Heat fails to slow down Rams

BREWER – Up until Bangor scored two goals in an 11-second span in the first half, the Brewer Witches had things going their way, momentum-wise, in a battle of unbeatens on a sultry September Saturday afternoon.

The two-goal blitz was more than enough for the visiting Rams, but just for good measure, they shocked the Witches with two more in a 99-second span later on in the first half en route to a 4-0 schoolboy soccer victory at Pendleton Street Field.

The unusually high temperatures and humidity didn’t seem to slow down the 3-0 Rams, although neither team scored or managed much for shots in the second half.

“We were in really good condition and had plenty of depth on the bench, so we were giving it our all out there even in the heat, so I think we wore them down a little,” said Bangor senior forward Devin Lincoln, who scored the final goal on a rush up the middle and a perfect pass to his foot from Johnny Warren with 13:30 left in the first half.

It was one of three scores off impressive surges up the middle for the defending Class A state champions.

“We took advantage of their outside backs, where we have more experience and talent,” said Warren, who also scored the third goal (15:09 left) on another surge from the right side off a great feed from Dan Taft. “All we do is tell the center-mid to hold it, hold it, and wait until the defense attacks them, then play it through to make a run right through.”

The back-breaker was the second goal, which sophomore forward Nick George scored unassisted by stealing the ball and racing untouched through a gap between the bewildered Brewer players just 12:08 into the game and 11 seconds after another score.

“The kids just got kind of caught flat footed. There was a momentary lapse there. Our guy is a great defender who’ll never make that mistake again,” said Brewer coach Mark Savage, whose Witches are now 2-1. “But yeah, that one was a killer for us.”

If the momentum wasn’t wrested away from the Witches already, the second goal did the trick.

“It was pretty much right off the kickoff,” said Bangor coach Adam Leach. “Good offensive players are people who can also play good defense.

“If they’re back in their defensive third and our strikers are playing well enough that their guys can’t get out, you don’t have to build an attack from 80 yards away and that’s something we’ve been working on all preseason.”

The first goal came 11:57 into the game. Bangor junior midfielder Mack Susi headed the ball in from 20 feet outside the net off a perfect cross from the right side by senior outside back Christian Larochelle.

“We’re really fast when we go up the wing,” said Lincoln. “We send it to the midfielders on the outside and when we cross it back we have tall people in there so we can skim it to someone else or power it in there and get a goal.”

Bangor senior goalie Erik Milles made seven saves on eight shots for the shutout.

Brewer keeper Chris Brady stopped five of 11 shots.

Savage was pleased with the way his team rebounded in the second half, outshooting Bangor 3-2.

“We’re learning and we’ll get better,” he said. “We’re very young after graduating 12 seniors from last year and they have a lot of experience in their outside mids and backs.”

JV: Bangor 1-0