HAMPDEN – Any time the Bangor and Hampden boys soccer teams hook up for late-season games, you can be sure the meeting will be intense, exciting, and physical.

Tuesday night’s matchup was all of those things. The one thing lacking was scoring.

The Rams and the Broncos played 80 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of overtime without a goal for a 0-0 tie, although both teams had plenty of excellent chances. The Broncs actually put the ball past Bangor goalie Austin Smith in the first half, but the goal was disallowed because of an offsides call.

Not only was pride on the line – Hampden was looking to get even after Bangor won the teams’ first matchup 4-1 on Sept. 13 – but both squads are on the edge of home-field advantage for the playoffs.

Although the 10-1-2 Rams, who were fourth in the most recent Eastern Maine Class A Heal point standings, will likely retain home field, a win could have meant a bye in the quarterfinals. The top three teams don’t have to play preliminary games.

“We know if we won, we would have definitely stayed ahead of them and we might have gone in third,” said Bangor senior striker Dylan George, who nearly scored in the first overtime when he took a direct kick from about 25 yards out and booted the ball just over the crossbar.

A win might have also boosted 10-2-1 Hampden, which was fifth in the rankings, into the top three.

“We wanted to get the win, but it just didn’t go in the net tonight,” said Hampden senior midfielder Andre Cushing.

Although Hampden dominated in the first half, with a 8-2 advantage in shots on goal and Logan Larabee’s first-half goal was waved off for an offsides call, Bangor evened things up in the second half and controlled the ball in both overtimes. The Broncos wound up with a 15-10 edge in shots.

Hampden had another good chance in the second half when Jeff Prymowicz banged a shot off the right post.

“We wanted to keep the ball out wide and use our width and speed to get the ball in to our forwards,” Cushing said. “I think [Bangor] might have been working on their offsides trap to keep us pinned down.”

The Rams nearly took the lead themselves with less than 1:40 in regulation. JoJo Hwalek passed the ball ahead to George on the left wing and George crossed to the other wing, but Kyle Leeman wasn’t in place yet to gather in the pass.

Cam Cormier also nearly scored for the Rams in overtime. Cormier took a left-footed shot at the left post, and the ball went wide by inches.

“We have to capitalize on our opportunities,” George said. “We had three great chances in overtime and we have to capitalize and we didn’t. … Both teams worked really hard and we had nothing to show for it.”

Smith finished with four saves and Hampden’s Max Silver had one.