The Ellsworth boys soccer team is in familiar territory – set to play in its 15th state championship match Saturday when it squares off against Falmouth in a 10 a.m. start at Lewiston High School.

But the Eagles’ route to the final may have been a little more circuitous than in many of their title runs.

Coming off a 2006 season in which it reached the Eastern Maine final, Ellsworth began the season with fairly high hopes.

But nearly halfway through the regular season, the Eagles were a middle-of-the-pack team with a 2-2-2 record.

“The kids were talking in the hallways last spring that they were going to be pretty good this year, and I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, we are. The defense is basically coming back intact, we’ve still got our goalkeeper. We didn’t lose a lot of scoring,'” said Ellsworth coach Brian Higgins.

“Preseason was very good, and then the season started and we just didn’t got off to a good start. I think we didn’t get much luck early in the year. We just didn’t seem to get a bounce, and the kids might have been doubting themselves. I was just hoping for a .500 season at that point.”

But gradually the Eagles gained momentum behind a stout defense led by goalie Greg Berry, sweeper Alex Emeigh and markers Patrick and Nick Kelley and Dan Duhaime.

“We changed personnel around a little, and the kids just seemed to find a comfort zone,” said Higgins. “I think they did it on their own. I just put them there, and they did what they could.”

Ellsworth is now 11-1 since that .500 start, and unbeaten since a 1-0 loss to Presque Isle on Sept. 28.

“I think we just didn’t realize how good we could play,” said Berry after the Eagles’ 2-1 victory in penalty kicks over Winslow in Monday’s Eastern B final. “After losing some seniors last year we may have felt it was going to be a rebuilding year. But I think we stuck together and finally realized that we could be good, it’s not that hard.

“You’ve just got to pass the ball and go down the lanes like coach has been saying for the 32 years he’s been coaching. He knows his stuff.”

Ellsworth entered postseason play as the sixth seed in Eastern B but survived three overtime games and two trips to Aroostook County to return to its first state final since 2004.

The Eagles did have one home game during its playoff run, a 2-1 double-overtime survival of No. 11 John Bapst in the preliminary round that avenged a loss to the Crusaders in the 2006 EM final.

That was followed by a 1-0 quarterfinal win at No. 3 Caribou and a 1-0 double-overtime win at No. 2 Presque Isle in the semifinals that set the stage for Monday’s dramatic victory over top-ranked Winslow.

“When we took out Caribou in the playoffs, I realized that we could do it,” said Berry. “Caribou had beaten Presque Isle and then we beat Presque Isle, and we hadn’t beaten them all season. I think that’s really when it started for me, thinking that we could beat those teams and go after Winslow.”

Eagles, Falmouth tradition-laden

Saturday’s Class B boys soccer match between Ellsworth and Falmouth will match those two tradition-laden programs in a state final for the first time.

Beginning with its first regional championship in 1976, Ellsworth has won 15 Eastern Maine titles and four state championships overall and has not gone more than five years between appearances in a state final.

The Eagles’ first five Eastern Maine crowns came as a Class A program in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982 and 1984.

Ellsworth moved to Class B in 1985 and immediately won its first state championship. That also was the first of five consecutive Eastern Maine crowns, with state championships during that run coming in 1988 and 1989.

Higgins’ club has won subsequent Eastern Maine crowns in 1993, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2007.

The Eagles added their fourth state championship in 1993 – the last time an Eastern Maine school has won a Class B state crown in boys soccer.

Falmouth’s success is of a more recent vintage. Coach Dave Halligan’s Yachtsmen will be appearing in their eighth state championship match in the last 12 seasons Saturday, and they’ve won all seven of their previous finals.

Falmouth won back-to-back Class C championships in 1996 and 1997 and earned Class B state crowns in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006, when it defeated John Bapst of Bangor 2-0 after the Crusaders had edged Ellsworth 2-1 in the Eastern B final.