South Portland, Riley Hasson in net, fended off a strong Gorham assault through the full first half of the teams’ meeting on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 8. But the Rams finally managed to capitalize in the second, Jackson Fotter lighting up the board twice en route to a 2-0 W.

“I don’t know if a whole lot changed (from the first half to the second half),” said Gorham head coach Tim King. “I thought we had some really good chances in the first half. We had a lot of the possessions, and we played hard and played well. We just didn’t finish some of the chances that we had.”

So the Rams succeeded by simply applying consistent pressure and waiting for good things to turn up. “We just continued to create chances and stuck to what we were doing and when you have a great player like Jackson, you feel like you’re eventually going to break through and we did,” said King.

Gorham controlled much of the play throughout the game. They pressed South Portland hard through the first half, and didn’t let the Riots push much past midfield very often.

“They had a pretty strong midfield,” King said of the opposition. “So they had some of the possession in the midfield, but I didn’t feel like they ever got any really threatening opportunities from there. They were playing with just a single striker, and he’s a good player, but I didn’t feel like they ever got in on us. We defended well, and were in good positional places to shut down whatever they were trying,”

Fotter’s first goal came on a partial breakaway. “He kind of came in on the side; he had a couple defenders closing in on him,” King said of Fotter. Fotter fired from the right corner of the penalty area, just beating Hasson.

“That’s probably a goal that – Riley’s a very, very good goalkeeper – so I’m guessing he wishes he had that one back,” said King. “He had a lot of great saves, but that one snuck by him.”

King described Fotter’s second goal as well: “Kyle King back-heeled it to Tyler Richman, who passed it through to Jackson, who then made one cut in the box and just buried the shot on the far-side. That was a really nice goal. His last cut to set up his shot was quite good. He’s a fantastic player.”

Calling Fotter a “fantastic player” is fair, or possibly an understatement. Without doubt, he’s one of Maine’s top talents. His pair of goals against the Riots gave him seven through the Rams’ first two games of the season; he scored five in the team’s matchup with Biddeford.

“I actually felt like we probably couldn’t have a couple others,” King said of the South Portland bout. “We probably should have. But I felt like we were solid defensively, we didn’t really give up anything and really were working hard. I was pleased with the effort and the result was good too.”

South Portland slipped on the result to 1-2. The Riots opened their schedule with a 1-0 win over Sanford, then fell 2-1 to Deering.

Gorham, meanwhile, improved to 2-0. The Rams battered Biddeford 9-3 in both teams’ season-opener.

The Riots hosted Bonny Eagle on Tuesday the 13th, then welcomed Scarborough on Thursday the 15th. Gorham’s schedule was just the reverse: They traveled to Scarborough on Tuesday and visited Bonny Eagle on Thursday.

Jackson Fotter put up both the Rams’ goals in their win over South Portland on Thursday.

Gorhamite Tyler Richman goes up for a header against South Portland Keeper Riley Hasson. Richman loses his headgear in the process.

South Portland’s Princiel Kuniecki takes a touch near midfield, with Ryan Firmin of Gorham bearing down.

Gorhamite Ryan Firmin dashes up the sideline with the ball.

Gorham’s Nolan Brown trails a step behind South Portland’s Logan Doucette, booting the ball ahead.

Gorham’s Ethan Orach cuts through the South Portland corner last Thursday afternoon.

Kevin Mollison dumps a ball toward the South Portland net, where keeper Riley Hasson waits, on his guard.

South Portland’s Riley Ellis – harangued by a Gorham opponent – takes a touch on an incoming, midair ball.

Gorham’s Andrew Rent keeps a step ahead of South Portland pursuer Sadiki Stewart.

Ram Nick Sturtevant settles a ball on the attack against South Portland.

Gorhamite Nolan Brown boots a ball forward on the attack vs. South Portland.

Cooper Mehlhorn of South Portland and Andrew Rent of Gorham clash at midfield.