Falmouth boys lacrosse coach David Barton has been looking forward to the 2025 season for a while, and the Navigators’ upperclassmen have been preparing for this postseason since they picked up a lacrosse stick.

“We have had our eye on 2025 since these seniors were probably in third grade,” Barton said “I used to take these seniors and a couple of juniors to some summer tournaments back when they were in third grade. I first got the job here (in 2017), and we entered tournaments just as a team and we’d go up against elite-level club teams on the summer circuit. This group just loves playing together, and they’ve been doing that since the second and third grade.”

Barton has been using the mantra “leave no doubt.” The reigning Class A champions left little doubt during the regular season, outscoring their opposition 259-52 as they finished as the state’s sole undefeated team at 14-0.

Falmouth is stacked with talent, including four players who had already committed the play for NCAA Division I programs before the season started — Indi Backman, Hayden Davis, Joey Guerrette and Gio Guerrette. But the main driving force to Falmouth’s success is quick starts.

“I think it’s got to start with our faceoff guy, Peter Kearns,” Barton said. “Truthfully, I think he’s been the best player in the entire state this year. You don’t often hear that with a faceoff guy. I think in maybe seven or eight of our 14 games, Peter scored in the first 10 seconds of the game. And so it’s not uncommon for the other team to still be getting settled in for the game, and we’re already up 1-0. Kind of what that does and the message that sends to an opponent, of like, we’re here and we’re going to be here for the next 48 minutes.”

Class A parity

Aside from Falmouth, there isn’t much separation between the rest of the Class A playoff teams. Six of the 12 playoff qualifiers concluded the regular season with 7-7 records.

Among those are some interesting teams, such as fifth-seeded Cape Elizabeth, seventh-seeded Scarborough and eighth-seeded Deering.

“Scarborough, I’ve got to give them a lot of credit,” Barton said. “We saw them early in the year. But looking at them and some of the scores to finish out the year, I think they’ve won five of their last six, or something like that. And they’re figuring it out. And all year, you could just kind of tell that Coach (Zac) Barrett was saying, ‘Once we get this thing rolling, we’re going to be a factor come June. And that’s definitely going to be the case.”

Deering will play No. 9 Lewiston in a prelim game. Blue Devils coach Ben Michaud said the Rams are a talented bunch.

“Deering could make a run,” Michaud said. “I feel we have our chances as well. It’s just, we have to execute very, very well and make sure that we take care of all phases of the game for four quarters, which is something that I don’t think we’ve truly done in a game yet this year. So, that’s something that we definitely need to work on.”

Other contenders

• Thornton Academy (11-3): The Golden Trojans started the season with a loss to Falmouth, then won eight straight games. They went 3-2 over their final five games, falling to Class B No. 1 York and again to Falmouth.

• York (12-2): The Wildcats are the top seed in Class B for the second year in a row. York earned a split with second-seeded Yarmouth (11-3) in the regular season and could be headed toward a rematch with the defending champion Clippers in the state final.

• Yarmouth (11-3): The No. 2 seed in Class B opened the season on a nine-game winning streak before going 2-3 over its final five contests. But the Clippers allowed only 54 goals in the regular season, and they are the reigning state champions.

• Maranacook/Winthrop (11-3): The top-seeded Hawks are the lone Class C team to record 10 or more wins. Their reward, though, is a quarterfinal against defending state champion Wells (6-8).

• North Yarmouth Academy (9-5): The Panthers (9-5) earned the No. 2 seed in Class C after playing a scheduled packed with Class A and B opponents. NYA went 2-0 against both Maranacook/Winthrop and fourth-seeded Oak Hill/Monmouth/Lisbon/St. Dom’s.

Teams that can make a surprising run

• Windham (10-4): The fourth seed in Class A has had two winning streaks of four games or more. One of the Eagles’ recent victories was over third-seeded South Portland.

• Kennebunk (9-5): The Rams are sixth in Class B, but 10 of their games — and five of their six losses — were against Class A opponents, including Falmouth and Thornton Academy.

• Cape Elizabeth (7-7): Having played in the past four Class A title games — and winning three straight from 2021-23 — this is the closest thing Cape Elizabeth has had to a rebuilding season in a while. The fifth-seeded Capers have been up and down, but they have wins over No. 3 South Portland and No. 4 Windham, as well as Class B contender Yarmouth in the regular-season finale.

Can the Eagles or Raiders break through?

Two of the most consistent central Maine teams have been Messalonskee in Class B and the Oak Hill co-op in Class C. In the past four seasons, both teams have reached at least the state semifinals, and each has made one state championship game appearance.

Messalonskee is the third seed in Class B this year, while Oak Hill is fourth in Class C.