A Brief History of PHS Boys Lacrosse

In 1998 a group of Portland High School Parents approached Athletic Director, Ray Mailman, about starting a lacrosse program at Portland High. They hoped to expand on the success of the Back Bay youth organization that had been established for Greater Portland middle school students.Parents included Lois Tiedeken (Emmit Huber's mother) as well as Marsha Greenberg and Steve Schuit (Parents of Aaron and Jake Schuit). Mr. Mailman was skeptical but told the group that he would advocate for a school sanctioned lacrosse program if they (parents and children) could show interest and support as well as provide funding for the program on their own for three years. For each of the next three years parents and children raised 10 to 15 thousand dollars per year with the financial support of local businesses and people in the community. These generous donations covered all of the expenses associated with the team, including coaches, transportation, uniforms, equipment and officials. Chris Carlisle was the Bulldogs coach during those early years and worked tirelessly to get the program up and running. In 2003 Eric Begonia took over the head coaching position that he still holds. In the years since, the PHS lacrosse program has become one of the better programs in the state despite the lack of a feeder system in the middle schools in the city. The Bulldogs have been in the state playoffs for 5 straight years and went to the State of Maine Class A title game in 2007 only to fall to a very talented Brunswick team.