Cameron Bell (#16) celebrates a goal for Falmouth as they went on to defeat Greely, 5-3, at Falmouth Family Ice. (PHOTO: Chris Roy)

In what was a rather spirited affair, Falmouth came out on top, 5-3, with multiple point nights from Alden Weller (1g, 1a), Mitch Tapley (1g, 1a) and Ben Freeman (2a) at Falmouth Family Ice on Monday.

One would think looking at the standings and classification of both teams, Falmouth would have little trouble with their Class B neighbor, but that was hardly the case as Greely jumped out to rather impressive 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by brothers Ben and Drew Hackett, finishing odd-man rushes.

“For reasons unknown, we have a tendency to fall behind with the first goal or two, but in a crazy way, it acts as a catalyst because we’ve been in that situation where we’ve fallen behind and comeback to win the game,” said Falmouth coach Deron Barton. It’s not the preferred way, but the good news is they figured out how to get it done late in the game when it matters the most.”

“We’re facing some really well-coached teams,” said Barton. “Greely is one of the best coached teams in the state in either Class A or B and on any given night they can beat anybody.”

“We did a very good job at making smart decisions in the first period,” said Greely coach Barry Mothes. I thought it was good competitive game. This is like a playoff caliber, playoff intensity type game. Falmouth is strong opponent for us to be playing and these are the type of games we want to be playing.”

The Yachtsmen started its crawl back into the game with a goal early into the second period by Cameron Bell, getting to a rebound at the right post and stuffing it by Greely goalie Kyle Kramlich at the 2:53 mark of the second period.

At 9:17, Weller scored a power-play goal for Falmouth, just a minute into the man advantage, as he blasted a shot from high slot area by Kramlich to even the game at 2-2.

Momentum had clearly shifted at that point until Greely caught a break and was awarded a penalty shot after Weller was ruled to have closed his hand on the puck in the crease with 4:44 to play in the period.

Dane Pauls stopped the penalty shot, taken by Ted Hart, but Kenny Richards responded eight seconds later with a goal as a huge rebound from Pete Stauber’s shot in the right circle, came to the stick of Richards in the left circle, who ripped a one-timer into an open at 10:24 of the second period, giving the Rangers the lead, 3-2.

“I thought our guys did a great job of battling back, we weren’t able to finish on the penalty shot, but we scored right on the ensuing faceoff and had the lead with about five minutes left in the period,” said Mothes.

Lead was short-lived, however, as Andre Clement, parked at the left post, was the beneficiary of a turnover by Greely, which led to Weller throwing the shot on net, redirecting it by Kramlich with 3:21 to play in the period.

“We made a pretty poor decision on our part,” said Mothes. “We turned the puck over just outside the blueline that led to a goal. We talked about trying to be smarter and that probably wasn’t such a smart play and it led to a goal”

Tapley and Captain Jack Pike added goals for Falmouth (12-4-1) in the third period, sealing the win as they prepare for a critical matchup on Thursday against Scarborough (12-3-2) as the winner will likely earn the second seed in Class A West.

Greely (11-4-2), likewise, will wrap up its regular season on Thursday in a game against Cape Elizabeth (9-5-3) that will decide who is the No. 1 seed in Class B West and earn a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

NOTES: Brandon Tuttle, a senior from Falmouth, missed his fourth consecutive game due to disciplinary reasons at school. Barton said that he would be unavailable for an indefinite period of time, but would not disclose anything further.