East Greenwich - East Greenwich Boys Lacrosse has balanced and championship bloodlines on offense.

That's how the Avengers position themselves as a Division II champion contender. Four different scorers helped in East Greenwich’s game against Wesley on Monday.

In the second half, the defense almost kept the Bulldogs silent as East Greenwich added Bulldogs to the home with a 14-8 victory. East Greenwich (8-1) is on the neck and neck with Portsmouth (8-1) in the RPI standings.

"It's really a momentum game," said Benjamin Butterfield of EG. "We looked dead in the first half and then we picked it up in the second half. We really just stressed the pressure on our defensively and the way we were moving the offense wasn't that good. As you can see, we started moving the ball around in the third quarter. We were really spinning it and opening the ball on the crease."

East Greenwich led just 8-6 at halftime. But when Butterfield pushed EG's lead to the biggest game of the time, the Avengers quickly opened it up, scoring a three-pointer with 6:26 left in the third frame. Micah Dawson then sandwiched two goals between Wyatt Gelzhiser's bounce shot, taking a 13-7 lead with 7:55 left on the fourth time.

Gelzhiser led East Greenwich/Toll Gate as the team's goalkeeper to win the D-II hockey championship in the winter. He brought the playoffs to the Lacrosse team, which attempted to win its first title since 2014.

"It definitely gave us more versatility," Oliver Jackson said of the selfless offense. "We have a lot of threats. In practice... we drive and drive, we just do it from there."

Jackson added the last Avengers score in a mean attempt with 6:04 left in one regulating.

"I don't think I've ever been on a team that cares about each other and believes in each other," Jackson said.

Rafe Dionne canceled the Patriots in overtime on Friday as Portsmouth overturned East Greenwich 11-10. Both clubs, Middletown and Westerly, both won potentially exciting playoffs at the D-II table.

“Sometimes we can slack off on each other,” Jackson said. “But it’s up to us, I just feel like if we practice every day, show up and really try to take care of each other, we can do it (this season).

"Over the last few years, we've had good chemistry, but not as good as the chemistry this year. We're forming a brotherhood this year, and we're all buying this year," Butterfield said.

The west wind is young, but the competition is fierce

The Bulldogs stopped EG's goal against Caleb Williams late in the regulation, but it was too late. Westerly has been in trouble in the last three games. Losses against Middletown and Watford led to Monday's match against East Greenwich. But Westerly's season has been an outstanding season for a young group so far.

"We're all playing football with each other, we're a young team," Williams said. "We have only three seniors, so we want to win this year, but we're going to build next year. If we can step up and get some wins this year, then it's going to build next year."

East Greenwich occupied the standoff after Jackson's efforts in the second half. It helps limit Westerly's offense in the last 24 minutes. If Westerly can work hard to win some extra possessions and make the most of them, the Bulldogs will be tough in the playoffs.

"They got the lead in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter, they just held it," Williams said of East Greenwich. "We couldn't be clear, the offense didn't help, we were just a good unit to clear the ball."