PORTLAND — The sting of last year’s loss was strong, which made this year’s victory that much sweeter for Bangor Christian School.

Senior midfielder Tyler Welch dominated the game for the Patriots, controlling the ball through the middle of the field and scoring when necessary to help his team to a 4-1 win over Greenville in the Class D state soccer championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Saturday.

“(Welch) draws a lot of attention, so that opens up for other players,” Bangor Christian coach Aaron Wilcox said. “Last couple years, we haven’t used him as well as we could with other players. This year, when he draws the attention, he distributes well. He’s really improved his game that way.”

Welch drew the attention and distributed, but he also fought his way through double and triple teams to net a pair of his own goals Saturday, helping the Patriots to their seventh Class D state crown, and first since a run of five consecutive titles through 2013.

“Last year, the loss (in the regional final) up there, that stuck with us for a year,” Wilcox said. “To lose in double-overtime, and you score their goal, it’s kind of tough. So, to get back, and to get it done, it feels awesome.”

“I’m definitely happy with the outcome, I’m happy with our players’ performances, and couldn’t have asked for a better game,” Welch added.

The speedy Patriots came out strong, and put the Lakers back on their heels quickly.

“We’ve seen them a couple of times this year, we know what they’re capable of,” Greenville coach Jeffrey Richards said. “They triangular pass well, they trap well, they move without the ball well, all those things that make a champion. There was no surprise coming in that that’s what they were going to do, we were just hoping we’d be able to contain them better than we did.”

Welch broke containment just shy of the 15th minute, firing a bullet from 20 yards out after a free kick off the foot of Jonathan Cormier. Still sensing the Lakers were rattled, Welch set up Erik Gorczok for another goal just 27 seconds later to push the Bangor Christian lead to 2-0.

“I’ve really been working with our up-fronts, to show them a pass and have them make a run,” Welch said. “And to never be standing, that’s a huge part of soccer, and vision, being able to pass to that run that nobody sees. That’s what we like to do with out front runners.”

“If you’re not ready for it, they’re going to get by you,” Richards said.

Gorczok converted on another feed from Welch with 7:38 to play in the first half to push the lead to 3-0.

“I thought the first half was awesome, we controlled it, played really well,” Wilcox said. “Second half, seemed we came out a little bit lax, a little nonchalant a little bit.”

Greenville also regrouped and made a push, trying to get back into the game. The Lakers’ spark came from Connor Diangelo, a junior, when he sidestepped a defender and pushed the ball past Bangor Christian keeper Austin Keib as he hurdled the sprawling keeper to pull his team within two.

“Now you have to watch out for momentum, and how we’d respond to that one, and we were able to bounce back and put one in, kind of sealed it,” Wilcox said.

But that was as close as Greenville got.

“We need to capitalize a bit better, and when we can figure out how to do that, we’ll be in good shape,” Richards said.

Welch finished his four-point afternoon with his second goal of the game in the 72nd minute to ice the game for Bangor Christian.

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