Machias grounds Flyers Bulldogs claim state title trophy

NORTHPORT – Austin Roberts and Chris Correll stepped forward together to claim the boys’ Class D soccer championship trophy for Machias Saturday, all smiles, their arms around each other in celebration of the four years they spent scoring goals for the Bulldogs.

But there hadn’t been much smiling during the game against Western Maine winner Waynflete. The two-time defending champion Flyers dominated most of the action, but the Bulldogs took over with about 15 minutes left in the second half and emerged with a 2-0 win and the program’s first state championship since 1990.

The Bulldogs won Saturday’s game at the Point Lookout field here on a corner kick, just as they did against Waynflete of Portland 13 years ago.

“This team ranks up there with every other one that’s done a tremendous job,” said 20-year Machias coach Bob Sinford.

How was Machias (15-1) able to find a spark so late? Rotating players in and out of the game, along with some tough talk from the sideline.

“We didn’t play well most of the game,” said Sinford. “We stood and let them move and do a lot of things. But later on I made a couple of substitutions and started to pick up play. And of course I started getting on them, screamin’ and hollerin’ a little bit. They started to move up the field, and we started controlling the ball a little bit. That lead to the corner kick.”

Isaiah Roberts, who takes all of the Machias corner kicks, had a chance with 11 minutes and 21 seconds left in the game when he lofted a corner kick into the area. Jamie McCarthy got his foot on the ball during a scramble and kicked it in.

“I was just told, go far post, the ball ended up there, I kicked it, and it ended up going in,” McCarthy said.

Correll and Roberts combined on the insurance goal when Roberts sent a long through-pass across the field to Correll, who took it at the right post and blasted it in with 6:36 remaining.

The substitutions may have been key in that play. Sinford moved his strikers in and out to insure fresh legs.

“That really helped us move the ball,” Roberts said. “It gave us a lot of good balls. We started moving quick, moving to the ball, and it just pumped us up.”

Correll and Roberts are second and third, respectively, in career scoring for the Bulldogs.

Waynflete’s Luke Cummisky had a chance to tie it with 9:12 remaining when he took a direct kick from about 25 yards out, but his shot skimmed over the crossbar.

“It’s a game that comes down to taking advantage of your opportunities, and we didn’t put it away,” Waynflete coach Brandon Salway said. “I thought defensively we did a great job, just giving up a goal off a scramble. That’s unfortunate.”

The Flyers outshot the Bulldogs 8-2 with the wind in the first half and 6-4 in the second half. Their passing game opened up a lot of space and allowed Waynflete to move the ball easily, but the Flyers (7-7-2) weren’t able to get in too close.

That was a carryover from the regular season, in which the team was in two overtime scoreless ties and suffered at least five shutouts. Leading scorer Josh Amoroso had just five goals this year.

“We just played straight up,” Sinford said of the Machias defense. “Where they didn’t have any goal-scorers we didn’t feel we had to do anything special.”

Machias goalie Marcus Frutchey had a stellar game with nine saves. Waynflete’s Reid McMullan had two saves.

“We were lucky,” Correll said. “It could have gone the other way, but we’re really glad it didn’t.”