Even when not playing at the top of their game, the Gorham Rams are going to make opponents pay for mistakes.

Bonny Eagle learned that the hard way on Tuesday night when the Scots visited Gorham for an SMAA boys soccer clash. Gorham scored twice in the opening minutes – one coming off a counter attack and the other on a defensive miscue – en route to a 3-0 victory.

Gorham, currently No. 2 in the Western Maine Class A Heal Point Standings, improved to 7-1 while the No. 11 Scots dropped to 4-3-1.

The last time out, Gorham topped Portland 2-0 and has won three straight since its lone loss, coming in a 1-0 game against No. 1 Scarborough.

“The last two games, we’ve jumped ahead and most of the goals have been on counter attacks,” said Gorham coach Tim King. “We haven’t really been playing extremely well, but we’ve been capitalizing when we’ve had chances.”

The first chance came following a Bonny Eagle corner kick. The Rams cleared the ball and got going the other way. Drew Hopkins sent a cross from the left wing into the right side of the box, where an open Jake Willis put a touch on it and sent a low shot past the stretch of Scots keeper Lincoln Sanborn, who lost his footing as the ball crossed the field. The goal made it 1-0 with 28:19 left in the first half.

“I got a good cross and I think the keeper slipped,” said Willis, who also scored the third goal in the game’s final minutes. “I just tried to get contact on it and I guess I got a little lucky when the keeper slipped and it went in the back of the net.”

“We were down here on a corner kick and they came back on a counter attack,” said Bonny Eagle coach Alan Curtis. “Our defenders didn’t really fill the lanes in order to make sure there weren’t any open gaps. When you get counter attacked off a free kick like that, it is hard to jump back in and find the players that you’re responsible for.”

Just under five minutes later, another Bonny Eagle lapse resulted in a Gorham goal. Two Scots defenders bumped into each other while trying to clear a ball from the box. Gorham’s Connor Reagan gained control at the top left corner of the box and drove a low shot into the net, making it 2-0.

“We’ve got some quick guys up front, so we will capitalize on mistakes if the defensive backs make them,” King said. “If you put enough pressure on teams, they’re bound to make some mistakes. That’s what we hope we can do – create some chances and knock some in.”

The Scots had several corner kicks in the first half, but were unable to generate much in the way of good scoring opportunities.

“We had players in the right spots to take the shots, but I think with the emotion of the game, because it is a rival next door and we really wanted to do well, some of the players maybe had too much intensity and were trying to put a hole through the net and the fence, instead of just putting it in the goal,” Curtis said.

In the second half, Bonny Eagle had some better scoring bids. Eight minutes in, Tyler Ruby’s header off a free kick sailed just wide. Three minutes later, Gorham goalie Tim Hardy punched a direct kick from just outside the box out of bounds. With 24:50 to go, Mathue McClure took a Bonny Eagle direct kick from about 25 yards out on the left side and sent a nice shot toward the top far corner of the goal, but again Hardy was there to get a hand on it.

Sanborn was not to be outdone, coming up with a handful of fine stops in the final 10 minutes. He knocked away Willis’ point blank shot with nine minutes left, then dove to stop Kevin Lubelczyk’s shot four minutes later.

The Rams did slip another goal in with 3:05 to play following a goalmouth scrum. Sanborn made the initial stop, but Willis was able to knock in the carom.

A strange scene followed, as Curtis contested the call, arguing that Sanborn had possession of the ball before it was knocked in. He was issued a yellow card by the referee on the near side. While Curtis continued his protest, the referee from the far side responded and yelled, “Do you want to go?” as he ran over to the Bonny Eagle bench to confront Curtis. As the two exchanged words, a pair of police officers working the game came over and got between them, escorting the referee back onto the field.

Cooler heads eventually prevailed, the game continued after a brief stoppage, and there were no post-game incidents.

Willis said the Rams’ fast start was very important for setting the tone against an opponent that is fighting for a playoff spot.

“If you can put down a team that is that fired up and has that much momentum, it really goes a long way in controlling the game,” Willis said. “They really needed the Heal Points, so we knew they were going to come out firing. We do a great job of making the plays we should. It’s great because if you can capitalize on one mistake, it’s really demoralizing to the other team, no matter who the team is.”

The Gorham offense has been opportunistic, but King said the defense has been consistently strong.

“We’ve had a really solid defensive effort all year,” the coach said. “We expect to play good defense. We expect to carry the play, but when teams counter attack, we need to be ready. We’ve got some really good speed at our outside backs, then our center back, Seth Wing, is just tremendous. He doesn’t get much credit at all, but he’s an all-conference type player, for sure.”

The Rams are through the toughest part of the schedule, but will need to avoid letdowns to maintain their No. 2 spot in the standings heading into the postseason.

“I think there are a lot of games left that we could lose if we don’t play well,” King said. “We need to keep getting better.”

Gorham’s Jake Willis scored two goals in his teams 3-0 win over Bonny Eagle on Tuesday night in Gorham.
Staff photo by Tom Minervino