SACO — Going into tonight’s showdown with Cheverus, the Thornton Academy girls soccer team is 9-0, and a big reason for that is the stellar play of senior goalkeeper Emily Richard.

Through nine games, Richard has given up four goals and recorded five shutouts. If she allows no more than one more goal this season, she will break the school record for least amount of goals given up in a season, which she set last year.

“It’s been truly remarkable,” Thornton head coach Chris Kohl said of the season Richard has had up to this point.

What’s even more remarkable about Richard’s season is that half of the goals she has given up have been on penalty kicks, shedding even more light on just how good she and the Thornton defense have been this year.

Richard, however, doesn’t focus on her own success, but is more concerned about how the team fares.

“To shutout Scarborough was really nice, but other than that, I don’t really worry about that. I used to think shutouts were everything, but really it doesn’t matter at the end of the day,” said Richard. “If we let up a goal, but score two, that one goal doesn’t really matter that much.”

The win over Scarborough was the Trojans’ first victory against the Red Storm.

“It’s huge. The Scarborough game was great. She did a lot of great things, and it gave the team confidence, but we’ve got Cheverus” today, said Kohl, adding that reflection is best left for the offseason. “It’s a great sort of thing to shut (Scarborough) out, but we know we’ve still got a long way to go. That’s not our ending point of the season.”

With the historic win over Scarborough in the rearview mirror, the Trojans are now focused on another historic feat: Winning the state championship. That has been the bigger goal for this team since preseason, and through all of the individual success, that hasn’t been lost on Richard.

“The shutouts is a big (record), but that’s kind of put aside, and I’m just more worried about being the first team to go as far as we can,” said Richard.

Kohl echoed the sentiments of his goalie, noting that the record Richard is most concerned about involves wins and losses.

“She wants to go far, and she wants to lead this team far,” said Kohl.

 Seagulls soaring high on the gridiron

Since a season-opening thrashing at the hands of currently undefeated Maranacook, the Old Orchard Beach football team has won four straight games. The Seagulls learned quickly from their early sloppiness ”“ 10 turnovers in the loss to Maranacook ”“ and have since become a team that wins close, hard-fought games. All four wins have been by a single score, with no win coming by more than eight points.

“Some seniors have really stepped up, and kind of gave us that composure we need to fight some times where we made a few comeback wins, and stay the course and not bail on what we put in a for a game plan,” said head coach Dean Plante. “They’ve been a big part of the winning streak.”

The team has ridden the shoulders of junior running back/defensive back Joey Gildard, but the Seagulls have also gotten key contributions from Bryan Roberts, Jim Strohm and Quincy Grace on offense.

Plante said the team has “stepped it up a bit” on defense, and pointed out Graves, Devin Trumpler and Nick Carlin on that side of the ball.

The Seagulls have a big matchup with undefeated Traip Academy in two weeks, but first must face winless Sacopee Valley Saturday. Plante said he doesn’t see the Sacopee game as a “trap” game, because it is homecoming for Old Orchard Beach, and noted that one more win should secure a playoff berth.

“We’ll take care of business this week, hopefully, and then we’ll deal with Traip when Saturday night rolls around,” said Plante.

                                                   A lineman’s dream

It was early in the first quarter, but Thornton Academy linebacker/offensive lineman Bobby Begin might have made the biggest play of the game against Scarborough Saturday. On the Red Storm’s first drive, deep in Trojan territory, Begin took a fumbled snap and ran 75 yards for a touchdown. Scoring the game’s first points was unexpected for Begin.

“I was expecting (to get taken down), but then I just got in the end zone, I just put my arms up,” he said.

Thornton head coach Kevin Kezal said the score was an early turning point in the game.

“Bobby scooping and scoring, that was obviously a huge play in the game,” said Kezal.

Not only was the play important for the team, but for Begin, it was like a dream come true, he said.

“It’s definitely a lineman’s dream, to pick up the ball and run,” said Begin. “Just having the ball in your hands as a lineman is just a great treat.”

— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.