Revenge came early for the Waynflete boys’ soccer team.

The Flyers scored the only goal of the game just five minutes after the opening kick and held on the rest of the way, downing defending state champion Maranacook 1-0 in the Class C South final Wednesday at Deering High School in Portland.

Askar Houssein’s goal for top-seeded Waynflete gave the Flyers their third regional title and sent them to the state final Saturday against Fort Kent.

“It feels pretty good,” Waynflete junior keeper Luca Antolini said. “I think some of the older boys on this team have gone through it before, but every one of our starters except one is not a senior. None of those boys have been through that before. To be able to have this opportunity and play for our school is going to be great.”

The win avenged a 2-1 loss to Maranacook in the regional semifinals last year.

“It’s nice to play from ahead,” Waynflete Coach Brandon Salway said. “I think you’re a little bit more relaxed. You could tell they were pressing in the second half to get the equalizer, but we did a good job defending.”

“We had one really bad breakdown, and they took advantage of it. That’s what good teams do,” Maranacook Coach Don Beckwith said. “We didn’t get that breakdown at the other end. We had a couple of opportunities we could have done more with, but that’s the way we’ve been all year. We’ve been escaping it. You can’t escape it.”

Maranacook (14-3) was caught early on by a Waynflete counterattack. Diraige Dahia found space in the 18-yard box and drew keeper Ryan Worster off his line, then touched it toward the goal. Maranacook center back Garrett Whitten tried to clear the ball off the line, but Houssein beat him to it for an easy finish.

“That was a big goal,” Houssein said. “(Coach) has been preaching all year to get that first goal, that’s the one that matters the most. We got it.”

The Flyers (14-0-3) looked remarkably comfortable playing from ahead, settling in deep to protect their own goal against the Black Bears’ speed on the flanks. Maranacook tried and tried again to break down Waynflete’s back line but had no answer for the Flyers’ size and skill.

“Our defense has been great at limiting teams to not many shots,” said Antolini. “When they do get the shots, just make sure that I’ve got a chance at them from either far out or bad angles.”

Maranacook finished with just 10 shots – only five on goal.

“I think it was a big difference when we played them there last year,” Salway said. “They were a bit better than we were in the air. But we’re pretty good in the air this year. They had a lot of serves in the box, but our backs were solid today.”

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