PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — During recent practice sessions, head coach Joe Greaves had been trying to get across to his Presque Isle Wildcats the importance of getting off to a fast start in its matches.
Greaves reminded his players that out of 48 total goals, they had scored only three times all season in the first 20 minutes of games.
On Saturday, in the Class B North semifinal against Brewer, his team appeared to get the message.
It took just over four minutes for the second-seeded Wildcats to put in their first goal and they forged to a 3-0 lead 25 minutes into the match, en route to an impressive 6-0 win over the sixth-ranked Witches at the Gehrig Johnson Athletic Complex.
“The boys came out ready to play,” Greaves said. “We had confidence from the get go and we dominated.”
The team’s reward is another home game on Wednesday against Washington Academy, an upset winner of top-ranked Caribou, with a regional championship on the line.
Senior Drew Cameron opened the scoring with an impressive individual move. He received the ball on the right wing, beat his defender around the corner and dribbled left into the 18-yard box before directing a shot inside the left post.
At 19:33, Connor DeMerchant headed in a Zechariah Morse corner kick and under four minutes later, Colby Carlisle jumped on the rebound of a deflected hard shot by Kyler Caron and volleyed it past Brewer goalkeeper Matt Mousseau for a three-goal advantage.
Presque Isle did not allow a single shot on goal in the first half as its defense kept the Witches’ attackers at bay throughout.
The Wildcats were able to strike for three more goals after intermission, one apiece by Will Bridges, Kyler Caron and DeMerchant, to win comfortably.
Mason Young made three saves on five shots for 13-1-2 PI, which has now recorded 10 shutouts in its 16 games. Teammate Xavier McAtee got some late action in a relief role. Mousseau finished with 12 saves on 17 shots for the Witches, whose final record is 10-6-1.
