AUGUSTA — Brunswick found a rhythm to its attack in the final 12 minutes of Tuesday’s Class A North boys soccer regional final against Lewiston.
The Dragons scored five late goals in a 6-0 victory over the Blue Devils at Cony High School’s Fuller Field. Jack Banks recorded a hat trick for No. 3 Brunswick (13-3-1), which advances to Saturday’s Class A state championship against South champion Scarborough.
It’s the second straight state final appearance for the Dragons, who are seeking their first state title since 1999.
“It’s an amazing (feeling),” Banks said. “It’s important to win (the regional championship), but we have one more game to win. We aren’t done yet.”
Lewiston coach Dan Gish said the Blue Devils added an extra player to their attack, trying to get their offense going in the second half.
“We added an extra attacker and it was working out,” Gish said. “We drew some corners and we got a PK opportunity. It was a little hesitation here and there and (Brunswick) opened it up. They got that second one. It’s a tough way (to lose). I thought we were in it for most of the game.”
No. 4 Lewiston (11-5-1) had won the only regular season game between the two teams, 3-2 on Oct. 4.
Brunswick had the first scoring opportunity of the game when Kaelin Gerwig’s shot brought Brunswick fans out of their seats, but it went wide of the net early in the contest.
The Dragons defense made it difficult for the Blue Devils offense for the majority of the first half. The Dragons’ defenders cleared Lewiston’s first corner of the game out of the 18-yard box.
Brunswick also blocked about five shots in the opening half. The Blue Devils did get four shots on goal, including back-to-back chances in the 12th minute against Dragons goalie Brady Laforge.
“Brady played fantastic, but I thought our whole defense (played fantastic),” Brunswick coach Mark Roma said.
Roma added that Luke Patterson had a very good game as well.
Banks scored the lone goal of the first half when he received a pass from Maxwell Hamilton inside the box and slid a shot past Lewiston keeper Payson Goyette in the 24th minute.
“I saw the ball bouncing and my dad taught me from a young age, ‘Always assume the mistake on the defenders,'” Banks said. “I went around the defender and the ball came to me and I slid it past the keeper.”
The Dragons then rode the momentum of taking the lead. A cross to the backside to Liam Driscoll was on target, but Driscoll’s shot just went wide of the goal about a minute after Banks’ goal.
Then Brunswick launched a shot into the air and Goyette stopped the initial shot. The rebound was loose, but the Dragons couldn’t get the ball into the goal.
Laforge stopped a couple of quality Lewiston shots in the second half. The first one was on a Hamze Nur shot attempt in the 13th minute and Laforge stopped a Shafi Ibrahim free kick a minute later.
“I was confident; our team never gets down, if we are getting pressured or not,” Laforge said. “I think we have the best defense in the state; I trust them with everything. I haven’t let up a goal all playoffs and it’s because of them.”
Ibrahim had another opportunity a few minutes later when he tried to go far post, but Laforge (seven saves) made a diving stop.
It was a wild final 12 minutes, starting when Lewiston received a penalty kick after Ibrahim was taken down in the box. David Abdi took the PK, which sailed over the cross bar.
“Jack Banks knows (Abdi) and he said (Abdi) is a really good PK kicker; I was a little worried about that,” Laforge said. “I was confident he was going left but at the last second, I second-guessed myself. But he hit it over.”
Gish said he would choose Adbi again to take the PK.
“David is solid, he always has been. Great player, great leader,” Gish said.
Brunswick cleared the ball out of the defensive zone past all the Lewiston defenders. Brunswick’s Iain Clendening chipped the ball over Goyette (four saves). Nasip Abdi tracked it down for the Blue Devils, but he kicked it into the net on the clearing attempt for an own goal.
“Iain Clendening made that (play) happen himself,” Roma said. “In fact, I think it should have been a foul and a PK beforehand.”
Gish said a bad break played a part in the own goal.
“(Nasip) is running towards his goal and he’s trying to kick it in a different direction behind him,” Gish said. “It’s tough, it’s not easy. The ball bounced off the turf a little high; it’s a tough decision to be in.”
Banks scored on a free kick and a penalty kick to extend the lead to 4-0.
David Nzuzi and Patterson capped the scoring for the Dragons.
“The score isn’t indicative of the match, Lewiston is a tremendous team,” Roma said. “The score line will say 6-nil, but they did what we would have done (in that situation). We would have done the same thing if we were chasing the game.”
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