Deering boys win first regional title at Portland’s expense

KENNEBUNK—A 50-year quest came to a close in the most delicious way possible for Deering’s boys’ soccer team Tuesday evening at Kennebunk High School.

Not only did the Rams finally ascend to the Class A South pinnacle.

They beat their ancient rivals, the Portland Bulldogs, to do so.

Third-ranked Deering and fourth-seeded Portland battled so closely for 80 minutes that the teams managed to put only seven shots on frame, but one found the mark.

With 17:01 to play in the first half, Rams senior Nick Simon Mboumba, the hero of the semifinals, buried a gorgeous free kick to put his team ahead to stay.

The Bulldogs produced a lot of pressure in the second half, but had few good chances and Deering was able to hold them off and prevail, 1-0.

The Rams improved to 12-3-2, ended Portland’s fine campaign at 13-3-1 and advanced to the state final for the first time ever, where they will battle Lewiston (14-2-1) for the Gold Ball Saturday at 12:30 p.m., at Messalonskee High School in Oakland.

“I can’t really grasp the magnitude of it,” said Deering junior captain Ethan Fisher. “It feels good. This rivalry is just insane. The amount of anticipation coming into this game was unmatched. I was so nervous, but I tried to get into the mindset that it didn’t matter who we were playing. It’s a goal, a ball and you just have to win the game.”

A game for the ages

Deering and Portland have been playing boys’ soccer for a half-century, but had never met in the playoffs deeper than the quarterfinal round.

In fact, prior to Tuesday, the ancient rivals had only played three times in the postseason (see sidebar), with the Rams holding a 2-1 edge by virtue of last year’s 3-2 victory in the quarterfinals.

Both squads were highly touted entering the season and didn’t disappoint (see sidebar for links to previous stories).

Deering started 6-0-2 (tying Falmouth and South Portland), then lost three of four before closing with victories over Portland and Cheverus to earn the No. 3 seed in Class A South.

The Rams then had to work extra in both playoff rounds to advance, needing double-overtime to beat both No. 7 Kennebunk (2-1) in the quarterfinals and seventh-seeded Falmouth (1-0) in the semifinals, on Mboumba’s highlight reel shot.

Portland, meanwhile, tied Gorham in its opener, then caught fire, winning seven in a row before a home loss to Kennebunk. The Bulldogs then won four of their final five, with only a loss at Deering serving as a blemish.

As the No. 4 seed, Portland needed double-overtime to outlast No. 5 Scarborough in the quarterfinals (1-0), then needed penalty kicks to upset top-ranked Windham in the semifinals (1-0, 7-4 on PKs).

In the teams’ regular season meeting, Oct. 12, the Rams prevailed, 3-1, behind goals from sophomore Cristiano Alfonso, senior Benedito Nzeza and senior Avery Lawrence and a save for the ages from senior goalkeeper Adao Lufumbo-Mbenza. Senior Martin Kalala-Wasukundi scored the Bulldogs’ goal.

Tuesday, on a comfortable early November evening (55 degrees at the start), in front of a huge crowd lining both sides of a pitch located 25.7 miles from Memorial Field and 26 miles from Fitzpatrick Stadium, a celebration of city soccer played out in the most important Deering-Portland game yet contested and it would be the Rams taking home the hardware.

It was clear early that neither team would get many chances.

Mboumba had an early free kick blocked and Deering earned a corner kick with nothing to show for it.

Then with 17:01 to play in the first half, after the Bulldogs were called for a foul, Mboumba lined up a 25-yard free kick from the middle of the field and he hit a perfect ball toward the upper right corner. Portland senior goalkeeper Calvin Hale lunged and tried to punch the shot away, but it glanced off his hand and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

“Everything is magical for me right now,” Mboumba said. “I was aiming for the top right, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. It felt good.”

“He’s like a magician,” said Fisher, of Mboumba. “When it matters, he delivers. What more can you ask for?”

“He likes taking them,” Deering coach Joel Costigan added. “It’s not for everybody. He’s taken over that role. You can’t ask for a better shot. That was better than the Falmouth goal.”

Portland tried to answer, as sophomore Baptista Muanda set up junior Paulo Joao, the hero of the Scarborough playoff win, but the ball was cleared at the last second.

The Bulldogs couldn’t convert an ensuing corner kick and Lufumbo-Mbenza dove to deny a shot from Kalala-Wasukundi to keep the score 1-0 at the half.

Portland continued to assert pressure in the second half, but never could equalize.

After Lufumbo-Mbenza saved a long free kick from junior Ronan Mas, senior Luis Ordonez-Franco missed wide, as did Kalala-Wasukundi.

The Rams nearly doubled their lead midway through the second half when freshman Nathan Dimandya ripped a 40-yard free kick that appeared goal bound, but Hale tipped the ball over the crossbar at the last second to set up a Deering corner kick, which didn’t result in anything.

After back-to-back Bulldogs corners were cleared out of harm’s way, Rams junior captain Peter Sargent blocked a Kalala-Wasukundi shot, then junior Alberto Lucas-Bayata broke up a chance for Portland senior Oliveira Nzolakio in the box.

After two more Portland corner kicks didn’t result in a shot, Joao attempted a long shot that was saved by Lufumbo-Mbenza.

Down the stretch, Deering’s defense consistently played balls away from trouble, as Lucas-Bayata and Sargent had timely clears.

With 32 seconds left, the Bulldogs had one final chance, but on a promising cross from Muanda, offsides was called and the Rams were able to run out the clock and at 8:37 p.m., celebrate a history-making 1-0 victory.

“Last year, we reached the semifinals, but this year is different,” Mboumba said. “The team got more mature. Last year if we got scored on, we’d give up a little bit, but we’re a stronger team overall. I felt like the first half, we had more possession. In the second half, we got tired.”

“Simon had a fantastic shot to put us up and after that, we just played fantastic defense,” said Fisher. “I’m really proud of teammates. We saw that the Windham coach said that Portland’s midfield was the best they’d faced and we took that personally. Coach motivated with us that. We played it like it was a 0-0 game. Being on edge like that isn’t easy. We just had to hang on. We had to get down and dirty. Luckily it turned out in our favor. Portland had nothing to lose. They came at us with everything and luckily, we pulled out the win. Props to the Portland boys. They played a great game.”

“The most obvious concern was that we beat them in the regular season and it was closer than the score would suggest,” Costigan added. “Fatigue comes in and it just comes down to one mistake. They had some opportunities where they were just offsides. It’s a game of inches.”

“Our leadership this year with our captains has been great. That’s where it starts. Sometimes it’s a struggle to find the right leaders and when you have it, it’s magical. We’ve had great teams, but there’s always something. Ultimately, it came down to this group of guys. Talent is one thing. They have the ‘it’ extra factor. They work hard and hate losing.”

Deering finished with a 4-3 edge in shots on frame and got three saves from Lufumbo-Mbenza.

Painful result

Portland got three saves from Hale and had a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks, but couldn’t get the ball in the net.

“It was a great game,” said longtime Bulldogs coach Rocco Frenzilli. “It’s a great testament to soccer in the city. I thought the play from box to box was even. There were times where it looked like they carried play and times where we looked like we carried play. We just couldn’t put one together. We just committed one foul and they got that dead ball and the kid hits it up in the corner. It just ended up being one kick. What are you going to do? We’ve won that way and unfortunately, tonight we lost that way. Credit to Deering. They have bragging rights. They earned the right to represent the South and we wish them the best.

“I’m really proud of these guys. When we look back on our season, yeah, we had the loss in a conference final, but we had tremendously exciting quarterfinals and semifinals to get here. They gave everything they had and we just came up a little bit short. Watching them grow, watching them develop was special. At the beginning of the season, I didn’t know what we had, but I sensed we had something special and they proved that right up through tonight when the clock hit zero.”

Many of Portland’s top contributors are seniors, but the Bulldogs return plenty of talented players who will be motivated to take it a step further in 2024.

“I feel for the seniors,” Frenzilli said. “I just wanted it for them. We’ll come back from it. Hopefully the guys will be motivated from this. It’s motivating to me. Makes me want to come back.”

Date with destiny?

Deering has plenty of playoff history with Lewiston, dropping three of five prior encounters, with an 8-0 victory in the 2001 Western A preliminary round the most recent.

The Blue Devils advanced with a 1-0 win over Camden Hills in the Class A North Final Tuesday.

The Rams don’t know what to expect Saturday, but they’ll give their all.

“The job’s not finished,” Fisher said. “We’re going to rest up, get ready and practice hard and come in fully prepared. When you’re fully prepared, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

“We’ll give everything we have since it’s our first time in the state final,” Mboumba said. “We’re hoping to win the game.”

“It’s going to take a lot of studying and preparation,” added Costigan. “I don’t know much about Lewiston. It’s really going to come down to focus. We’ll have figure out how to get these guys ready to go. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”