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BRUNSWICK — The Brunswick boys soccer team knew it had to put forth its best effort against Edward Little on Tuesday night.

But even the Dragons were surprised by the outcome.

Oliver Gorchoff scored three goals as the Dragons ran away with a 5-0 win in a Class A North matchup of two of the region’s final four undefeated teams.

“We thought it would be a close game, a 2-1 or 3-1 battle,” said Brunswick senior Liam Rapoza, who contributed a goal. “We’re excited to keep a clean sheet and get some momentum.”

The defending regional champions went into halftime with a 2-0 lead, thanks to a goal on a direct free kick by Rapoza at 21:55, followed by Gorchoff’s first goal on a rebound with just 10 seconds remaining.

Brunswick (4-0), which is tied for second in the Varsity Maine poll, extended its lead in a chippy second half.

The Dragons outshot Edward Little (3-1) by a 14-3 margin. In its first four games, Brunswick has outscored opponents 23-2.

“This is not the ending we thought we’d have, but we’ll certainly take it,” said Brunswick coach Mark Roma. “(Edward Little) is such a tough team, we knew if they scored some smash-and-grab goal, we weren’t going to get down. The mentality was that we’d battle, battle, battle and see what we did. It’s easy to preach that, but hard to do.”

Of Gorchoff’s three goals, the best was his second, at 48:05. His brother, sophomore Reid Gorchoff, hit him in stride with an excellent pass down the left sideline. He used his spread to break in alone, then knocked a shot past keeper Cameron Daigle for a 3-0 lead.

“It felt good, especially getting it from my little brother, that’s a first,” Gorchoff said. “I didn’t expect that, but it feels good. There’s a lot of chances with breakaways, and you’re not going to score them all, but it felt good, that one especially.”

A total of six yellow cards were issued, and Edward Little senior Cooper Blair got a red card in the second half.

Both teams were physical throughout the match.

“We talked about that at the half, and we knew it might come down to (physical play),” Roma said. “We knew if we could match their intensity and physicality, I trusted my guys to be able to make a play. But (Edward Little) is very good, and we’re going to see them again. I guarantee you it won’t be 5-0 the next game; they’ll have some answers for us.”

After last year’s run to the Class A title game, where Brunswick fell 2-1 to Scarborough, the team lost a large contingent of seniors to graduation. But the veterans of this year’s team are impressed with how young players have caught on to the team’s tactics early.

“We have a lot of new faces this year, and adapting in preseason was a difficult task, but we’ve done it really well,” Rapoza said. “Our underclassmen have stepped up and played a really big role. Our back line, we’ve had a lot of injuries and they’ve stayed strong and haven’t conceded much.”

• Brunswick: Oliver Gorchoff (3 goals), Liam Rapoza (goal), Declan Thebarge (3 saves)

• Edward Little: Cameron Daigle (8 saves)