With the regular season rapidly coming to a close, boys’ soccer squads are scurrying to gobble up as many Heal Points as possible to secure their position for the upcoming postseason. The final day for regular season games is Tuesday, Oct. 18, with the preliminary round starting Oct. 21-22 for area teams.
In Class C North, Houlton (8-3-1, 63.0612 Heal Points) was in fourth-place as of Monday afternoon. The top four teams in Class C North earn a first-round bye, and if the Shires can remain in fourth-place they would host a quarterfinal game against the No. 5 seed, currently Fort Kent (6-4-1).
In Class D North, Hodgdon (10-2, 62.8061) is fifth, while Southern Aroostook (6-5-1, 41.3010) is ninth; East Grand (3-5-3, 27.2449) is 15th; and Katahdin (0-11-1, 3.9031) is 20th as of Monday afternoon. The top 14 teams make the postseason, but only the first and second seeds receive a first-round bye.
Hodgdon and Southern Aroostook will make the playoffs, but will have to play a preliminary game. East Grand controls its own destiny as the Vikings will need to secure at least a couple of more wins in their final three games if they hope to see postseason action.
The following is a recap of games reported to the newspaper through Monday afternoon.
Madawaska 1, Houlton 2 — At Houlton Monday, Shire Keegan Gentle followed a pass into the six yard line and a Madawaska defender kicked it into the back of their own net to start the scoring. Abe Lorom added a solo goal on an assist from Pat Howe with 13 minutes left in the first half to give Houlton a 2-0 lead.
Matt Cyr scored for the Owls on an assist from Max Gendreau to end the scoring for the day.
Houlton keeper AJ Henderson made two saves against three shots for the Shires and Owls goalie Andrew Nadeau had 15 saves against 17 shots.
Hodgdon 5, Shead 2 — At Eastport Friday, the Hawks produced five first-half goals and held on for the win. Wyatt Foster had a hat trick and Daden Palmer added two goals and assisted on two of Foster’s goals.
Shead’s Ezra Tolatovicz scored on a penalty kick and Trevor Fenderson had the team’s second goal.
Houlton 1, Fort Kent 1 — At Fort Kent Friday, the Houlton boys avenged an earlier season loss to Fort Kent by forcing a tie with the Warriors after two overtime periods. Nolan Porter scored the first goal of the game for the Shires on a ball that he headed over the keeper and passed into the back of the net. Zach Fitzpatrick was credited with the assist.
Austin Plourde scored for Fort Kent assisted by Camden Jandreau on a ball inside the six yard box to tie the game with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. The second half and both overtime periods remained scoreless resulting in the tie.
Nathan Michaud had 13 saves on 14 shots for Fort Kent and AJ Henderson had 9 saves on 14 shots for the Shires.
Schenck 2, Houlton 1 — At Houlton Oct. 5, the Shires fell in double-overtime to the Wolverine of East Millinocket. Travis Thompson scored first for Schenck in the first half, and the Wolverines led 1-0 at halftime.
Houlton’s Jacob Worthley tied the game at 1-1 in the second half on an assist from Pat Howe. That score held up through regulation and one overtime period, but with two minutes left in the second overtime Schenck’s Riley Dionne delivered the game-winner.
AJ Henderson had 8 saves against 10 shots for Houlton and Justin Thompson had 16 saves against 17 shots for Schenck.
East Grand 0, Southern Aroostook 0 — At Dyer Brook Oct. 5, the Warriors and Vikings battled to a scoreless tie. East Grand goalie Thomas Gilman had 15 saves on 30 shots, while SACS’ keeper Steven Rackliff made four saves on seven shots.
Southern Aroostook 2, Hodgdon 1 — At Hodgdon Oct. 4, Warriors Jackson Mathers and Tyler Batchelder each scored a goal in the first half as Southern Aroostook defeated the Hawks. Hunter Walker got the assist on the second goal.
Hodgdon’s lone goal came from Jordyn Merritt late in the second half.
Southern Aroostook keeper Nolan Altvater made 10 saves on 12 shots and Hodgdon keeper Josh Foster made 10 saves on 14 shots.
