SCARBOROUGH — The Scarborough High boys’ soccer team has a playoff haircut tradition of colored Mohawks in various shapes.
Garrett King chose a bright blue stripe with an arrow point at his forehead, an homage to a cartoon character known as Avatar: The Last Airbender who can bring destruction or restore order by controlling the air.
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King brought some destruction through Saturday’s raw, wet air with his bending left-footed shot from just inside the left sideline that curved inside the right side of the goal. King tied the game with 28:11 left and the two-time defending state champions went on to beat Deering 3-1 in a Western Class A semifinal.
“His left foot is gorgeous. Just look at it. It’s glowing,” teammate Sam Ware said of King. “And the artwork helped, too.”
Top-seeded Scarborough (15-0-1) will host No. 7 Cheverus in Wednesday’s regional final.
King’s goal came after a series of first-rate saves by Deering keeper Orey Dutton (13 saves) and one goal-line save during a corner kick by midfielder Stephen Ochan.
Scarborough kept the pressure on after King’s goal and it resulted in drawing a penalty kick for a flagrant handball in the box.
Ware buried the penalty kick for a 2-1 lead with 13:30 to play.
Defender Ian Corey upped it to 3-1 on a 54-yard direct kick, aided by a strong wind, that swept past Dutton with 5:54 to play.
“At the end of the first half we had two or three really great chances that just didn’t go our way,” King said. “At halftime we knew it was coming. We just had to get that one.”
Deering (13-2-1) started well, controlling the first 30 minutes.
Jonathan Bujambi put the Rams ahead in the 21st. He ripped a shot after a nice build-up led to a give-and-go with Hany Ramadan. Scarborough keeper Sam Warren (8 saves) had no chance after the ball deflected off two defenders.
“I just think oddly enough –you never want the other team to score – but after they scored that settled us down a little,” Scarborough Coach Mark Diaz said. “It was like, ‘OK, we’re going to take it to the next level.”
This week allegations surfaced that during Scarborough’s 2-0 regular-season win Oct. 7, fans in the Scarborough student section directed racist and derogatory comments toward Deering players. Further, a repeated “USA” chant was perceived by some as a jab at the Rams, who feature many players who are immigrants. Both schools investigated the incidents. A joint press release deunced racist and rude comments but stopped short of confirming such behavior took place.
Both schools had large, vocal student sections attending Saturday’s game. The USA chant was noticeably absent.
Diaz and Deering Coach Joel Costigan both said the allegations and ensuing media coverage did not affect their team’s play.
“It had nothing to do with the two teams that played a month ago,” Diaz said. “We just wanted to focus on what we were doing. Control what we could control. All we knew was that we were here to play soccer and that’s what my kids did and I thought that’s what the Deering kids did, too.”
Emotions did flare at times on the field and Deering struggled to keep its poise as Scarborough barraged Dutton with 10 second-half shots.
Deering’s Bujambi drew a yellow card with 16:37 to play. He earned a red card ejection with 2:26 left.
“It comes down to Scarborough’s been here before and they kept their composure longer than we did,” Costigan said. “I think we were outplaying them the majority of the game so it came down to our composure.”
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