RICHMOND

The Richmond High School soccer teams took some time to get into gear, but once the Bobcats did, they were unstoppable on Friday.

In their respective Western Maine Class D semifinal clashes the top-ranked girls turned a sluggish 1-1 contest with No. 4 Searsport (8-4-4) into a 6-1 rout, while the second ranked boys turned a 0-0 halftime stalemate into a 3-0 blanking of No. 3 Chop Point.

The girls improved to 14-1 and host No. 3 Buckfield (10- 4-2, 1-0 winner over Greenville) on Wednesday.

The boys hiked their record to 12-2-2 and play the winner of today’s No. 4 Greenville (11-3-1)/No. 1 Pine Tree Academy (13-1) semi on Wednesday.

SEARSPORT 1

RICHMOND GIRLS 6

With 10 minutes gone, the teams were locked in a 1-1 stalemate with a lot of midfield play.

“We were in a bit of a lull,” said Richmond coach Troy Kendrick. “It was tough to get going. But, I was happy with our defense … they did a great job.”

“We were worried about coming out flat …. The long layoff (the Bobcats hadn’t played since Oct. 17) off hurt and it took us a while to get going.”

Richmond’s Kelsea Anair tried to set the tone when she got off a rocket with just 11 seconds gone and gamelong standout Amber Loon just missed wide left on a breakaway a minute later.

Richmond broke through when an Anair throughball found an all-alone Loon, who scored at 3:43. Richmond frontliners Anair, Kayla Beaulieu, Chika Obi, Loon and Autumn Acord made life miserable for goaltender Alicen Brooks and her top defender Kelli Gibbs.

But after a misplay in the Richmond backfield, Anna Bucklin (Karigen Coffin) nailed the far post past lunging Richmond goaltender Keslie Obi for a 1-1 tie at 10:17.

Loon had another blast sail over the bar and Brooks had to make several stops in traffic before Acord scored with 21:08 left when her low shot from 25 yards out slipped through Brooks’ fingers.

Four minutes later Acord scored again, this time off a Meranda Martin feed, her rising shot over the outstretched arms of Brooks with 17:52 remaining.

The rout was on as Richmond swarmed the Lady Vikings area. Martin twirled around a Searsport defender and nailed an 18-yarder with 11:53 left, and a Haley Murphy corner kick settled in the box where Loon scored from in close with 7:19 remaining.

Richmond, which outshot the Vikings 27-5, got a final goal in the second period when Hurley converted a Loon feed.

Obi had two stops and Brooks a dozen in the loss.

CHOP POINT 0

RICHMOND BOYS 3

Although Richmond dominated territorially, Chop Point was able to hang on until the second half when the Bobcats erupted for three scores.

The first half was a lot of Richmond, but Chop Point came away with three tough shots as two long free kicks by Sam Stevens made for two Dustin Sullivan punch saves over the crossbar. And, it looked as though Stevens scored on a third blast only to see Sullivan reach back and pull in the ball near the goal line.

Richmond’s front line of the Tribbett boys, Nate and Cody, Jon Simmons, Brendon Emmons and Mike Stewart peppered goaltender Gable Stevens and his defensive crew, who tried to pack in the middle and slow the Bobcats down.

About 10 minutes in a tripping call in the box made for a Nate Tribbett penalty kick, but he was wide left.

Richmond got a little antsy through the first half with mis-fires and the like, balls sailing over and around the Chop Point net.

Late, a Sam Stevens corner kick rolled around a fallen Sullivan and Chop Point had a couple of bids thwarted by the Bobcats defense.

“One ticks off the bar, another goes wide, that’s the way soccer is sometimes,” said Richmond coach Joe Scribellito. “I was talking to their coach and they were trying to pack it in and wait for a breakaway.

“Maybe if we score early or Nate scores on the PK, that would’ve forced them out of their shell.”

In the second half, Richmond got on the board with four minutes gone when Nate Tribbett scored on a direct kick from 30 yards out.

Midway through the half, Nate Tribbett scored on another free kick, this one from 20 yards out, and Cody Tribbett scored off a Simmons feed with eight minutes left to cap a 22-5 shots margin.

“I thought Marcus Blake and Cameron Emmons in the middle played well and they work extremely well together,” praised Scribellito, while also singling out the play of Bailey Johansen.

Chop Point finishes at 9-3 and loses seniors Daniel Chase, Robby Eger and Gable Stevens.

During the regular season Richmond played both Pine Tree and Greenville. The Bobcats blanked Pine Tree 3- 0 and got past Greenville 3-0 at home and tied 0-0 on the road.

“They both very evenly matched teams,” said Scribellito. “They both have a good scorer and a standout goaltender.”