Ram Cody Elliot kicked off the scoring in Gorham’s 8-0 road victory against Windham on Tuesday evening, Oct.13, and his teammates took over from there.

Jackson Fotter and Sam Burghardt added two apiece as the No. 3 Rams cruised to 10-1-1 on the year.

“I thought we played well,” said Gorham head coach Tim King. “We shared the ball well, we made some good runs off the ball and when we had our opportunities we scored and finished some good chances that we created.”

No. 15 Windham slips to 3-9 in 2015.

“We want to meet the challenge,” Windham head coach Wally LeBlanc said of facing a tough team like Gorham. “This is how we get better. We welcome our opponents. I have no problem with the score whatsoever. [Gorham] earned every goal they scored, and it’s our job to stop that from happening.”

Elliot scored unassisted two minutes into play, then assisted Fotter on the Rams’ second notch, seven minutes later. 14 minutes after that, Burghardt knocked a pretty kick inward and Thomas Brent headed it – from probably 20 yards out – past Windham keeper Ryan Plummer for 3-0. Less than a minute later, Burghardt scored his first of the evening, unassisted, on a rebound that jetted out almost right to him.

“Well, we’re more experienced than they are,” King said, by way of explaining the lopsided score. “We’ve got players that have been playing more soccer; we’ve got kids playing the premier soccer, and that makes a difference. And I’m not sure [Windham’s] there quite yet; they’re young. Sometimes it just takes time, and we’ve got a lot of kids that’ve been putting a lot of time into soccer for a lot of years.”

LeBlanc also acknowledged that his team is relatively green. “There’s a mental aspect that young teams have to figure out, and we’re very much struggling with that still.”

4-0 at the half, but Gorham wasn’t finished yet. Kyle King scored, unassisted, three minutes into the second half, and Fotter hashed his second, on a corner by Ethan Orach, two minutes later. The Eagles then slowed the Rams down for a long stretch – for almost 20 minutes, in fact.

“I like that our team played with heart,” said LeBlanc. “But way too many turnovers in our end – but, caused by Gorham. I want to give them credit; they caused those turnovers. Against a good team, you really have to take care of the little details, and we didn’t really do as good a job of that as we wanted to.”

Burghardt broke Gorham’s late-game silence in style, heading a corner by Kevin Brewer past Plummer to tick the board forward, 7-0.

Last but not least, Jackson Taylor capped Gorham’s night with eight and a half remaining. Taylor charged up the middle and, with Eagle defenders tight on either side of him, nevertheless managed to pull the trigger on a low rolling shot across right, beating replacement Windham keeper Alex Wilkins. Erik Andreasen assisted on the play.

“I’m pretty happy with where we’re at right now,” King said, looking back on the season thus far. “In the early part of the season, we were playing OK; we’re playing better now. We’ve cleaned up our defense a little bit. We’re playing smarter, and probably a little more unselfishly, too. Sometimes it just takes a little time for the team to come together.”

LeBlanc readily praised one of his players: “I really loved Gene Gumaer’s effort tonight. He’s a forward, but we’re depleted and we had to play him in the back. He stepped up in the back and really gave all that he could for us.”

Gorham next hosts Noble; that game is scheduled for Thursday the 15th, after Current Publishing’s print deadline. Windham travels to Bonny Eagle on Saturday the 17th.

Windham’s Jeff Pollard and Gorham’s Sam Burghardt collide in pursuit of the ball.Gorham’s Kevin Brewer heads a ball as teammates and opponents alike swarm round.Windham defender Jacob Frost boots the ball away from his net.Ram Tyler Richman fends off the Eagles’ Austin Farwell.Gorham’s Nick Sturtevant vies with a high-flying Eagle for a header on Tuesday evening.