Three different Rams – Ethan Orach, Jackson Fotter and Ryan Firmin – hashed goals vs. Scarborough in the rivals’ semifinal matchup on Monday night, Oct. 31. Marc Guerette finally put the Storm on the board in the second half, but couldn’t kick off a comeback, and Gorham took the W 3-1.

“You don’t take the champs out easily, and they fought right to the end,” said Gorham head coach Tim King, referring to Scarborough’s 2015 A South title. “We had a couple of great plays and scored goals on counterattacks, but they’re tough. They’re just really tough. So I was proud of my guys tonight. They fought hard and we earned that win.”

Asked what he and his boys wanted to do against Gorham, Scarborough head coach Mark Diaz said simply: “Well, kind of what we did. Create opportunities, get a bunch of corner kicks, bunch of throws, and I thought we applied a lot of pressure…We had some quality looks, which is what we wanted.”

The Storm charged onto the field looking particularly strong, but could never quite convert on their pressure. In time, Gorham evened the action out, and began generating their own chances. Roughly nine minutes in, they managed to find the back of the Scarborough net: Fotter, racing up the left sideline, found himself triple-teamed, and fed inward. Teammate Kyle King picked up the ball around the 18, settling it with his body. King shunted to Orach, a few yards further out, and Orach volleyed a precision lob like an artillery strike; the ball arced up, up, and down again, just clearing the fingertips of leaping Storm keeper Chris Franklin for 1-0.

“All I know is the ball came across from the other side of the field,” said Orach, “and it kind of bobbled around in the box and set up for a nice hit. I don’t normally take those shots, but it was there for me and it just went in.”

12 minutes later, the Rams struck again: inside the 18, Fotter took a high swipe at a midair ball, sending it directly toward Franklin. What looked like it could’ve, should’ve been a routine save somehow escaped Franklin’s grip and tumbled in past the right post for 2-0. 

“Our outside back, Andrew Rent, threw it in to Kyle King, who flicked it on,” Fotter said, recalling the play. “I was just in the right place at the right time and it and it bounced my way.”

King is confident in his boys even when an opponent holds the edge in possession, as Scarborough did at the beginning of the bout. He trusts his defense and knows, after all, that his skill players can create chances almost out of thin air, nurturing the slightest spark into a sudden explosive goal. 

That, he said, is exactly what happened on Orach’s and Fotter’s tallies: “For sure. That’ll happen many times in our games, where we may not have possession of the ball, but when we get it, we’ve got guys that can really go. That first shot that Ethan hit was incredible; dipped in. No goalie’s going to save that. And the second one, it was just a quick turn and a shot, and it kind of bounced in our way. We haven’t had a lot of bounces go our away against them over the years, so we’ll take that, for sure. But yeah, we can strike quickly; we’ve got the firepower to do that and we did that tonight.”

“They didn’t have a lot of opportunities,” Diaz said of the Rams, “But they finished the ones they did, and they deserve credit for that.”

The Storm redoubled their attack as the first half wound down, but Gorham’s defense stood strong. A beautiful Franklin save – a leaping tip that sent a Rams blast just high with 1:15 to play – kept Scarborough in the action and no doubt gave them reason to feel hopeful at the break.

Gorham returned to the field for the downhill half looking particularly sharp, however, and six and a half minutes in, Firmin notched another Rams point. Firmin dribbled to center and pulled the trigger on a low roller that skittered through traffic and past Franklin on the right side. 3-0.

“It was a team goal,” Firmin said; “I just happened to be on the end of it. We were working around, we found Tyler (Richman), our other center-mid; he slipped me in. I got it out on my feet. You know, I didn’t really know where the goal was, but I put it there.”

“We tried to settle down a little bit,” said King of the Rams’ halftime adjustments. “We were a little bit out of what we’d like to do, and of course it’s not easy to do what you’d like against a team like [Scarborough]; they press you. When we can settle the ball down and get it out to our wings and play that game, we’re much more effective. They seemed like they wanted to play more long balls, and they’re pretty dangerous on the counters and they’re good in the air – we’re a pretty small team. We didn’t change up much; we just talked about a 2-0 lead and how we really needed to hold that and play well and we got that third one, and that was huge for us.”

Orach echoed King’s assessment of the Rams’ strategy for taking Scarborough down: “We needed to take advantage of the people out wide, like me and Sam (Burghardt), get the ball down the wing and play it in, get it to Fotter, get it to Kyle and put it in the net.”

Guerette spoke up with 25:08 to play. After Gorham keeper Alex York hit the deck in pursuit of an initial shot, the ball squirted loose of a scramble. For a dramatic second or two, nobody touched it – but then Guerette swooped in, slicing through the box and hammering home the 3-1 tally. 

But Guerette’s goal would end the scoring for the night: The teams successfully fended one another off for the remainder of the game, leaving the Rams with the victory.

“Nope, nope,” King said, asked if he ever felt safe against the Storm. “That clock was running slow there, toward the end, for sure. It felt like we were hanging on. But we made the plays; we’ve been pretty gritty all year, and I like our toughness. We needed all of it tonight, for sure.”

“I don’t think the score was indicative of how we played at all,” said Diaz. “But that’s soccer sometimes; it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to give Gorham their credit. They finished on their opportunities. And at times they defended us pretty well. We just didn’t finish. That’s the way it works. We hit the crossbar on one, some were deflected, and they made some great defensive plays. Their keeper made some saves.”

Scarborough also succumbed to Gorham when the teams met in the regular season – way back on Sept. 13. That game, a 2-1 result, proved one of only three losses the Storm would give up on their way to securing the No. 4 playoffs seed. After resting through a prelims bye, Scarborough sidled past South Portland 1-0 in the quarters to earn their shot at the No. 1 Rams. 

The Storm thus retire till 2017 at 12-4. They say goodbye in June to a long list of seniors: Guerette, Franklin, Cam Smith, Cam Thibault, Noah Charest, Justin Perry, Spencer Pettingill, Noah Stracqualursi, Garrett King, Myles Little, Ben Batoosingh, Eric Murray, Matt Blaisdell, Ryan Barr, Sebastian Osborne, Alex Giles, Nico Onorato and Jack McCloskey.

“I’m proud of my guys for everything they gave,” said Diaz. “We improved throughout the year, and more importantly, they’re a good bunch of guys. I was lucky to be their coach.”

King reflected on his boys’ early-season bout with the Storm: “When we played them the first time, it was on turf, so it’s a whole different game. When we play here, it’s a much choppier game, because the passing is not the same. We play similar styles. It’s been 39 years, I guess, since we beat them in the playoffs, but this group has a pretty good history against them. The last four times we’ve played, we’ve won twice and tied twice. That’s pretty good. We just come out and try to play our game, and that’s what we tried to do tonight, and it was enough.”

Gorham advanced on the win to Wednesday night, Nov. 2’s Regional Final against Portland, ranked sixth. The Bulldogs are looking red-hot, having entered the bracketing at 9-3-2 and picked up wins against No. 11 Bonny Eagle, No. 3 Deering and No. 2 Falmouth. As the top seed, the Rams will host the matchup.

“We’ve got the girls here, too,” said King, “so it’ll be a double-header, a fun night for Gorham soccer. But yeah, Portland’s tough. We played them maybe a month ago and had a good result, but this is going to be a whole new game, no doubt about it. I saw them against Falmouth and they look really strong and very confident. We’re going to have to bring it with only one day off in between. That’ll be tough, but I’ve got a lot of faith in my guys.”

Fotter talked about the Rams’ chemistry. “A lot of our senior class has been together since a very young age, in our youth programs. We’ve played together for a long time and we just have that trust and can play anyone and know that [each other are] going to do something good with the ball.”

Firmin added the last word: “It was a great win, fun.”

Ram Kyle King settles a ball with a Stormer at his back.

Gorham’s Kyle King and Scarborough’s Alex Dobecki collide over a midair ball.

Gorham’s Ethan Orach sails across the field in the direction of his fan section after scoring Gorham’s opening salvo vs. visiting Scarborough on Monday night. An elated Ryan Firmin pursues.

Gorham’s Jackson Fotter rushes the sideline after scoring vs. Scarborough on Monday night.

Nolan Brown (left), Jackson Fotter (center, back-to), Kyle King (rear, facing forward) and Tyler Richman (right) celebrate Fotter’s goal against Scarborough, their team’s second of the night.

Gorhamite Ethan Orach leaves a Scarborough opponent prostrate on the turf and charges after the ball.

Gohram’s Tyler Richman slices through midfield, shuttling the ball ahead with each step.

Scarborough’s Noah Stracqualursi works the sideline, tracked closely by Gorhamite Ryan Hamblen.

Gorham’s Aaron Farr defends, waiting on an incoming header by Scarborough’s Noah Stracqualursi (10).

Stormer Spencer Pettingill waits on an incoming airball.

Four Rams starters – Jackson Fotter (9), Ryan Firmin (2), Tyler Richman (hugging Firmin) and Kyle King (behind Firmin and Richman) – celebrate Firmin’s goal, Gorham’s third of the evening.

Kyle Patterson wraps up with a Scarborough opponent after shunting the ball away.

Nolan Brown takes a touch on an incoming ball for Gorham vs. Scarborough on Monday night.

Scarborough’s Justin Perry keeps a step ahead of Gorhamite Aaron Far in pursuit of the ball.

Gorham’s Aaron Farr looks for a particular call after clashing with a Scarborough opponent near the endline.

Scarborough’s Justin Perry gets air over teammate Specner Pettingill, as well as Gorham opponents Jackson Fotter (center), Ryan Firmin (2) and Sam Burghardt (23).

Scarborough’s Alex Dobecki clashes for possession with Gorhamite Andrew Rent.

Scarborough’s Garrett King and Gorham’s Kyle King vie for a header in their teams’ matchup Monday night.

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