By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
It took an overtime to determine a winner in last Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class C preliminary game between No. 8 Houlton and visiting No. 9 Penquis.
Houlton’s Gage Hunt broke down the left sideline, positioned himself for a pass, directing the kick into an open area between Penquis goalie Derrick Thomas and an oncoming teammate, wing Connor Grant, who broke from the right side.
Grant connected with the ball in midair, dropping it over the sliding Thomas, following it into the open net for the game-winning goal just under four minutes into the overtime.
Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
GAME-WINNER — Houlton’s Connor Grant connects with a through pass from Gage Hunt in midair to get by Penquis goalie Derrick Thomas for the game-winning goal in overtime Saturday.
Houlton goalie Kole Buzzeo blocked four of five shots, while Thomas stopped seven of 16 shots. The Shires are now 8-5-2 on the year.
Today, the Shires travel to Madawaska for the quarterfinal game at 2 p.m. Houlton coach Mike Carlos noted this is the third year in a row that the Shires are heading to the Owls’ home field for a playoff game.
On the regular season, Madawaska picked up both wins.
“The first game they were clearly the better team,” said Carlos. “The second game, they beat us with 14.6 left in the second overtime. This is game with a lot of history. You have to throw the records out the window and see which team shows up”
“Madawaska has 10 seniors who want to achieve what we have achieved,” added Carlos of the state championship last year. “I have some guys who want to hold onto what they think is theirs. We tend to play our game and we are not making a lot of adjustments. To most people this may sound strange, but this is the game and team I wanted to play. To be the best, you have to best the best. If we beat them, we can win it. If they beat us then they will win it.”
Saturday’s game against Penquis was played exactly how Carlos thought it would be played.
“I knew what they had and they knew what we had, so there were no surprises,” said Carlos.
Penquis had two early scoring chances, including one that Houlton goalie Kole Buzzeo and teammate Noah Blake diffused.
Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
HEADER — Houlton’s Alex Casillas heads the ball against Penquis on Saturday. The Shires move to today’s game against Madawaska with a 1-0 overtime win.
“I thought the first half was evenly played,” said Carlos. “They did get two good scoring opportunities in the first half, but Kole came up with a big stop to hold them scoreless. On that same play Noah continued to track back across the area and stop a sure goal at the last second by clearing it out of the 18.”
Another close play was where Buzzeo’s vision was blocked and the ball sailed into the left side of the net. But, the goal was called back due to an offsides call.
“We outshot them by the slimmest of margins in the first half, but they had the best chances to score no doubt,” added Carlos.
The Shires couldn’t find an early rhythm, but in the second half, with the wind at their backs, the Shires pressed.
“I felt we were sluggish at the start of the game, no fire, their early opportunities got our attention,” explained Carlos. “I feel our momentum continued to grow from that point forward. The second half, we won most of the balls, which allowed us to keep the pressure on them. Towards the end of the half, we final started to shoot some shots. I felt at that point we were in a good place mentally and physically.”
Houlton’s Blake made a huge defensive stop in the second half to keep Penquis off the board. Buzzeo had been pulled from the net when a Patriot player had broken through Houlton’s defense. With the ball tapped toward the open goal, Blake alertly followed the play, knocking the ball out-of-bounds, as he and the Penquis player were carried into the net.
Pioneer Times photograph/Gloria Austin
WINS THE BALL — Southern Aroostook’s Cody Lassonde went up and won the ball with a header over a Tiger player in last Friday’s prelim game in Dyer Brook.
With both teams surviving scares, they went into overtime, which concerned the Shires.
“We have lost so many games on last second plays this year we were determined not to let it happen again,” said Carlos. “On our team, we have terms for well-placed passes [and that] term used to describe the pass was lushes.”
Hunt sent a through ball to Grant, hitting him in stride.
“The shot was nice, but the pass was nicer,” added Carlos.
Throughout the game, Carlos had been sharpening Grant with his grinding, just like sparks from metal to metal.
“I had rode Conner the whole game,” explained Carlos. “We have been working on staying behind the ball when it is on the opposite side of the field so that we can run on to a ball just like we did.”
