(Ed. Note: For the Falmouth-Lewiston boys’ hockey game story, please visit theforecaster.net)

If the rest of 2012 is anything like the first week, local sports fans are in for a non-stop treat.

There was drama galore a week ago and plenty of big games to come.

Here’s a glimpse:

Boys’ basketball

Falmouth’s boys’ basketball team began the week still undefeated and first in the Western Class B Heal Points standings. Last Wednesday, the Yachtsmen rang in 2012 with a trip to preseason favorite York and came away a 44-37 winner behind 14 points from senior Alex Cattell and 11 from classmate Matt Packard. Friday, Falmouth handled host Freeport, 62-34 (Packard led the way with 14 points). The Yachtsmen hosted Gray-New Gloucester Tuesday and go to Lake Region Thursday.

Yarmouth remains hot on Falmouth’s heels. The Clippers began the week 7-1 and fourth in Western B after rolling at Freeport (83-42) and holding off visiting Greely (53-52) in recent action. Against the Falcons, senior Josh Britten had 23 points and classmate Sam Torres added 14. In the win over the Rangers, Yarmouth raced to an early lead behind hot shooting from Britten and senior Chris Knaub and led by as many as 12, 34-22, in the first half. The Rangers rallied in the second half and actually took a short-lived lead before Britten put the Clippers back on top. Clinging to a three-point lead late, Yarmouth took a timeout it didn’t have, giving Greely two technical foul free throws which they hit. The Rangers then had the ball and a chance to win it, but a last second shot didn’t fall and the Clippers held on behind 19 points from Britten and a season-high 16 from Knaub.

Yarmouth was home with Poland Tuesday as Britten looked to get to the 1,000-point mark for his career (he entered 14 short, see theforecaster.net for the game story). After going to Cape Elizabeth Thursday, the Clippers don’t take the court again until next Wednesday at unbeaten Western C contender Waynflete.

Greely began the week 4-4 and sixth after going 1-1 in recent action. The Rangers downed visiting Lake Region, 55-28 (sophomore Michael McDevitt had 12 points), then suffered the tough loss at Yarmouth (despite 19 points from senior Liam Maker). Greely went to Traip Tuesday, hosts Freeport Thursday and visits Falmouth Saturday.

Freeport lost last week to visiting Yarmouth (83-42) and Falmouth (62-34). Senior Mitch Loeman had 20 points against the Clippers. Classmate Josh Weirich scored nine against the Yachtsmen. The Falcons (1-6 and 16th in Western B) went to Fryeburg Tuesday and visits Greely Thursday. Saturday, Freeport plays host to Lake Region.

In Western C, North Yarmouth Academy lost last week to visiting Hyde (61-28) and at A.R. Gould (48-37). Senior Asad Dahia had 13 points against the Phoenix and 29 in the loss to Gould. Monday, the Panthers improved to 2-6 and 13th in the Heals after a 54-49 home win over Buckfield, behind 28 from Dahia. NYA is at Greater Portland Christian School Thursday and goes to Gray-New Gloucester Saturday.

Girls’ basketball

On the girls’ side, the ascendant Freeport Falcons made history last week. First, Freeport edged visiting Yarmouth, 53-52, thanks to sophomore Nina Davenport’s late layup, her 25th and 26th points of the game. Friday, the Falcons went to Falmouth and beat the Yachtsmen for the first time in nine tries, 49-36, their first win over Falmouth since Jan. 10, 2004 (35-34 on the road).

“It was a very exciting win for us,” said Freeport coach Jen Chon. “We came off of a win against Yarmouth in the closing seconds of the game and my girls are starting to really learn to win. It’s taking time for us to realize we can play with anyone and we definitely proved it so far this year. We prepared a lot for Falmouth and knew they would try to push the ball up and down the court, but we tried to play our game and use our defense to our advantage. I think our aggressive defense was the best we’ve played all year long and we really confused Falmouth and they didn’t know how to respond to us. I think they may of overlooked our team and we definitely came in and surprised them.

“This win means that Freeport girls are finally, after many years, playing at the next level and are closely matched to a lot of teams in the conference. Beating Falmouth is something that means a lot to these girls as Falmouth has always been one of the big three powerhouses that we never can get past. Our girls have gained confidence and now we want to go after Lake Region and Greely.”

Davenport led the way with 25 points (including 15 from the foul line), 10 rebounds and four steals. Senior Morgan Brown had 10 points and 10 boards and senior Alex Mitch added eight points.

The Falcons (4-3 and ninth in the Western B Heals) hosted Fryeburg Tuesday and welcomes Greely Thursday and undefeated Lake Region Saturday. In addition to the recent success, Freeport hopes to get injured junior sparkplug Aubrey Pennell back before the end of the regular season.

Falmouth entered last week 5-1, but ended it 5-3 after a pair of frustrating losses. First, the Yachtsmen let leads early in each half slip away in a 43-41 home loss to York. Falmouth trailed by 10 with two minutes to go, but rallied only to fall just short. Senior Jackie Doyle had 10 points and five steals.

“It was very tough to coach this game because everything broke down,” lamented Yachtsmen coach Mari Warner. “It was difficult to build off of anything. It all failed. The only positive is that it was still a two-point game. (The girls) have to want it a little bit more.”

The 49-36 home loss to Freeport (freshman Ally Hickey had a team-high 11 points) dropped Falmouth to eighth in the Heals. The Yachtsmen’s schedule gets no easier. After playing at Gray-New Gloucester Tuesday, they host Lake Region Thursday and go to Greely Saturday.

“These are all (Heal Points)-worthy games,” Warner said. “Everybody’s right around us.”

Greely lost at Lake Region, 40-27, last Wednesday, then dominated host Yarmouth Friday, 48-18. Against the Lakers, junior Jaclyn Storey had 15 points, but Greely didn’t score in the second quarter. In the win, senior Haylee Munson had a game-high 12 points. The Rangers (6-2 and fifth in Western B) hosted Traip Tuesday, go to Freeport Thursday and welcome Falmouth Saturday.

Yarmouth fell to 2-6 with losses last week at Freeport and at home to Greely. Senior standout Morgan Cahill had 22 points against the Falcons and 10 versus the Rangers. The Clippers (12th in Western B) went to Poland Tuesday and hosts Cape Elizabeth Thursday and Waynflete Wednesday of next week.

In Western C, NYA evened its record at 4-4 with recent wins at Hyde (43-39) and Buckfield (57-30). Against the Phoenix, Charlotte Esancy had 21 points. In the win over the Bucks, Morgan Scully finished with 27 points (21 in the third quarter alone). The Panthers (10th in the Heals) host Greater Portland Christian School Thursday and Gray-New Gloucester Saturday.

Boys’ hockey

On the ice, Greely had a showdown at rival York Monday, hoping to avenge last year’s painful regional final playoff loss. The Rangers were coming off four successive overtime games in non-countable holiday play and a 4-2 home win over Camden Hills last Thursday. Monday, Greely improved to 5-0-1 and second in the Western Class B Heal Points standings) with a 4-0 win over the Wildcats as Ben Hackett, Kyle Megathlin, Kenny Richards and John Wright all scored. The Rangers host top-ranked Cape Elizabeth in a pivotal showdown Saturday night.

Yarmouth won its third in a row Saturday, 8-0, at Massabesic-Old Orchard Beach. Marshall Brunelle and Kevin Haley both scored twice. The Clippers (3-2-1 and seventh in Western B) host Kennebunk Thursday and Camden Hills Saturday.

In Western A, Falmouth imipressed last week with a 6-1 victory at Lewiston and a 7-0 home win over Waterville.

Against the Blue Devils, Brandon Tuttle had two first period goals to set the tone. After Lewiston made it 2-1 after two, the Yachtsmen took control back in the early third period as Ben Freeman scored a shorthanded goal at the 3:40 mark. The helper went to Kris Samaras. Forty-nine seconds later, Mitch Tapley fired the puck past Evan Bourassa. Tuttle and Cam Bell tallied assists on the goal. Samaras and Aiden Bohrmann added goals to account for the 6-1 final score.

“One of our mottoes is third period hockey,” Falmouth coach Deron Barton said. “These kids hear it from me 500 times a week. It starts when they enter the locker room and it goes to the time they walk out of the locker room.

“I feel like we are maturing as a team and we have learned from our lessons. Our first game with similar experiences was up in Brewer, we didn’t respond well and made some bad decisions, we paid for them. Here, we didn’t make those same decisions, we kept ourselves out of the box and we were patien. We got opportunities and we made them count.”

Against the Purple Panthers, Tapley had a hat trick.

Monday, Falmouth lost at Scarborough, 5-2, to drop to 4-2 on the year. The Yachtsmen (sixth in Western A) host St. Dom’s Thursday, go to South Portland Saturday and welcome Bangor Monday of next week.

Girls’ hockey

Falmouth’s girls’ hockey team continues to have no peer. The Yachtsmen improved to 11-0 last week with wins over visiting Cape Elizabeth (7-2) and host Portland (8-4). Senior Megan Fortier had five goals against the Bulldogs. Falmouth (ranked first in the West Region) is at Yarmouth Thursday, hosts York Saturday, Portland Monday and goes to St. Dom’s Wednesday.

In the East, Greely enjoyed wins last week over visiting St. Dom’s (7-2) and Brunswick (5-1) to improve to 9-2. Sarah Kurland had a hat trick against the Saints and five different girls scored against the Dragons, while Emma Seymour stopped 14 shots. The Rangers hosted Lewiston Wednesday and go to Yarmouth Saturday.

The Clippers split two games last weekend, downing visiting Winslow in a makeup, 6-2, then falling at Leavitt, 6-3. Suzanne Driscoll had a hat trick in the win. Yarmouth (3-8 and sixth in the Heals) hosts Falmouth Thursday and Greely Saturday and goes to Winslow Monday.

Swimming

In the pool, Greely swept Scarborough last week, with the boys triumphing, 63-31 and the girls rolling, 81-13. Yarmouth hosted Biddeford in a makeup meet Monday. Team scores weren’t available.

Greely welcomed Gorham Wednesday and is home with Cheverus Friday. Falmouth was home against Westbrook Tuesday and goes to South Portland Friday. Yarmouth hosts Windham Thursday.

Skiing

The Nordic ski season got underway last week at Cranmore, N.H., where the NYA boys and Falmouth girls won a 3.5-kilometer skate competition.

The defending Class C state champion Panthers were tops in a field of seven teams. Falmouth came in second, Merriconeag fourth and Freeport seventh.

NYA’s Cam Regan was runner-up individually, finishing with a time of 9 minutes, 22.3 seconds. Teammate Evan Kendall was third (9:25.1). Falmouth was led by Jamie McCatherin, who was fifth (9:42.5). Merriconeag’s Jack Pierce placed seventh (9:56.6) and Freeport was paced by Alex Sturtevant, who finished 26th (11:27.2).

Falmouth held off Cape Elizabeth on the girls’ side. Freeport was third, Merriconeag fourth and NYA seventh.

Merriconeag’s Teagen Wu was the fastest individual (12:12). The Yachtsmen were led by Catherine Hebson (third, 12:28.7). Emily Martin was the fastest Falcon (seventh, 13:04.9). Isabella Munro (22nd, 14:51) was the top Panther.

In an Alpine giant slalom meet Monday at Shawnee Peak, Freeport hosted Cape Elizabeth, Gray-New Gloucester and Yarmouth.

The Clippers were first on the boys’ side, with the Falcons third. Yarmouth was paced by Drew Grout, who was the individual runner-up with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 0.39 seconds. Freeport’s top finisher was Ryder Bennell, sixth in 1:03.51.

The Falcons and Clippers tied for first in the girls’ meet. Yarmouth’s Claudia Lockwood was the fastest individual (1:05.17). Freeport’s Elly Bengtsson was runner-up (1:05.77).

Falmouth and Greely competed in a slalom meet along with Fryeburg and Lake Region.

The Yachtsmen won the boys’ competition, while the Rangers were second.Individually, Falmouth’s Alex Gowan was first (1:30.36), Joe Lezniak second (1:34.12), Weston Scott third (1:36.96) and Sam Hamilton fourth (1:39.73) as it swept to victory (and also had the fifth and sixth place finishers). Greely was paced by Shane DelBianco (seventh, 1:41.60).

In the girls’ meet, the Rangers were first and the Yachtsmen third. Falmouth did produce the individual winner, Leika Scott (1:38.13). Greely was paced by runner-up Jill Booth (1:43.96).

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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Falmouth senior Megan Fortier blows past a Portland defender during the Yachtsmen’s 8-4 victory Saturday. Fortier had five goals as the Yachtsmen improved to 11-0.

Greely goalie Emma Seymour, along with teammate Rachel Moroney, clear a rebound during a Brunswick attack during the Rangers’ 5-1 win Saturday night.

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