Falcon boys' lacrosse preview

RUMFORD -- In athletic competition, the difference between winning and losing can be ever so thin. That’s because in team sports everybody needs to be on the same page in an attempt to execute on a consistent basis.

The aforementioned issue has been an achilles heel for the Mountain Valley boys' lacrosse team, who have found the sledding to be rough in Class B. There have been flashes of success, but those moments have been few and far between.

The Falcons' physical style has been overshadowed by a lack of mental ingenuity at times. This has often led to breakdowns in one or more areas and opposing teams usually take full advantage during these situations.

MV might be starting out behind the eight ball again because it lost a majority of last year's starters to graduation. Hopefully, some players emerge who will be able to pick up the slack.

“There will be a lot of new looks for us this year,” said head coach Jeff Gilbert, reflecting to the small number of 23 players. “We will be running a new offense that we hope to control the tempo of the game with.”

One bright spot is the return of last year's leading scorer, Kyle Duguay. The offense will be built around him. There are about nine other letter winners. This includes 10 seniors, with about half of them playing lacrosse before.

“The midfielders and attacks have yet to pan out who is starting where,” said Gilbert last week.

Based on evaluations, Duguay, Josh Allen, Travis St. Pierre, Travis Blanchard, Brandon Milligan and Nick Sterling have the inside track.

The defense has all new starters with Nate Nichols as the core of the unit and Milo Jodrey and newcomer Rashad Lavoie rounding out those who could potentially start. Nate Buotte and Jon Petrie are returning lettermen who will see plenty of playing time.

“We have some promising newcomers in Eric Billings and Austin Glover,” said Gilbert. “I anticipate that both will see a lot of playing time in certain situations where they excel.”

There has been a battle throughout preseason at goalie between seniors David Widger and Cote Blanchard. Widger has been the JV goalie for the past two years.

Key losses for the Falcons were Nick Taylor, Cole Clark, Anthony Rocray, Jon Benjamin, Chris Day, Austin Horne, Levi Rajenemi and Cowen Johnson.