One state title in a sports season is special.

Two are double the fun.

Three in one campaign is almost unheard of.

Four?

In a four-day span?

You’ve got to be kidding.

Yarmouth experienced just that kind of magical end to its spring, as boys’ tennis won its fifth straight Class B championship on a Wednesday and after girls’ lacrosse completed a magical run with a title two nights later, boys’ lacrosse won an overtime game for the ages Saturday morning and later that day, baseball, after two seemingly impossible victories to get there, completed its memorable postseason surge with a relatively easy victory in the state final.

It was a head-spinning, exhilarating, never-to-be-forgotten 72-hour period and it’s worth revisiting one more time.

“It’s so exciting,” said Clippers athletic director Sarah Holmes. “We had to work for them too. That’s how winning titles should be. It’s a real testament to our community’s support of athletics and extracurricular activities too. I’m very fortunate to be in a community with that type of support. It gave everyone a goal to work toward. The student-athletes supported each other.”

Wednesday, June 12

The first title was probably the most predictable, even if it didn’t come easily and it was fraught with emotion.

Boys’ tennis won its fourth straight Class B crown last spring and coach Bill Shardlow retired after the season. The program was then stricken by tragedy early this year when Shardlow passed away suddenly due to a stroke. Under new coach Gabe Gordon, a former Yarmouth assistant, and a strong returning core, the Clippers remained atop the heap, while paying tribute to Shardlow’s memory in the process.

Yarmouth entered the season on a 36-match win streak, dating to a 4-1 loss to Waynflete (the only program with a longer state championship streak) in the 2021 regular season finale. This spring, the Clippers extended that streak to 52, going 16-0. It didn’t come easily, however, as Yarmouth won by 3-2 margins on five occasions in the regular season.

After sweeping Cony in the quarterfinals, the Clippers got pushed again in the semifinals, by rival Greely, but prevailed, 3-2. After beating Lincoln Academy in the regional final, 4-1, Yarmouth defeated Mt. Desert Island, 4-1, and for the fifth consecutive season a tournament was held (there was no postseason in 2020 due to COVID), the Clippers were champions.

Andi Cobaj, Xander Gordon and James Hartnett led the way at singles, while Wiley Schumacher and Mile Sanokklis and Chris Augur and John Nicholas were the top doubles tandems.

“We had a young team this year and they really came together to get to this point,” said Gordon. “So many different players that didn’t even get a chance to play (in the final match) got a chance to contribute to the season. We had to rely upon one another.”

The team wore a logo all season which featured a tennis ball containing the word ‘Shardlow’ and inside the seams read the message reading ‘Love All.’

“What (Coach Shardlow) taught us and what we learned from him was so powerful that I think we pulled it together ourselves and fought and made it happen,” said Schumacher, who created the logo.

Schumacher explained that Shardlow told his players that regardless of the score, to consider each point to be starting at love all.

“Because it gets your mental space back in ground zero for the point,” Schumacher said. “But it also is a good signifier to just, you know, Love All.”

“Bill always taught his players that one’s character, dignity, and humanity come before tennis,” said Gordon. “Bill helped countless people along the way and empowered them to be better versions of themselves. I think for our team we are just honored that we got to spend time with Bill. How lucky of us.”

Friday, June 14

Yarmouth’s girls’ lacrosse team knows that its season ends on the final weekend.

Always.

This year would be no different and after close losses to Kennebunk in both the 2022 and 2023 Class A state finals, this time, the Clippers would have no peer.

And best of all, they vanquished the Rams along the way.

The squad featured a superb senior core, including goalie Regan Sullivan, defenders Sonja Bell, Fiona Bergen and Annie Hunter and offensive threats Brooke Boone, Lauren Keaney, Neena Panozzo and Aine Powers.

Yarmouth lost early at Falmouth and at home to Kennebunk, both by 8-7 scores, but won its final eight regular season games, then excelled in the postseason.

Because as longtime Clippers coach Dorothy Holt likes to say, “I’m telling you, we love June.”

Yarmouth had no trouble with Oxford Hills in the state preliminary round, winning, 19-6, then pulled away in the second half to beat Cheverus in the quarterfinals, 10-5. The Clippers then had to solve Kennebunk in a state semifinal played at a neutral venue, Scarborough High School. Yarmouth fell behind, 5-2, but it would roar back and behind three goals from Boone and the tying and go-ahead goals from Panozzo, eked out an inspirational and therapeutic 8-7 victory.

Undefeated Falmouth was the last team standing and the Clippers got to avenge that loss as well, erasing a 7-4 halftime deficit with a 6-0 surge in the third period Yarmouth held the potent Navigators to just three second half shots and one second half goal and prevailed, 12-8, the Clippers’ ninth all-time title. Six different players scored for Yarmouth, as Boone and sophomore Celia Zinman each had three goals, junior Sierra Hunt and Powers added two apiece and Keaney and Panozzo scored once each. Sullivan bowed out with another strong performance, saving seven shots.

“The seniors knew any game could be our last,” Sullivan said. “We trust each other and we’re able to connect. That’s a huge part of our success.”

“I’m honored to coach this group,” Holt added. “They’ve worked so hard. They came in with a mission and they did it. We had some bumps in the road, but these seniors drove the underclassmen hard.”

Saturday morning, June 15

After a quick night’s sleep, Yarmouth lacrosse fans came back to Fitzpatrick Stadium and they would witness a breathtaking boys’ title, starring” Colter and the Comeback Clippers.”

Senior standout Colter Olson, who will play next year at Rutgers University, willingly brought along a young core and the season would be filled with thrills, capped with the biggest of all.

Yarmouth lost to Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and York in the regular season, with the loss to the Wildcats being especially frustrating after they had eliminated the Clippers in the 2023 playoffs.

Yarmouth eyed a rematch with York in the state game and after closing the campaign with a win at Cape Elizabeth, liked its chances.

The Clippers eliminated Gray-New Gloucester/Poland (16-4) in the state quarterfinals, then got past Messalonskee (16-6) in the semifinals and sure enough, York was waiting for Yarmouth with a title on the line.

The state game would be back-and-forth, a true classic between two teams that punched and counterpunched all day long.

The Clippers fell behind early, 3-1, then raced to a 6-3 lead. After the Wildcats scored four straight goals, Yarmouth scored just before the half to make it 7-7. The Clippers then held a three-goal after three quarters and were still up, 11-8, with under five minutes to play, but York scored four straight goals, going ahead with 15 seconds remaining, and Yarmouth’s dream appeared to be dashed. But the Clippers got possession and Olson set up sophomore Hakon Yeo for the biggest goal of his life, with only 2.4 seconds on the clock, forcing overtime. There, after the Wildcats got the ball first but turned it over, there was no question that Olson would take the final shot and a minute into the “sudden victory” extra session, Olson got a sliver of room, ripped a shot and tickled the twine to give Yarmouth the most dramatic victory in program history, 13-12.

“It’s just a fairy tale ending,” said Olson, who had four goals and seven assists. “I knew the game wasn’t over until it’s over.It’s hard to beat a team like us twice.”

“Going into overtime, after that (tying) goal, in my opinion, I knew we could win it,” Yeo said. “I don’t think people saw us as a team that would win this year. York was favored, but nobody should count us out and we proved that today.”

“It’s amazing,” added Clippers coach and one-time program standout Jon Miller. “When it’s easy, it’s less rewarding. When you win a crazy one like this, it’s certainly rewarding and something you’ll never forget. It’s huge for us. We hadn’t won it in a few years and York’s a really good team. To beat a great team like that in the final stage is very big. It will go down in history for sure.”

The day, and the trophy collection, wasn’t over.

Saturday afternoon, June 15

That afternoon, at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, Yarmouth’s baseball team, full of seniors who had experienced triumph in multiple sports, fittingly brought the curtain down.

Speaking of dramatic wins, the Clippers had cornered the market on such triumphs in earlier rounds of the playoffs.

After a 12-4 regular season, which included losses to Cape Elizabeth, Freeport, Wells and York, Yarmouth got a chance to avenge a pair of those setbacks in the postseason.

First, the Clippers erased an early three-run deficit to oust Wells, 13-3, in six-innings, in the quarterfinals. Yarmouth then trailed York by a run heading to the bottom of the seventh in a twice weather-delayed semifinal, but with one out, the Clippers managed to load the bases before senior Jack Janczuk laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score senior Andrew Cheever to tie it and on the throw to first, senior David Swfit raced home as well to win it, 5-4. That was a mere appetizer to what happened in the regional final against Greely at St. Joseph’s College. Senior ace Sam Lowenstein allowed a run in the first and it after leaving an abundance of runners on base, it appeared Yarmouth might just lose by a 1-0 score, but with two on and two out in the top of the seventh, junior second Alec Gagnon played the unlikely hero. Down to his final strike, Gagnon crushed a two-run triple to center and improbably, the Clippers had turned the game around. Cheever then closed it out and Yarmouth advanced, 2-1.

After losing to Old Town in the 2023 state final, the Clippers weren’t about to fall short this time around and they would capture the program’s fifth title in relative easy style. After senior starter Sam Bradford worked out of a jam in the top of the first, with a big assist going to his senior catcher, Graeme Roux, Lowenstein’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half scored Cheever and Yarmouth was in front to stay. Senior Max Gilbert then added an RBI single and two more runs scored on an error to make it 4-0 after four. In the fifth, another error scored a run, then Yarmouth made it 6-0 as senior pinch-hitter Ben Damasco laid down a run-scoring bunt. Bradford gave way to Cheever in the sixth, who gave up a run on a ground out, then Yarmouth tacked on two more unearned runs in the bottom half on an error and a triple from Swift. Cheever then closed it out in the seventh and the Clippers prevailed, 8-1.

“It was really special to get this last one,” said Bradford. “We’ve played together forever. I’m said to see us go, but it’s a great ending. A great way to end it and cap off our legacy.”

“It’s a perfect ending,” Cheever said. “It’s really a fairy tale, such a good feeling. It feels so good. We came out on top and that was the goal.”

“We were marked men all year long,” added longtime Yarmouth coach Marc Halsted, who earned his 200th victory with the program by virtue of the state game win. “We faced number one pitchers so many times this year and we had to compete our tails off.  We found ways to win all year long. We grinded it out. We have tough kids who played great defense and we had in-the-moment pitching from highly competitive kids who wanted the ball on the mound.”

Press Herald staff writer Glenn Jordan contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

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