SCARBOROUGH—For much of the game, Scarborough’s boys’ soccer team was firmly on its heels, but the top-seeded Red Storm weren’t about to let their few opportunities pass them by when they hosted No. 4 Gorham in a Class A South semifinal Saturday at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex.

Scarborough mustered only one shot on frame in the first half, but it resulted in the game’s first goal, as senior Will Fallona finished a cross from junior Kilson Joao.

The Rams then made life miserable for the Red Storm the remainder of the first half, but a combination of strong goalkeeping and a little luck helped the home team cling to a 1-0 advantage at the break.

Less than five minutes into the second half, on just its second shot, Scarborough doubled its lead, as Joao finished.

This time, the Red Storm locked down on defense, didn’t allow Gorham another great look and they went on to a 2-0 victory.

Scarborough earned a measure of revenge over last year’s playoff ouster on penalty kicks, improved to 15-1, ended the Rams’ season at 12-3-1 and in the process, advanced to its first regional final in since 2015 where it will battle No. 6 Windham (13-4) Tuesday at 4 p.m., at Sanford High School.

“I’m just happy for the guys,” said longtime Red Storm coach Mark Diaz, after his 311th career victory. “This group really deserves to be in (the regional final) and we’ll have some fun and enjoy it.”

Always memorable

Scarborough and Gorham had met 11 previous times in the playoffs over the past half-century and they’ve produced some instant classics along the way.

Way back in 1974, just a couple months after Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, the Rams and then-Redskins played to a 3-3 tie in the Western A Final and by the rules of the day, had to replay the contest, which Scarborough won, 2-0, en route to its second of four straight state championship.

Last fall, Gorham outlasted the Red Storm on penalty kicks, 8-7.

That made it three straight postseason victories for the Rams over Scarborough.

This fall, the Red Storm appeared invincible most of the way (see sidebar for links to previous stories), as they won their first 13 games, but they closed with a 3-1 home loss to Deering.

Scarborough then held off No. 9 Falmouth, 2-1, in Thursday’s quarterfinal round.

As for Gorham, a perennial powerhouse in its own right, it won its first four games, dropped a 1-0 decision to South Portland, then closed on a 7-1-1 surge, tying Deering (1-1) and falling to Kennebunk (1-0).

The Rams opened their playoff run with a 2-1 double-overtime home victory over No. 5 South Portland in their quarterfinal Thursday, as senior Cole Bishop converted a penalty kick to end it.

Scarborough and Gorham didn’t meet during the regular year.

Saturday, on a comfortable late-October afternoon (the temperature was 55 degrees and rising at kickoff), the rivals made up for lost time and the Red Storm took advantage of their opportunities, while the Rams could not.

Just two minutes in, Scarborough staggered Gorham as the Red Storm’s lethal combination of Joao and Fallona did what they do best.

After a boot by senior Jack Moreau deflected off a Rams’ defender, Joao pounced on the ball along the left sideline, then with another defender hounding him, he managed to serve the ball in front where Fallona was waiting to send it past Gorham junior goalkeeper Ethan Homa for a 1-0 lead.

“I was trying to cross to Will because we’re always connected,” Joao said. “I was trying to get it to him in the box. He just finishes everything.”

While the Red Storm appeared to have all the momentum, instead it was the Rams roaring to life and getting some great opportunities to answer.

But they couldn’t do so.

Less than a minute after the goal, Gorham senior Peter Wu blasted a long free kick on target, but Scarborough senior keeper Nick Ouellette made the save.

With 34:38 on the clock, the Rams came within inches of drawing even, when Bishop had a great look after a defensive breakdown, but his shot rang off the near post and the rebound was cleared.

In the 11th minute, Bishop set up sophomore Owen Spera, but he missed just wide.

Three minutes later, Bishop sent a one-timer just high.

With 26:13 on the clock, Ouellette saved a Bishop shot.

With 21:36 left in the half, Bishop served in a corner kick and junior Jack Luciano got his head on the ball, but he sent it high, over the crossbar.

With 16:50 remaining, a long kick from sophomore Riley Dever off a deflection from a corner kick was on target, but Ouellette saved that as well.

And with that, Scarborough had survived the onslaught and late in the half, Joao missed just wide and Moreau sent a free kick just wide.

The Red Storm clung to a 1-0 lead at halftime.

“I’d say we got a little lucky,” said Scarborough senior captain and back Parker Killiard. “They were really pressing us for a good 20, 25 minutes. They were outworking us, I’ll admit that, but we kicked it back into gear and pushed back.”

“After we scored, we almost started to play too defensively and we didn’t do a job of that,” Diaz said. “Gorham’s a really good team and they played really well for a 15-, 20-minute stretch. We made some adjustments toward the end of the half. Once we made our adjustments, we were in much better shape.”

When the second half began, the Red Storm looked for some breathing room and they got it with 35:43 to play.

This time, the goal came after Joao was fouled to the right side of the box. Scarborough got a free kick as a result and junior Dillon MacLeod sent the ball toward the back post, where senior Ashton Blanchette was waiting to tap it over the Joao, who was able to finish for a 2-0 advantage.

“That’s what we do, score goals and win games,” Joao said. “We needed a second goal and knew we had to score more. I just had to tap it in. It was an easy goal.”

“The second goal was nice,” Diaz said. “Those are goals you need against good teams. We needed that when we got the opportunity. The kids did exactly what we talked about, so credit to them. That was a great pass by ‘Ash..'”

The Rams tried to answer, but a Wu free kick bounced off a defender right to Ouellette, who made the save, a Gorham corner kick rolled through the box untouched, Ouellette tipped a promising long free kick from Wu over the crossbar, then he saved a long shot from senior Tyler Matheson.

The Red Storm had chances to add to their lead, but senior Dillon Wilkinson missed just high and a free kick from MacLeod was saved by Homa.

With 2:24 to play, Bishop had a great chance to give the Rams a pulse, but his free kick from just outside the box sailed high and that allowed Scarborough to run out the clock and celebrate its 2-0 victory.

“It feels amazing to beat Gorham,” Killiard said. “We’re on a revenge tour. We just want it more than anyone else. Our team’s worked all year for this. I think we deserve it. We’ve had no easy games in the playoffs.”

“It was a very tough game,” said Joao. “Last year, we lost to them and we had something to prove this year.”

“Gorham’s a good, organized team that you have to beat with good goals and that’s exactly what happened today,” Diaz added.

The Red Storm got eight saves from Ouellette.

The Rams got three saves from Homa, finished with an 8-5 edge in shots on frame and took eight corner kicks to Scarborough’s two, but came up empty.

“We definitely had good spells, but I think at the end of the day, it comes down to who puts the ball in the back of the net and who keeps it out and unfortunately, we were just on the wrong side of that today,” lamented Gorham coach Nick Viola. “I thought we had a good game plan. We put a lot of offensive pressure on their backs, but ultimately, it failed to produce a goal. We made a couple mistakes in our own box and sometimes in a playoff game, that’s what it comes down to. We’re two good defensive teams who also have a lot of offensive punch. This is an accurate reflection of how both teams did this year.”

The Rams enjoyed yet another successful campaign and it won’t be their last.

“I’m not sure if this group got the recognition they deserved, but we were able to prove we were a top four team and I’m really proud of (the guys’) accomplishments this year,” Viola said. “We graduated 14 last year and we lose 14 again this year. That speaks to the strength and depth of this program and the youth program in town. We’re a strong soccer community and we’ll continue to grow that way. The groups will change, but I expect we’ll always be a contender, year after year.”

Windham stands in the way

Scarborough blanked visiting Windham, 2-0, back on Sept. 9, as Fallona scored both goals.

The Red Storm are 2-1 all-time versus the Eagles in the playoffs, with a 1-0 loss in the 2011 Western A Final the most recent.

Scarborough will be the favorite Tuesday and while it knows nothing will come easily, this squad is focused and determined to take another step closer to bringing a Gold Ball home.

“We just need to keep working hard,” said Joao. “I know we’ll play better (Tuesday) than we did today and that’s all we have to do. Windham is good. We just have to stay composed and keep scoring goals.”

“It’s a great matchup,” said Killiard. “Windham’s improved a lot. It should be a good game. We have to stay together as a team and play unselfishly.”

“Windham’s playing well and they’ve gotten better, so it’ll be another tough test,” Diaz added. “We have a couple days to get ready. We’ll be a little bit fresher than we were today.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports