by
Jack Scott
The golf team played well in the PVC qualifying tournament at JATO, ending up in second place by only 6 shots behind Houlton. This means that we will be in the State Team Tournament at Natanis Country Club this Saturday. Sam Grindle was medalist for all classes with an even par 72. Connor Morey was tied for third in Class C with an 80. Rounding out the team scores, Nick Eaton had a 97, Nathan Davis 100, and Drew Siebert 101.
If you’re frustrated with the sports reporting in the Bangor Daily, stand in line. There wasn’t one word about the PVC Golf Regional Qualifier at all. There was a page on cross country. I’m not knocking cross country, but the BDN has really slipped in the high school sports reporting. It’s like they don’t care what gets written. I don’t know about you, but that and the funnies are what I live for.
Earlier in the week, the golf team played an inter league tournament at Bucksport Country Club that we won handily. We shot 181, Bucksport 196, Ellsworth 233, and Sumner 240. Connor Morey was medalist with a four-over par 40, Sam Grindle 42, Nick Eaton 49, Nathan Davis 50, Drew Siebert 54, and Alec Eaton 56. This was only for bragging rights, but it shows we are playing well on other courses.
Boys soccer
The boys soccer team lost a tough game to Searsport 2-0. This was a game we felt we could win, but we failed to put a coordinated offense together. Searsport scored late in the first half to lead 1-0 at the half. They played a more defensive set and we couldn’t seem to break it open.
As you would expect, Krisford Melanio drew attention from the defense and was not able to work his way in. We had a few golden chances that either missed or were right at the goalie. We just didn’t execute well overall and our offense was flat. As a team, we need to be more aggressive to the ball to sustain our attacks. We play Searsport again this week, and we are looking for a better outcome.
The boys lost a back and forth battle to Sumner 5-4. We actually led twice in this game. Just to give some perspective on our progress, Sumner beat us 7-0 early in the season. We scored first with Pat Duddy scoring on an assist from Krisford Melanio. After a Sumner score, Braden Coty scored with 10 minutes left, again from a Krisford Melanio assist. Sumner scored near the end of the half to tie it at 2-2.
Unfortunately, we gave up two quick goals into the second half. That put us into that familiar hole, but Pat Duddy scored unassisted to bring us within one. Sumner scored again, but Pat Duddy scored with five minutes left from a Krisford Melanio assist to get within a goal. This was an excellent effort where we passed well and controlled the ball with our team play. Tyler Robbins saved 25 of Sumner’s 32 shots and Sumner saved 15 of our 21 shots.
Weekly wrap up
The golf team has performed very well and heads into the State Tournament with some good momentum. There is plenty of tough competition, but we have shown we can hang close and if nothing else, we should improve drastically on our previous experiences there.
The girls soccer team was rained out of their only game last week. Nonetheless, we are still in 10th place by virtue of our earlier tie with Penobscot Valley. We will be as healthy as we are going to be, with a fully packed schedule for the next two weeks. It looks like we will lose Ashley Haskell and Logan Eaton for the season to injuries, so Coach Dennis Rollins will be making adjustments to sustain our offense that we had going on before we got hurt. We have plenty of games left where we can improve our playoff position.
The boys soccer team is still looking for their first win but we have shown much improved play with our game against Sumner. Ironically, we have had four games where we scored four goals, but they were all away games. Maybe we need to take a bus ride before the home games or check what is in the water cooler. Seriously, we have shown some great spurts of offense and this team plays hard right until the end. We just need to keep it up, especially this week where we face teams we should play more evenly. If we stay focused on playing our team game then good things will happen.
