Brunswick’s Liam Driscoll, left, and Camden Hills’ Avery Hackett battle for the ball during the Class A North boys soccer final Wednesday at Messalonskee High School in Oakland. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
OAKLAND — The Brunswick boys soccer team lost a pair of games to Camden Hills in the regular season.
The Dragons made sure a third setback wouldn’t happen on Wednesday night, and they did it on a pretty big stage, too.
Gus Silverman and Iain Clendening scored 38 seconds apart late in the first half, and No. 5 Brunswick held on from there to edge No. 2 Camden Hills 2-1 in the Class A North title game at Messalonskee High School.
“It feels amazing, we fell short in this game back in my freshman year,” said Banks. “This year we thought things might be different, and they are.”
Brunswick (13-3-1) will face Marshwood in the Class A final Saturday at Massabesic High School in Waterboro. The Windjammers finished 12-4-2.
“We’ve been the bridesmaids a couple of times in these matches in recent years,” said Brunswick head coach Mark Roma, whose team knocked No. 1 Lewiston in the semfinals and No. 4 Bangor in the quarterfinals. “It’s nice to get a gold medal. We went through No. 4, No. 2, and No. 1. We’ve earned this.”
Brunswick’s Jack Banks, left, passes the ball around Camden Hills defender Evan Constantine during the Class A North boys soccer final Wednesday at Messalonskee High School in Oakland. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Silverman scored with 7:31 to go in the first half when he tipped home a pass from Banks past Camden Hills goalie Henry Pharris (six saves).
Clendening doubled the Dragons lead just 38 seconds later when he converted a penalty kick after he was taken down in the box. Clendening kept his composure and fired home a beauty into left side of the net.
“We were confident but not too cocky,” said Banks of his team jumping up 2-0. “We knew in that Lewiston game (a 3-2 come-from-behind win) that no 2-0 lead is ever safe.”
“We’ve scored a lot of goals this year, it’s our biggest strength as a team,” added Camden Hills head coach Ryan Hurley. “I think this is only the second time we’ve been held under three goals. They (Brunswick) played to their stengths and took away ours, hats off to them.”
The Windjammers made things interesting in the second half when Cameron Brown struck a free-kick from 25 yards over the head of Brunswick goalie Brady LaForge (four saves). Aside from the second-half strike, chances came few and far between for the Windjammers.
“I wish I could say more about how great my defense was tonight,” said Roma. “Tommy Labbe led us back there and Brady makes big saves in big games as he did tonight. They were awesome.”
Added Banks: “They kept their cool and gave us some big stops when we needed them.”
Camden Hills’ best chance down the stretch came when it was awarded a free-kick just outside the box with eight minutes remaining, but LaForge denied the shot by punching the ball away.
“We talked about no matter who got the lead that we weren’t going to let up off the gas at any point in the game,” said Roma. “The boys did that, now they get to play for a state title.”
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