Goffstown's Tyler Lessard tries to defend Hollis Brookline's JP Torgersen during Thursday's Division II preliminary-round game at Goffstown. (Photo by Joe Marchilena/nh-highschoolsports.com)

GOFFSTOWN – The Goffstown and Hollis Brookline high school boys lacrosse teams brought plenty of fireworks to Thursday’s Division II preliminary-round matchup.

The teams lit up the scoreboard the entire night, and in the final moments, a handful of players lit into each other.

When it was done, No. 8 Goffstown had rallied twice in the second half and pulled away in the final minutes for an 18-15 win over No. 9 Hollis Brookline, the program’s first playoff win since 2019. The Grizzlies (11-5) move on to face top-seeded Portsmouth (17-0) at 5 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals, but if they’ll be at full strength remains to be seen.

Goffstown scored its final goal with 30 seconds left in the game, and during the groundball battle on the ensuing faceoff, some pushing along the sideline opposite the benches escalated into more.

Whistles blew and flags started to fly as the scrum grew in size, and a few punches were thrown before the officials and a Goffstown administrator who was on the sideline were able to move in to break everything up.

No penalties were recorded by either team, but HB’s Patrick Masoni was ejected, along with a Goffstown player the officials didn’t identify.

Both coaches showed remorse for a few moments that tarnished an entertaining game.

“I would love to say no comment, but I also need to say it’s nothing that we stand for,” Goffstown coach Cory Allen said. “We preach respect from before the season starts to the end, and it’s sad to say that it’s a sad reflection on our end. We can’t control another team, but you can definitely control yourself and your emotions. To get involved in it is sad on our end.”

HB coach Mac Martin didn’t want to speculate on what led up to the fight.

“Being over here (on the opposite sideline), I really have no comment,” he said. “It was a battle all game and a tough ending.”

Tough in many ways for the Cavaliers (10-8), who got out to a 5-1 lead in the first half and battled back to take a two-goal lead into the fourth quarter. That after seeing the Grizzlies rally for a 12-11 win when the teams played in the regular season just eight days prior.

“I’m happy with how the team played, bouncing back,” Martin said. “We lost to them last week in a tough one. We lost to Derryfield (last Friday) in a tough one. We had the long weekend and came back, and I couldn’t be happier with how they handled adversity.”

Goffstown handled plenty of its own as well, rallying to tie the game at 8 with 1:38 in the second quarter after what was a rough start.

“Honestly, at first it was ugly as sin,” Allen said of the start. “I don’t know what was said, but they realized they had to show up and play. I wish we prepared a little bit more. We mentally said ‘we won the last game, we’re going to win this one.’ I don’t think the boys were prepared and that was why they were slow to start.”

Connor Cook gave HB the lead back 47 seconds before halftime, but Goffstown’s Owen Matatall tied it back up just 56 seconds into the second half. Sam Chapman added a goal 47 seconds after that to give the Grizzlies their first lead, but it only lasted 24 seconds, as Ben Dufoe scored to tie it at 10.

HB’s defense tightened up for the rest of the quarter, as the Grizzlies controlled possession, but were only able to score once. The Cavs went on a 4-1 run to close the quarter and take a 13-11 lead into the fourth.

“Happy with how the defense played,” Martin said of the third quarter. “I think that’s the best defense we played all year.”

But it didn’t last, as Chapman scored early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to one, and Drew Sealy capitalized on a failed clear by HB to tie the game with 7:35 to go. Bennett Torgersen would answer for the Cavs to give them a 14-13 lead, but Chapman tied it again less than two minutes later.

Three straight goals by Sealy in a span of 1:34 gave Goffstown a 17-14 lead with 1:28 to play before Dufoe and TJ Smedick traded goals to finish out the scoring.

“We told our offense from the beginning, this game is either going to be a possess-it-as-long-as-you-can (game) to keep it out of their sticks, or it was going to be a shootout of a game,” Allen said. “You’ve got to go to goal.”

Chapman finished with eight goals for Goffstown while Sealy had four of his five in the fourth quarter. Owen Matatall added a pair of goals while Smedick and Wyatt Bradley also scored.

HB got five goals and four assists from Dufoe while Cook (one assist), Bennett Torgersen, Mike O’Hearn and JP Torgersen had two goals apiece. Vittorio Masoni added a goal and an assist.

ALVIRNE SEASON ENDS

In another Division II prelim, the No. 10 Alvirne Broncos saw their season come to an end as they fell 10-2 to No. 7 Oyster River-Newmarket, 10-2.

The Broncos end up at 10-8, while OR-N is now 12-5 and will be at No. 2 Derryfield in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

(Telegraph Staff Writer Tom King contributed to this report.)