Tyler Smith of Edward Little High School finds room behind Camden Hills goalkeeper James Lynch to score a goal during the second half in Auburn on Tuesday. Smith’s goal off of a pass from Cam Audette put the Red Eddies up 10-2. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

AUBURN — Still feeling the sting of a season-opening loss to Mt. Blue, Edward Little made sure it kept Camden Hills at a safe distance for its first win of the season on Tuesday, 12-4.

The Red Eddies, who squandered an early 5-0 lead in their season-opening 10-9 loss to Mt. Blue on April 22, led the Windjammers 5-1 at the end of the first quarter and 7-1 at halftime, and were never threatened at Walton Field.

Edward Little High School goalkeeper Gunnar Winslow cradles the ball as he moves the ball up the field during the second period against Camden Hills in Auburn on Tuesday. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

Caleb Davis led EL (1-2) with three goals. Aiden Charest, Tyler Smith, Leighton Girardin and Caleb Strout added two goals apiece, while Cam Audette rounded out the scoring with a goal and four assists.

Charlie Griebel led Camden Hills (1-3) with two goals.

“It was a little tough losing to Mt. Blue, so we just had to power through this game and not let up,” Davis said.

Ironically, not letting up meant letting the game come to them and not just keep the pedal to the floor, Davis said.

“We learned how to slow it down a little bit and not pressure everything, to just get good shots off,” he said.

The game was originally scheduled as a home game for Camden Hills but moved to Auburn due to unplayable field conditions.

Davis scored first 5:21 into the game when Audette found him uncovered in front of a wide open net. Strout, set up by Storm Jipson, made it 2-0 1:07 later by taking advantage of a three-on-one in front of Camden goalie James Lynch.

Cameron Sturgis of Edward Little High School cradles through traffic during Tuesday’s game against Camden Hills in Auburn on Tuesday. (Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slov

Charest scored EL’s third unanswered goal with 4:43 left in the first period before Griebel got Camden Hills on the board with an unassisted goal with 3:32 remaining in the quarter. But Girardin and Charest scored to inflate the cushion to four goals before the end of the quarter.

“We definitely still had our gym legs,” Camden Hills coach Harrison Rogers said. “We haven’t been out of our gym all year long, and this was actually supposed to be a home game for us. This is our fourth game but we have a really young team. Most of our team are freshman and sophomores, and to not be out on a field is tough.”

Strout kept up the attack 36 seconds into the second quarter by spinning off of a defender at the top of the circle and firing past Lynch for a 6-1 lead.  EL goalie Gunnar Winslow kept it there moments later with a fine stop on Camden’s Kieran McGrath.

“We played Portland (a 12-2 loss on Monday) and we didn’t play very well against them” said Winslow, who had 11 saves. “We really zoned in today. Coach got us fired up, we had a good warm-up and we went out there and played well. Both halves of the field, I thought we performed well.”

Girardin’s second goal of the half sent the Red Eddies into intermission with a 7-1 lead.

Led by Nick Davis, Dawson Tracey and Brandon Dube, Edward Little did a good job of limiting not only the number of Windjammer chances but the quality of them.

Leighton Girardin of Edward Little High School loses control of his stick during the second period against Camden’s Bryce Tyler. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

“The defense, we’ve improved a ton since day one,” Winslow said. “Obviously, there’s always going to be room for improvement. But my defense played very well today.”

“We settled on (Winslow) with more outside shots and we didn’t change the plain of our shot,” Rogers said.”We should have tested him more with bounce shots low at his feet. But he has a good stick up high and we were feeding it to his stick today.”

Griebel demonstrated that strategy 1:02 into the second half by firing a one-hopper past Winslow’s outstretched left leg to make it 7-2. That’s as close as the Windhammers got, however, as EL pulled away with the next three goals.

Audette was rewarded for his good hustle in pressuring new Windjammer goalie Levi Guay as he tried to clear, forcing a turnover that ultimately led to Audette’s only goal 2:53 into the second half. Davis followed with the Eddies first man-up goal to make it 9-2. Forty-four seconds later, Audette set up Smith with a great pass in front of the net for Smith’s first goal.

Noah Quesnel ended EL’s run with a goal 29 seconds later to make it 10-3. Jackson Fitch would have made it 10-4 a short time after that but was knocked off of his shot from point-blank range by Winslow.

Smith (three assists) and Audette hooked up again with 4:36 left in the third to make it 11-3.

Caleb Strout, right, of Edward Little High School thanks Leighton Girardin for the assist after Strout scored a goal to put the Red Eddies up 6-1 over Camden Hills in Auburn on Tuesday. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

Davis made it a hat trick by scoring EL’s final goal while a man up in the fourth quarter. Thomas Southworth closed out the scoring for Camden Hills.

In the middle of a stretch with four games in five days, Edward Little hopes to keep up the momentum with games against Brunswick and Windham remaining this week, which will be followed by the Red Eddies’ first meeting with rival Lewiston next Tuesday.

“We still have two more games this week and it’s going to help us out a little bit (on Wednesday) against Brunswick,” Davis said. “Then hopefully we’ll be able to pull something off against Windham.”

Storm Jipson of Edward Little High School cradles the ball through traffic during the first quarter of Tuesday’s game against Camden Hills. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover