BANGOR – Presque Isle High School junior left midfielder Eric Morris admitted he was just trying to cross the ball from 28 yards out late in the first half of Tuesday afternoon’s game against John Bapst.

But Morris’ left-footed half-volley sailed over the head of John Bapst goalie Ethan Cushman and into the back of the net to give his team a well-deserved two-goal lead and the Wildcats went on to post an impressive 5-0 triumph.

Presque Isle, which entered the game fourth in the Eastern Maine Class B Heal Point standings, improved to 6-1-1 while John Bapst, which was 11th, fell to 4-4.

“It kind of got away from me,” grinned Morris, whose goal came with 4:40 left in the half. “It caught me off guard when it went in. I thought it was going over [the crossbar].”

Cushman said, “That will go in one out of 100 times. That happened to be that one time. There was nothing I could do about it.”

Junior center midfielder Russ Mortland had opened the scoring with 21:07 left in the first half.

Seniors Chad Carlin, Gerard Desjardins and Parker Hovey added second-half goals for the Wildcats, who controlled play throughout and finished with a 30-9 shots-at-goal margin.

Presque Isle played fast-flowing soccer, attacking with numbers and pressuring the Crusaders into hurried passes and turnovers.

“We really played well as a team today,” said Mortland, who also had an assist.

“Our biggest problem this year has been scoring goals but we attacked very well, finally,” said PI coach Scott Young.

Dynamic John Bapst junior striker Casey Hull, who was a constant threat with his speed, skill and tenacity, said the Wildcats outplayed the Crusaders.

“They beat us to the ball, they beat us in the air and they beat us overall. We didn’t come out to play today and they did,” said Hull.

Mortland started the scoring by beating a defender in a one-on-one in the corner to Cushman’s left, dribbling in alone and slotting the ball into the far corner.

“[Cushman] came over too far and, since he’s a tall goalie, we tried to put the ball on the ground against him,” said Mortland.

“I had five or six feet to react and I was just a second too late,” said Cushman.

After the Morris goal closed out the half, Carlin sewed it up 8:59 into the second half when he ran unmarked to the far post and headed a textbook cross from Ethan Hill into the empty net.

Hill also had a hand in the next goal as his free kick was headed across the goalmouth by Mortland, leaving Desjardins with an easy tap-in.

Hovey capped the scoring by bursting through the defense and finding the back of the net from 12 yards out.

Dillon Kingsbury made six saves in posting the shutout.

Cushman made five saves on 23 shots before being replaced by Jeff Sanford, who made two saves on seven shots. Sanford allowed the last two goals.