No. 1 Bucksport and No. 4 George Stevens played a highly entertaining Class C North semifinal game on Thursday night, with the Eagles outlasting the Golden Bucks 3-0 on the road.
The second half of the playoff tilt was especially action-packed, featuring two Eagle goals, three total yellow cards and some breathtaking saves on both ends.
Junior midfielder Reed Pambianco was behind the first electric play of the second half, miraculously crossing the ball right at the Bucksport end line, only for it to bounce on top of the Bucksport crossbar and out of trouble in the 45th minute.
Eleven minutes later, Bucksport sophomore defender Trent Goss curled a beautifully dangerous ball into the GSA penalty box, before the Bucks’ left winger took a touch under pressure and was successfully tackled. The controversial no-call drew plenty of ire from the Bucksport bench – which desperately wanted to tie the game back up at 1-1 – but was quickly distracted when the Eagles countered with an even more entertaining sequence.
Beginning in the 58th minute, GSA started pounding Bucksport goalie Jake Williams with scary passes and absolute lasers from deep. In the span of 100 seconds, the senior calmly deflected two absolute fireballs from Eagle midfielders over the net, drawing gasps, screams and applause from the packed crowd in Bucksport.
But George Stevens wasn’t done with its second half barrage.
In the 68th minute, the Eagles finally broke through for their second goal of the night when the speedy Fred Coit drew a foul in the penalty box. With his back to the defender, Coit received a pass near midfield, flicking it around the defender and sprinting with it all the way into the box.
“I’m going up the line, and the goal was to cut into the middle to take a shot or a cross,” Coit said. “But when the defender jabbed into me, he was much bigger than I was, and I went flying.”
At the penalty spot, Pambianco paid no attention to Williams’ jumping jacks and proceeded to fire the ball bottom left past his glove, making it 2-0 Eagles.
“I try to see where the keeper’s going, and keep it [in the] bottom corner,” Pambianco said. “We played as a team today, and were humble.”
After dominating the Golden Bucks 8-2 on Sept. 5 at home, the Eagles said they came in overconfident for their rematch on Oct. 17, in which they lost 2-1 on the road. George Stevens certainly set the record straight on Thursday, scoring a third goal with two minutes remaining to get the celebration started.
Dribbling towards the middle of the field, the crafty Malcolm Page cut around two Buck defenders along the end line, before finding Coit in front of net for a simple tap-in to seal the deal.
With the win, the 10-2-2 Eagles qualified for the Class C North regional final next Wednesday, and will play the winners of No. 2 Fort Kent and No. 6 Mount View. After the final buzzer, the Eagles stormed the field with chants of “G-S-A” coming from the visiting sideline.
The Bucksport fanbase, meanwhile, was understandably pretty quiet. The loss marked the end of an unprecedented three-year stretch of success, in which the Bucks and their stacked class of 2024 went a combined 37-8-3 and reached the regional semifinals twice.
“We’ve got a group of seniors that will be really hard to replace,” Bucksport head coach John Boynton said. “They’ve put a lot of time into the program.”
The Golden Bucks’ senior class was led by 100 career goalscorer Evan Donnell.
“We’ve turned around this program so much,” Donnell said with tears in his eyes. “I know it’s not the way we wanted it to end, but I’m glad about the progress we’ve made. I love this team.”
