Presque Isle boys win first EM soccer crown

PRESQUE ISLE – Two years ago, the Presque Isle Wildcats led Winslow by three goals with 25 minutes to play in the Eastern Maine Class B title game, only to see the Black Raiders come back for an improbable 4-3 win.

In Saturday’s EM final against John Bapst of Bangor, PI’s lead at the same point of the match was a mere goal, and memories from the disappointing loss in 2003 crept into the mind of Wildcat coach Scott Young.

“I looked at the clock and was thinking that I don’t know if one was going to be enough, because three wasn’t enough back then,” Young said.

As it turned out, one was enough. The Wildcats were even able to notch two more goals while holding the Crusaders off the scoreboard as the 3-0 victory gave Presque Isle its first regional boys soccer championship in school history.

The top-seeded Wildcats improved to 16-1 and will face Western Maine champ Yarmouth at a site to be determined Saturday in the Class B state final.

John Bapst, ranked No. 7 and winners of six in a row heading into Saturday’s match, including upsets of No. 2 Winslow and No. 6 Maine Central Institute, closed out the season with an 11-6-1 mark.

Three of the Crusaders’ six losses came against Presque Isle, which outscored Bapst by a 12-0 margin in their meetings.

“I’ve got to give it to Presque Isle,” said John Bapst senior captain and center midfielder Pat Kane. “They are an amazing team with some amazing players and amazing chemistry. Plus they have Nate Carter, and he is the man.”

Carter, a senior striker who holds Presque Isle’s career and season records for goals, added to his totals by scoring the first two goals of the game. The first came on a direct kick from 18 yards out, which was struck to the right of the wall formed by the Crusader defense and past goalie Chris Smith with 11:47 to play in the first half.

“I just tried to curve it around the wall and hopefully it goes in,” Carter said.

The Wildcats had carried play throughout the first half, with John Bapst able to get off only one shot on goal over the first 40 minutes. However, the Crusaders bounced back with a dominating performance over the 25 minutes following intermission, including a goal at the 29:12 mark which was disallowed due to an offsides call.

“We started playing our game,” Kane said. “We played the ball at the feet and to the corners better. But when the goal was taken away, that may have been the turning point.”

Carter stole a pass with 14:16 to play and lined a low shot from 15 yards out into the left corner of the goal, making it 2-0.

“A bunch of guys were on me and I think it screened their goalie,” Carter said. “I just picked a corner, shot it, and it went in.”

“[Carter] knows how to put the ball in the back of the net,” said fifth-year John Bapst coach Evan Frace. “He makes one touch to get himself ready and, bang, it’s in. He’s a tough player and a class act.”

Senior wing Travis Brooker rebounded his own miss and blasted the ball past Smith (nine saves on 15 shots) from eight yards out to provide Presque Isle with its final tally with 6:37 remaining.

PI goalie Adam Kingsbury had four saves on eight shots as his team recorded its 11th shutout of the season.

“John Bapst gave us their best today, but once again we came up big defensively,” Young said. “Guys like Brendon Esquibel, Logan York, Scott Wilson, and Derrek Belanger all had great games … They picked it up for us when we needed it.”

“But,” he added, “it was everybody. I couldn’t hand-pick a better group of kids to represent our first championship.”