown was called "a rock in goal" by his coach. Brian Holden, an long-stick middie, has "dominated the midfield" and will be taking his skills 35 miles up Route 1 to Bowdoin College next fall.

Before Cape Elizabeth will be able to get back in the winner's circle, it will first have to make its way out of the state's Western Conference. While the Capers have never lost a Western Maine title game, Raymond envisions a couple of teams making his team earn another state berth. Cape and Kennebunk have played some dandy conference finals games over the past several years according to Raymond, and the Rams have recently won eight straight for a 10-2 record. Deering (7-1), Greely (4-4) and Cheverus (5-3) are also teams vying to terminate Cape's reign.

On the Eastern Conference side of the ledger, Yarmouth (7-2), North Yarmouth Academy (8-3) and Brunswick (7-1) are off to hot starts and are likely to factor in who advances to the state championship game.

NYA was the first team to break through against Cape in the 2002 championship game, and it took a little insider information to pull off the feat. The lacrosse coach (and athletic director) at NYA, Jeff Thoreck, was a teammate of Raymond's at CEHS and worked at his alma mater before making the jump to NYA the same year as the streak-breaking championship.

"It was a good thing for Maine lacrosse," said Thoreck, who still counts Raymond among his close friends. "It allowed some other teams to see that Cape was beatable, and it did a lot for Cape because it got rid of some of their complacency."

The Panthers are not as experienced this year, but they've won five in-a-row since losing to Yarmouth earlier this season.

"We're a very young team," said Thoreck, who played at Le Moyne after his prep days. "We only have three returning players with any kind of starting experience and a bunch of underclassmen. Each game we're improving and the players really work hard."

On a team bereft of experienced players, Thoreck has turned to his captains to lead the way. Peter Gerrity, a burly, southpaw attackman has carried the load on offense and will ply his trade at Hamilton next year.

Nathaniel Bishop is a gritty midfielder who brings a little calm to the Panthers transition game. "He really controls the offense and with a young team that is really important," said Thoreck of Bishop. "He tries to slow things down and possess. He's a great leader." Like many good commanders before him, Bishop recently received his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, where Thoreck said he might try to walk on the lax team if not playing club hockey.

Yarmouth thumped NYA pretty firmly, 15-2, in the first match-up, so last night's rematch will go a long way in determining whether the Panthers can realistically come out of the west.

Whichever team survives the Western Conference will have as good a shot as any team of winning the state trophy. Likewise, this Eastern Conference bracket, for once, doesn't already have Cape Elizabeth's name etched in at the end. The Capers have a strong chance of returning, but there's been a gross roots revolution in Vacationland, and the have-nots are suddenly knocking on the castle door.

Maine Events: because the Maine high school lacrosse season starts when many other states are winding down, the Pine Tree state season is just over halfway completed. Most of the schools in Maine started the season during the fourth week of April and the state championship game will not occur until June 18...instead of using a playoff system based on straight win-loss records, the Maine Principal's Association (the governing body for high school athletics) uses a convoluted formula known as "Heal Points" to determine playoff teams in most sports. The algorithm acts much like a Ratings Percentage Index, assigning quality-of-win points to the four classes of schools within the state. In the latest Heal Point index, NYA and Yarmouth are 1-2 in the East, respectively, while Cape Elizabeth and Portland (8-0) are at the top of the Western Conference. According to NYA coach/AD Jeff Thoreck, about 66 percent of the total participating teams make it to the playoffs in each conference, or about 12 each.