Samir Sayed set up two goals as Waynflete of Portland came from behind yet again to win its third consecutive Class C boys’ soccer state championship Saturday.
The Flyers beat Northern Maine champion Fort Kent 2-1 at Presque Isle Middle School. Waynflete also beat the Warriors in the 2018 state final, 3-1, and then made it back-to-back titles with a 4-0 victory over Mt. View in 2019. There was no state tournament in 2020.
Fort Kent (15-3) took advantage of one of its few offensive opportunities by converting a mishandled corner kick with a little less than 14 minutes remaining in the first half. Caleb Lavertu scored off an assist from Kaden Theriault after some jostling close to the near post.
“We’re strangely used to playing from behind,” said Waynflete Coach Brandon Salway, whose team also trailed in the regional semis against Lisbon and finals against Mt. Abram. “Honestly, it woke us up a little bit. We were competitive, but we weren’t playing at our best. We started playing better once we gave up the goal.”
Waynflete (14-2-2) tied it five minutes later when Sayed, a senior, attacked the right corner and fed a centering pass to sophomore Jacob Woodman, whose initial shot was blocked by a defender. Woodman quickly took another and found the left side of the net to make it 1-1.
Midway through the second half, Sayed attacked from the left side and negotiated his way through three defenders before sliding a pass to senior Henry Hart, who one-timed a shot from 16 yards into the top right corner.
“He really did a great job of taking on his defender and drawing more defenders and then shifting it across,” Salway said of Sayed. “Samir played a great game, a smart game, and set up two great goals by Jacob and Henry.”
Lincoln Smith and Niko Kirby shared goaltending duties for Waynflete, with Smith making two saves in the first half and Kirby three in the second. The Flyers held a decisive advantage in time of possession, shots on goal (14-6) and corner kicks (9-4).
Salway said he spoke at halftime with the score still tied about someone stepping up to make a big play. Hart’s finish off Sayed’s feed proved decisive.
“It’s really fitting that Henry did it for our team,” “he said, “because he deserved it and that was a great finish.”
Fort Kent keeper Drew Deschanes finished with 11 saves. The Warriors have reached three of the last four state finals.
“This is really satisfying for this group,” Salway said. “We graduated 16 seniors last year and they were great mentors in the program, but this group had the ability to do this. They just needed the opportunity. It was an impressive run.”
GIRLS
MARANACOOK 5, BUCKSPORT 0: Emily Harper scored in each half, and the Black Bears (16-1-1) also got goals from Grace Dwyer, Addie Watson and Ella Schmidt to beat the Bucks (17-1) for their first Class C state championship.
Harper opened the scoring 15:45 into the match with a shot from just inside the penalty box that found the bottom right corner of the net.
Dwyer converted a free kick to make it 2-0 going into halftime, and Maranacook poured it on from there.
Bucksport was making its first appearance in a state final. Maranacook was the runner-up in 2018.
Staff writer Glenn Jordan contributed to this story.
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