Gorham continued its roll across A West with a 4-0 snuffing of the Blue Blazes Thursday evening. Gerek Brown scored early to open a battery of first-half hashes – all by different Rams – and the team’s defense squelched every Westbrook assault, securing the victory.

“They really played hard the whole game,” Gorham coach Tim King said of the opposition. “They were a little bit unlucky that we got four on them the first half – we hit a couple nice shots.”

“We had hoped to come out and play the first 20 minutes of the second half and play well, and we really didn’t,” he said. “And then, when we subbed a little bit, we lose some of our fluidity. But they played hard right to the end, and didn’t allow us to do a lot of the things we wanted to do in the second half.”

The home win moved Gorham to 4-0-1 on the season; they’ve since tamed Biddeford to jump to 5-0-1, and occupy the top slot in the conference. Westbrook’s loss, meanwhile, slipped them to 2-1-2, though they grabbed a win over Massabesic in the following days to gain more ground at 3-1-2. The Blazes are ranked ninth in the Heal Points.

Brown lit the proverbial lamp in the 12th minute, assisted by Jackson Taylor, for 1-0. A mere 16 seconds later, Nate Roberts repeated the feat on a Jackson Fotter feed, giving the Rams a sudden 2-0 lead. Two goals is a huge advantage in soccer, a notoriously low-scoring sport, so Westbrook certainly had their work cut out for them.

“We were a little bit scrappier in the box than we’ve been,” King said of the early goals. “Took advantage of some loose balls and put them in – we’ve had a hard time doing that up to this point.”

The Rams’ prowess showed twice more before the break. With four minutes to play, Fotter, facing the Westbrook goal from dead-center and maybe 28 yards out, ripped an unimpeded shot on Blazes goalie DJ Henrikson, who dove. He may even have gotten his fingertips on the ball, but he couldn’t stop it altogether. 3-0.

Cody Elliot capped Gorham’s scoring just 54 seconds later on another head-on shot, this one from roughly 20 yards and aimed low-left, along the ground. Henrikson made another admirable effort, but couldn’t make the stop.

“Those were probably our two best offensive players,” King said of the later goals. “They got the ball out at the top of the 18, and if they get some space, they’re going to score a lot of those, like they did tonight.”

Play in the second half evened out; Westbrook redoubled their defensive efforts and held the Rams silent. Their own attack, however, couldn’t penetrate deeply enough into Gorham territory to generate many quality shots – Rams keeper Trenton Bassingthwaite only needed to make three saves in the entire 80 minutes – let alone any goals. When the final buzzer sounded, it tolled for Westbrook.

King also praised his backs, and not just for the defensive abilities: “We want to stay connected for sure, so when we have the ball in the offensive third of the field, we want our backs up there, supporting that. That’s something we’re trying to work on this year.

“We did a good job of it in the first half. We’ve got some really good backs that can handle the ball; it’s not just your defenders that stay at home.”

Gorham welcomes Windham on Thursday, Sept. 25 for a 6 p.m. showdown. Westbrook lost 4-1 at home to Marshwood on Tuesday the 23rd. They next travel to Sanford to battle the Spartans. That game is also slated for Thursday at 6.

“I feel good going forward,” King said. “We’ve still got room for improvement – we’re still a young team; we’ve only got three seniors. I think we’re going to get better and better. We’re gaining a little bit every night. I like what we’ve got and I like this team.”

Gorham’s Cody Ellito and Westbrook’s Isaiah Manngian collide in midair, vying for a header.Ram Matt Hooker leaps for the ball over Westbrooker Jonathan Lapika.Nate Nadeau just outpaces the Blazes’ Nshuti Gato to keep the Rams in control.Gorham’s Jackson Fotter, in the foreground, cuts on the field, keeping his eye on the ball.Westbrook’s Pat Weimer heads the ball away at Gorham Thursday evening; teammate Nshuti Garuku stops short of a collision.Gorham’s Ethan Orach gets serious airtime after a tangle with the Blazes’ Noor Abdulabas.