North Yarmouth Academy captured the Class D boys soccer state championship title Saturday with a 2-1 win over Madawaska at Deering High School in Portland.
The Panthers last brought home the gold ball in 2018.
North Yarmouth Academy Coach Branden Noltkamper said in his first year coaching the Panthers he did not expect the team to win the state championship, but he certainly hoped that would be the case.
“I am very fortunate to have walked into a program that has an established culture and a great senior class,” he said. “Everyone has worked extremely hard this year and it was a great way for the seniors to end their high school career winning a state championship.”
The road to the state title was not a smooth one. Halfway through the season, the Panthers sat at 2-5 and Noltkamper said he was unsure they would even make it to the playoffs.
“We met in the locker room after one of our home games and had a long conversation about what needed to change and what we wanted the second half of the season to look like. Since that conversation everything changed,” he said.
Things started out well for Madawaska four minutes into Saturday’s championship game when Brady Gagnon scored the first goal on a cross pass from Carsen Cyr. That is where the scoreboard stopped for the Owls.
North Yarmouth answered at about the 32 minute mark with an unassisted tying goal by Jack Byrne.
The teams were tied 1-1 at halftime but less than half a minute into the second half Cooper St. Hilaire booted the ball in for another unassisted Panthers goal.
Despite dominating possession of the ball for most of the game and many attempts at goal, the Panthers offense scored no more thanks to vigilant goalkeeping by the Owls’ Chris Boucher.
Noltkamper said that just as he expected, the Owls did not make the win easy for his team.
“They attacked right from the beginning to take an early lead. Their goalkeeper was outstanding,” Noltkamper said.
The game marked Madawaska’s ninth state championship appearance in the hunt for their first gold ball.