Brewer edges Bapst Relford scores game-winner

BREWER – Marc Relford had no great expectations as he grounded a shot toward the goal late in Brewer’s schoolboy soccer match Thursday against John Bapst of Bangor at the Pendleton Street Field.

“I was going back to get ready for the next shot,” said Relford, a sophomore.

His retreat was well-founded, not to prepare for the next shot, but instead for the restart that comes after a goal, as Relford’s shot trickled through John Bapst goalie Chris Smith and off the far goalpost into the net with 3:38 left in the second half to give the Witches a 2-1 victory.

“I just hit it toward the goal,” said Relford. “I was just hoping someone would get a foot on it and do something with it.”

The win avenges a season-opening 1-0 loss to John Bapst, and gives the Class A Witches a 3-4 record. Class B John Bapst falls to 3-5.

“In terms of skill and understanding what we’re trying to do, this was much better than the first time we played them,” said Brewer coach Darren Hall, whose team outshot John Bapst 12-10. “Our passing and understanding of when to make runs was much better, and as a result we had a lot more chances.”

John Bapst enjoyed a slight territorial edge during a scoreless first half, but it was Brewer that struck first when Andrew Richardson scored on a penalty kick 5:56 into the second half.

It took John Bapst less than four minutes to respond, as senior Roman Khanzhyn took a corner kick from Sam Heathcote and grounded a low shot through traffic past Brewer goalie Ben Davis to tie the match.

Heathcote gave the Crusaders an apparent lead with 11:45 left, working the ball down the right wing and then centering the ball off a Brewer defender into the goal, but the goal was disallowed by an offsides call.

Brewer regained some momentum after the goal was negated, and Relford ultimately turned momentum into a game-winning score.

“We ended up winning on a flukey goal,” said Hall, “but we had three balls go off the post, so we were right there today.”

The loss was the most recent in a series of late-game defeats for John Bapst, which has fallen to unbeaten Hampden Academy in overtime, to Bangor in the final minutes and to Fort Kent in overtime.

“We controlled play for 70 minutes, and then in the last 10 minutes we made mistakes that cost us the game,” said John Bapst coach Evan Frace.

Davis made nine saves for Brewer, while Smith made 10 stops for John Bapst.