LEWISTON — The third time’s the charm for Mt. Abram.
After losing the past two years in the Class C South boys soccer regional final, the Roadrunners took down Traip Academy 5-1 on Wednesday night at Lewiston High School’s Don Roux Field.
“It was definitely a blur, it was exciting, it had some drama in it, we had to make some adjustments at halftime,” Mt. Abram coach Darren Allen said. “They boys played really well. They are just an incredible group. I am extremely proud of them.”
The top-seeded Roadrunners (17-0) move on to the Class C state championship on Saturday at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham. They’ll face George Stevens, which beat Mount View 4-0 in the C North final.
Four players scored for Mt. Abram in Wednesday’s victory.
“We have been together all season,” Morgan Thibodeau, one of the goal scorers, said. “We play as a team and our motto is, ‘As one.’ We kept using that in playoffs; we keep going, keep playing as a team, keep playing for each other and we keep getting results.”
Andrew Rother’s 18-yard boot in the opening minutes gave the Roadrunners a quick 1-0 lead.
“It was amazing,” Rother said of scoring the opening goal. “It changed everything; our play just went up, our adrenaline was just pumping. When it came off my shoulder and I hit it and I saw it went in, the excitement … it’s amazing to score in a (regional) final.”
Mt. Abram created another scoring opportunity in the sixth minute when they were in the 6-yard box, but Traip’s defense cleared the ball and ended the threat.
The Roadrunners used a corner kick to generate their second tally. The ball was sent into the 18-yard box and deflected in off a Traip player into the goal.
Traip co-coach Mike Macleay said the weather conditions factored in the goal.
“The second goal was kind of wind-aided with the corner kick there,” Macleay said. “Obviously, in the first half, I don’t know what the wind speeds were, but they died down in the second half. We were hoping they wouldn’t, so they would be in our favor as well.”
Sam Cockerham, who had an opportunity earlier in the first half, stretched the Roadrunners’ advantage to 3-0 when his shot off a Killian Pillsbury pass beat Traip goalie Jack Downs in the 26th minute.
“We told the guys we had to hit long because their back line was high,” Allen said. “As soon as we get it, we need to look to release it.”
A few minutes later, Mt. Abram’s Morgan Thibodeau took down a Traip player and received a yellow card.
From that point on, the game became physical.
“When Morgan got the yellow, that’s when it became unhinged,” Allen said. “We tried to calm ourselves down, losing our cool a little bit and we were trying to keep our heads. We have been in this game two years in a row and we have lost our heads — we have lost the game because of it. We talked on the sidelines, saying we need to keep our heads and we cannot let a call affect our emotions.”
Macleay was frustrated with the aggressive tackles by Mt. Abram throughout the game and said six starters were injured during the match.
“I think the ref did a great job trying to keep it as safe as possible,” Macleay said. “I think everyone here saw how cheap that was out there. It makes a difference when you have six starters out with injuries throughout the game from cheap tackles.”
Second-seeded Traip (12-4-1) struggled to get the ball across midfield throughout the opening half. When they did, Mt. Abram quickly flipped the field back in its favor. The Rangers’ best chance of the half came in the 36th minute when midfielder Makill Matty chipped the ball over Mt. Abram goalie Logan Dube, but it sailed high.
Thibodeau used his speed to get into the box and kicked a low line drive past Downs (six saves) to extend Mt. Abram’s lead to 4-0 two minutes into the second half.
Traip had two free kicks shortly after Thibodeau’s tally. The first one went wide, and Ivan Blanco’s attempt went right to Roadrunners goalie Logan Dube.
Dube stopped another Blanco free kick with a diving save. On the ensuing corner kick, Dube made another stop.
“He made three or four tremendous saves, and two of them were on the free kicks there,” Macleay said. “If he doesn’t get his fingertips on two of those, it could have been a different game in the second half. Credit to our guys, right to the end, playing to the end on how you should play. They didn’t lose their heads, which we as coaches are super proud of.”
Mt. Abram allowed its first goal since Sept. 25 when Traip senior forward Quinn Alessi found the back post in the 16th minute of the second half, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
Brennan Mitchell restored the four-goal lead seven minutes later, settling the ball in the 6-yard box and tapping it past the goal line.
Dube had to make another save in the 25th minute and tipped a shot over the crossbar in the 30th minute. The junior made four saves in the game before being lifted with about nine minutes to play and replaced by senior goalie Trey Reed.
“It felt great, I had a great defense to back me up,” Dube said. “They didn’t get a whole lot of shots on goal; it made it really easy for me. It was the most action I had all season.”
An altercation at the end of the game resulted in cards handed out to both teams — a red card to a Mt. Abram player and a yellow card to a Traip player.
“I think that was a tick-for-tack thing after their guy grabbed our guy,” Macleay said. “The second guy gets the card as well.”
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