BIDDEFORD — Yarmouth High was trailing Greely at the half. Instead of panicking it talked about how it would add to its championship pedigree.
“There was no need to panic. We had 40 minutes left,” said Yarmouth Coach Mike Hagerty.
The No. 1 and unbeaten Clippers (14-0-3) changed their offensive shape to put more players in the attacking range. Five second-half goals later, Yarmouth had beaten its longtime rival 5-1 to win the Class B South regional title for the fifth time in six years.
Last year Yarmouth was upset in the regional semifinal, ending a string of four straight state championships.
“Last year was a bummer. We kind of used last year as fuel, just one more reason why we want to win this year, just one more state title, just one more time as a class, our senior year,” said Yarmouth defender John D’Appolonia, who excelled Wednesday by winning contested balls and often starting offensive forays.
Yarmouth will go for the 13th title in school history (and 10th in Hagerty’s 23-year tenure) at 10 a.m. Saturday at Falmouth High against North champ Caribou (15-0-2).
“We want them to create some memories together,” Hagerty said. “(As coaches) we’ve got a bankful but this senior class has had a really special group since U10.”
Greely took the lead when Aidan Melville collected a loose ball in front of the net, picked his spot and scored 20 minutes into the game.
Yarmouth tied the game barely two minutes into the second half when defender Will Nicholas made a back-post run and was in position to tap in a cross from Alejandro Coury that Liam Ireland had slightly deflected.
The Clippers went ahead with 24:56 on a play that was a double-whammy to Greely (10-3-4).
Yarmouth defender Evan Von Lonkhuyzen hit an excellent ball from beyond midfield that dropped over the Greely back line. Clippers reserve forward Cam Merrill and Greely’s top defender Chris Theodores both raced to the ball as goalie Schuyler Wetmore rushed forward. Theodores and Wetmore collided hard, sending both to the turf. They needed several minutes of athletic trainer attention but without a whistle from the referee, Merrill stayed with the play and knocked the ball into the open net.
Theodores was unable to return, with damage to his teeth and, according to Greely Coach Mike Andreasen, a probable concussion.
With Yarmouth playing at a high tempo, and Greely forced to adjust its defense in Theodores’ absence, more goals followed. A transition chance started by D’Appolonia from the back that Coury finished with a left-footed blast past Wetmore with 17:19 to play. John Clinton poked in a nice cross from Will Dickinson less than three minutes later. After the reserves from both teams entered the game, Aidan Kamm’s individual effort capped the scoring with 59 seconds to play.
“Whether Chris gets hurt, whatever happens, they were the better team than us tonight,” Andreasen said. “When you see a team go out and put on a second-half show like that, it’s pretty hard to refute that. They’re the gold standard right now in Class B soccer.”
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