FA falls to defending champion in Class B boys soccer quarterfinal
By Ernie Clark
Staff Writer
ELLSWORTH — A season of high hopes ended in the Class B North quarterfinals for the Foxcroft Academy boys’ soccer team after a 2-1 loss to top-ranked and defending regional champion Ellsworth.
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HEADUP COLLISION — Foxcroft Academy’s Dylan Harmon Weeks (center) goes up for a header against Ellsworth’s Trent Goodman (right) during their Northern Maine Class B soccer quarterfinal game Wednesday in Ellsworth.
The Ponies finished one of the winningest seasons in program history with an 11-4-1 record behind a roster led by nine seniors.
“It’s tough because these kids have given everything the last four years,” said Foxcroft coach Luis Ayala. “You work hard to get up here and it’s frustrating the way it goes sometimes. But I’m proud of the kids, they never gave up, they gave it their all but sometimes that’s life. You work because you want it so bad but sometimes it’s not meant to be.”
Ellsworth, which will host Erskine Academy of South China in today’s regional final, used Alex Braley’s header off a flip throw-in from classmate Lukas Firestone with eight seconds left in the first half as the margin of victory over a ninth-ranked Foxcroft team that also gave the Eagles one of their tougher battles of the regular season before yielding three goals in the final 21 minutes of a 5-2 loss on Sept. 24.
“In a game like this there can be no mental lapses,” said Ayala. “You have to play everything because just when you think time is running out and there’s no chance, Ellsworth keeps putting pressure on and we slacked off a little bit thinking time was going to expire. It didn’t and that one goal was a killer, but that’s what they do.”
Foxcroft did strike first on a penalty kick by senior midfielder Dylan Harmon-Weeks 13:12 into the match, but Ellsworth countered 2½ minutes later when Colby Clarke scored off an assist from Dagan Berenyi.
Ellsworth then turned to a staple of Brian Higgins’ 42-year coaching tenure with the Eagles, the set play, to score the go-ahead goal with the final seconds winding down before intermission.
Firestone unleashed a long flip throw-in from near the Foxcroft bench along the right sideline toward the far post, where Braley redirected it past Ponies’ goalie Logan Butera.
“We worked at practice to defend it but sometimes it’s hard to duplicate that kind of play,” said Ayala. “They get 20 of those throws in a game and usually they’re going to get one of those in.”
Foxcroft was unable to generate the equalizer after the break though sophomore striker Tobias Hogfeldt created a couple of significant chances despite being shadowed by Ellsworth backs Trent Mahon and Jared Hamilton.
“They marked (Hogfeldt) tight,” said Ayala. “They know who to mark and they know what to do, but Toby does a great job trying to get the ball out there and get some quality shots.”
Ellsworth finished with a 16-9 shots advantage, with Butera making eight stops and the Eagles’ Bruce St. Peter six.
“We played about average, and the reason for that was (Foxcroft) was very aggressive, they marked us very well, and that’s the best I’ve seen them play against us in recent years,” said Higgins after his 565th career coaching victory.
Seniors on this year’s Foxcroft squad were Harmon-Weeks, Tino Ayala, Nate Church, Blake Arno, Harry Gong, Toan Bui, Cameron Plourde, Paul Birtwistle and Cooper Nelson.
“We’ve come a long way,” said coach Ayala. “The kids have put in the time and effort throughout the year and it showed today with the way we played.”
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PROPER FOOTWORK — Ellsworth’s Trent Mahon (left) battles for the ball with Foxcroft Academy’s Tobias Hogfeldt during their Northern Maine Class B soccer quarterfinal game Wednesday in Ellsworth.
Ashley L. Conti/Bangor Daily News
BATTLE OF THE 22’S —Ellsworth’s Alex Braley (left) battles for the ball with Foxcroft Academy’s Cooper Nelson during their Northern Maine Class B soccer quarterfinal game on Wednesday in Ellsworth.