When Bryce Colbeth joined the Washington Academy boys soccer team last fall, he didn’t do it specifically to win a state championship.
The Raiders needed a goalie, and already being a contributing member of the school’s baseball and basketball programs he figured he could help.
And soon enough he did.
Colbeth and the Raiders lost their first game of the 2008 season to Woodland — but they haven’t lost since, with one Class C state championship banner already hanging in Gardner Gymnasium in East Machias and an unbeaten record so far this year.
“We know we can get there, we’ve done it before,” said Colbeth, whose team is 10-0 this fall after extending its overall winning streak to 27 matches with a 5-0 victory over Sumner of East Sullivan on Monday.
“We have a better team this year with the same core group of guys. We’re deeper, the keeper’s more experienced, and we’ve got more strength in the front line.”
Just four players graduated from last year’s team, a group including midfielder Milos Gautier — who scored both goals in the Raiders’ 2-0 victory over Waynflete of Portland that earned WA the first Class C state title in boys soccer for an Eastern Maine team since Penobscot Valley of Howland in 1986.
Eleven seniors and eight juniors have returned to coach Chris Gardner’s 31-player roster.
Seniors Noah Von Rotz (11 goals) and Monty Zhou (6 goals, 2 assists) are returning players up front, while classmate Nick Hixson (4 goals, 6 assists) and junior Romayn Richards (3 goals, 3 assists) are midfield catalysts in front of a veteran defense that features stopper Brett Lyons, sweeper Nick Forte (3 goals, 5 assists) and wing fullbacks Will Manchester and Sam Stevens.
“I think our defense is really great, but I think us in the front need to come back and help the defense more,” said Von Rotz. “Other than that I think we’re pretty well rounded at both ends.”
And while last year’s team benefited from the addition of Colbeth, this year’s fast start has been fueled by another newcomer from within in senior striker Ben Teer, who hadn’t played since his freshman year, but got the urge to rejoin the program after watching the Raiders win the state championship from the stands last fall.
“Half of these guys are my best friends, and they were talking to me during the summer and saying I should play,” said Teer. “We always used to play soccer in gym, so they said I should try out and see how it goes and I tried out and made the team.”
Teer not only earned a roster spot, he leads the team with 16 goals.
“With the fact that we brought back such a tight nucleus from last year, the fact that Ben’s well known among all his peers, and the fact that everybody trusted and knew of his ability, we were able to integrate him rather quickly,” said Gardner.
“Ben offers an awful lot, and he was willing to earn his way back. In the first half of the season he didn’t start games. He sat and took his minutes and did it the right way.”
Teer credits the rest of the Raiders for making his transition back to the sport easier.
“These guys are great teammates, “said Teer, “they’ve helped me out with everything. I’m a basketball freak, but here I don’t really know how to do everything, so I just run.”
Teer and Von Rotz have given WA an explosive 1-2 scoring punch, but Gardner finds additional comfort in the fact that 11 different players already have scored at least once this season.
“We lost a little of our scoring punch from last year, and I was worried about where that would come from,” he said. “But we returned a lot of great players, and I knew as a unit these guys could score well.
“It can be three different players on any given night, but as long as we score as a unit rather than as individuals, I’m not worried about it.”
While the likes of Madawaska, Fort Kent, Houlton, Orono and Penobscot Valley of Howland have emerged as primary challengers to its bid to repeat as champion, this year’s Washington Academy team has an additional quality it didn’t have before shocking the soccer world last fall — the experience of winning it all before.
“Last year we came into the season and we never talked about how many games we were going to win or making it to the playoffs or even the finals,” said Von Rotz. “Even 12 games into the season we never said anything.
This year is a lot like that, but I think we’re on the right track.”
Royals revitalized
Another more modest soccer success story Down East is taking place at Jonesport-Beals, where the Royals improved their record to 4-3 with a 2-1 victory over Woodland on Monday.
A 4-3 record may not seem like all that much, but Jonesport-Beals went 0-13 last fall and was just 2-37-2 over the last three years.
“The kids have been doing a good job,” said Troy Alley, who began his second stint as the Royals’ head coach this fall after previously guiding the team from 1995 to 2000.
The team has not been without its frustrations, particularly missing its first three penalty-kick opportunities of the season before senior Terrell Carver finally converted for the tying goal Monday after Woodland had taken a 2-1 lead.
But Alley has seen steady improvement in his 14-player roster, which includes seven members who are either freshmen or sophomores.
That young group is led by sophomore striker Matt Alley, who shares the team lead with four goals and also leads Jonesport-Beals in assists.
Carver and sweeper Andrew Beal, both seniors, also have four goals each for the Royals, while Harold Lyons, junior Travis Alley and sophomore Kyle Carver have been other offensive contributors.
Senior Sid Look, who began the season as a field player, has taken over in goal and led Jonesport-Beals to back-to-back victories over Calais and Woodland heading into Wednesday’s match against 6-2 Machias, which defeated the Royals 5-0 on Sept. 14.
Jonesport-Beals enters that match ranked 14th in Eastern Maine Class D but just three Heal points out of ninth place.
Under the 50 percent rule for qualifying teams for postseason play in each division adopted by the Maine Principals’ Association earlier this year, 10 teams will qualify in Eastern D.
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