PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Following a stalemate through the 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime, the Wildcats’ Class B North semifinal against Erskine Academy required a round of penalty kicks before a winner was declared.
The South China-based Eagles had been through it before just three days earlier in their quarterfinal win over Winslow, and the experience paid off as Erskine won the round, 4-3, to advance to today’s regional championship game against Ellsworth.
In the penalty kick round, twin brothers Ryle and Randon Mortland and senior Kyle Rider connected on their attempts for the Wildcats after junior Josiah Morse’s attempt caromed off the right post. Erskine was also 3 of its first 4, with Jake Suga, Grayson Petty and Raymond Weymouth converting theirs and Brock Glidden missing left on the team’s third attempt.
It came down to the fifth round, and PI senior Cooper Madore shot the ball toward the right post and Eagle goalkeeper Takoda McGraw, who had replaced starter Denver Cullivan just for the PKs, was able to make the stop.
“At first I thought he was going to go the other way with it, but I saw his hips turn to the right so I went that way,” McGraw said.
Caleb Barden then stepped to the line for Erskine with a chance to clinch it, and his shot to the right went untouched past Jason Dumais and into the net to give the visitors the victory.
“We can go 5 for 5 just as easy as we can 3 for 5 and it comes down to goalies’ guessing the right way and things like that,” said Wildcat coach Joe Greaves, whose team had advanced to the semis for the third time in his five years as coach. “I don’t think overtimes are long enough. There is too much on the line for just two 15-minute overtimes and then involving penalty kicks brings in a lot of luck. It just doesn’t feel like the right way to lose a game.”
Erskine is now 13-4 as the No. 10 seed, pulling off its third consecutive upset in the post-season (No. 7 Mount Desert Island and No. 2 Winslow being the others). Presque Isle, which had beaten Old Town in the semifinals, finished 8-5-3 as the third seed in the division.
During the 110 minutes played on the field, neither team was able to generate many quality scoring chances as the two teams went scoreless.
Presque Isle freshman goalkeeper Dumais was tested on a couple occasions as Erskine seniors Trevor Hubbard and Luke Peabody ripped shots that Dumais was able to save, but mostly the match was played between the 18-yard lines.
“Often times they had 10 players back inside the 18 and were double-teaming our offense,” Greaves said. “It makes it hard to get anything going. We were having trouble getting scoring opportunities, but our defense played great and they didn’t have many opportunities either.”
Presque Isle was paced on the defensive end by senior sweeper back Sam Gray, as well as Rider and junior Khasen Lowe, who helped thwart some of Erskine’s offensive surges.
The Wildcats finished with a 6-0-2 mark over the second half of the season entering Saturday’s tilt and Greaves was pleased with the effort of his team.
“Our seniors did a great job leading our young guys and getting them ready for big games,” Greaves said. “Every game down the stretch was tough so we were battle tested heading into the playoffs.”
