“(Sophomore Christian) was a lefty attackman, and then he turned out to be a gifted LSM,” the elder Glover said. “I watched him go after it with his brother, and I said, ‘Oh, he’s pretty good going both ways.'”
Late in the third quarter of Saturday’s Class A state championship game, any second guesses coach Glover might have had were well gone when Christian snagged a loose ball at midfield, raced to the South Portland goal and scored with less than one second remaining on the clock, pushing the Dragons’ lead to three and breaking the Red Riots’ spirit.
“That’s been our M/O this season, we push the ball really quickly,” Don Glover said. “Chris picked up the ground ball, did a good job turning it to his weak hand and was able to stick one with less than a second, which was good. That was the momentum-swinger right there.”
Brunswick never looked back. Behind five goals from Cam Glover and four more from Matt Brooks, the Dragons turned a a nail-biter into a more comfortable 13-9 victory over South Portland in the Class A title game.
“I think our depth definitely played a factor, and our conditioning,” Don Glover said. “We were able to take advantage of it a little later in the game. They’re a skilled team, and I think our patience and our ball control really made a difference.”
The Dragons wasted little time setting the tone. Cam Glover rolled to the front of the cage and gave Brunswick a 1-0 lead just 1:01 into the contest. Tyler Sullivan added another and Cam Glover made it 3-0 in the wining second of the first quarter. South Portland had a hard time keeping the ball in transition.
The Riots came alive in the second, though, pulling to within a pair at 4-2, at 5-3 and again at 6-4 by halftime.
And they didn’t stop there. Eben Babbidge and Kameron Andrews started the second half with a goal each for the Riots to even the match with 7:35 to play in the third.
Brooks, scoreless to that point in the contest, took control of the Dragons’ offense. He regained the lead for his team 1:18 after Andrews’ strike, and the gave Brunswick a two-goal edge with 28 seconds to play in the quarter, setting the stage for Christian Glover’s buzzer-beater.
“We have 16 seniors, and these 16 seniors have been working hard since they played together in our youth program,” Don Glover said. “They were able to pull it together today and make things happen.”
Cam Glover and Brooks traded goals early in the fourth, pushing the Brunswick lead to 12-7. South Portland’s Andrew Whipple and Andrews tried to rally the Riots late, but the Brunswick defense locked down. Mitchell Smith earned the win in the Brunswick cage.
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