Bangor High boys soccer team Eastern Maine Class A champs

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BRUNSWICK – Bangor High School senior outside midfielder Troy Jellison, who had scored the game’s first goal, was exhausted in the second overtime of the Rams’ Eastern Maine Class A schoolboy championship game against Brunswick Tuesday, so he came out for a breather.

Sophomore Mack Susi replaced him.

Less than a minute later, Jellison was running onto the field with his teammates to celebrate after Susi scored with 7:19 remaining to supply the Rams with their first-ever EM schoolboy soccer title 2-1.

Bangor, now 15-1-1, will take on 16-0-1 Scarborough in Saturday’s 1 p.m. state final at Windham High School.

Brunswick wound up 16-1.

Susi said he was eager to go in.

“I was ready to play. I wanted to win,” said Susi.

The Rams had withstood the Dragons intense pressure in the attacking third in the first overtime as Brunswick was energized by Corey Underwood’s equalizer with just 1:05 remaining in regulation.

Brunswick had five shots at goal in the first OT and three more in the second before a Christian Larochelle throw-in from the right sidelines put the sequence in motion that led to Susi’s game-winner on Bangor’s first shot attempt since late in the second half.

“The ball came back to me [after the throw-in] and I tried to put it toward the [corner] flag as far as I could while keeping it in bounds,” said Larochelle, whose pass was corralled by JoJo Hwalek.

Hwalek said the ball “deflected over to me. I was still onsides so I got the ball, ran toward the end line and when I looked up, I had two of my guys [at the net front], and there was one of their defenders in the middle. I just crossed the ball. Matt Goodell missed the first [shot attempt], but Mack tapped it in.”

Susi said Goodell got a piece of the ball.

“I don’t know if the goalie or a defender made the stop at first. Then the ball was right in front of me, I swatted at it and it went in,” said Susi, whose goal was his sixth of the season.

Brunswick senior goalie Tom Williams said, “JoJo was coming at me so I came out and then he put it across the box. One of my defenders tried to clear it, but it only went about 10 feet and [Susi] finished it off. I couldn’t get back in time.”

Williams insisted that Hwalek was offsides and protested to the officials to no avail.

Bangor was fortunate to have survived the first overtime.

First, Underwood headed a Kit Smith cross wide of the far post.

A few minutes later, Ryan Hamm’s cross deflected across the box to an unmarked Underwood at the far post, but Underwood sailed his shot over the crossbar as Bangor goalie Aaron Taft desperately tried to scramble across the net front.

With the first overtime winding down, Larochelle made a game-saving maneuver by launching himself into the air to get his right toe on a P.J. Burnette cross with two uncovered teammates scampering toward the net.

“I knew our outside midfielder had got caught up, and there was at least one [Dragon] behind me on the far side. I tried to jump up and get a toe on it to deflect it to Aaron or get it away from where their two guys were running to,” said Larochelle.

Brunswick striker Hamm said, “He made a great play. That pretty much saved them a goal.”

Jellison had opened the scoring with 7:13 left in the first half.

Freshman Nick George cleverly maneuvered past a Dragon defender, who had slipped, and made a run toward the end line to Williams’ left before sliding a pass back to the top of the six-yard box to Jellison, who was cutting from left to right across the penalty area.

“I knew if I tried to kick it hard, I would probably shoot it way over. So I hit it with my instep and it deflected off one of their defenders and wound up in the back of the net,” said Jellison.

Bangor’s defense, featuring the Larochelle brothers (Christian and Ryan), along with stopper Ross Allen and sweeper Nate Frazier, was stellar throughout the match.

They were busy as the highly skilled Dragons had a decided edge in territorial play thanks to their speed, pinpoint passing and well-conceived passing sequences. They one-touched the ball nicely to each other.

But the Ram defenders, helped out by their retreating midfielders and strikers, were effective in one-on-one confrontations and frustrated the Dragons by limiting their time and space with the ball.

Brunswick equalized when Underwood poked the ball home from point-blank range during a wild scramble in front of the net. Bangor goalie Aaron Taft had a hand on Kit Smith’s corner kick, but it glanced off the crossbar and landed in the crowded goal mouth.

“They blocked four shots, somebody kicked it down, and I just put it in the back of the net,” said Underwood.

Taft finished with nine saves on 26 shots while Williams finished with six saves on nine shots.

“Our defense is always very strong. It makes my job easier,” said Taft whose terrific reactionary hand save off Burnette’s powerful header prevented the Rams from falling behind early in the first half.

“It was an amazing game,” said Christian Larochelle.

“It was a very good match. They’re a very good team,” said Brunswick coach Peter Gardner. “They capitalize on some nice opportunities.”

It was a historic win for Bangor, which began its boys soccer program in 1979. Tuesday’s gane marked the program’s first appearance in an EM title game. The nine seniors on the current roster had never advanced past the quarterfinals.

“In our sophomore and junior years, we lost to Hampden [Academy] in the playoffs. We finally got over that hump,” said Jellison. “To be going to the state championship game in my senior year feels real good.”