Freshmen play key roles in CA victory
MARS HILL, Maine — The Central Aroostook Panthers were shorthanded, but the team’s freshman players stepped up with big efforts in Friday’s Class D North preliminary playoff victory over Machias.
Some players were away on another school function, but ninth-graders Ethan Pryor, Brayden Bradbury, Hayden Kingsbury and Jacob Carvell came through in the clutch to help the Panthers to a 2-1 triumph at home.
The No. 5-ranked Panthers improved to 11-4 and traveled to Woodland for a contest against the No. 4 Dragons Tuesday afternoon.
Pryor scored both goals, Bradbury made some huge saves in the final 10 minutes and Kingsbury and Carvell played the entire game in the midfield, a position they have rarely played according to coach Cody Tompkins.
Hunter Wardwell had an assist on one of Pryor’s goals.
“I was really happy with how we executed our offensive attack, spreading the field to develop two options,” Tompkins said. “Communication was the key. In addition to the key play by the freshmen, our veterans players used their experience and remained composed in a tightly-contested game.”
Machias, ranked 12th, finished with a 5-9-1 record. James Mersereau had nine saves on 18 shots and Canon Johnson scored the Bulldogs’ goal.
The winner of the CA-Woodland match earned the right to play the winner of the Fort Fairfield-Schenck game in the semifinal round set for later this week.
