PORTLAND—It was adding up to be one of those days for the Gray-New Gloucester boys’ soccer team.

A day where the Patriots’ mistakes were magnified and the missed chances come back to haunt.

And then, in a blink of an eye, Gray-New Gloucester came to life.

Much to host Waynflete’s chagrin in an interclass battle Thursday afternoon at Fore River Fields.

With just over six minutes to go in the first half, a Patriots’ foul in the box gave the Flyers a penalty kick and senior captain Lucas Plumb converted it.

Barely.

And for the remainder of the first half and most of the second, it appeared that goal would hold up.

But after hitting the crossbar and just missing on some great looks, Gray-New Gloucester drew even with 6:11 left in regulation, as junior Boje Kautz set up senior Logan Inman for the tying tally.

The Patriots weren’t content to just tie the score, as they kept the pressure on and with 1:20 remaining, the Kautz-to-Inman connection struck again and just like that, Gray-New Gloucester snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and shocked Waynflete, 2-1.

The Patriots continued their resurgence with their most inspirational win to date, improved to 6-2-1 and in the process, snapped the Flyers’ three-game win streak and dropped them to 3-4.

“We played like garbage for 40 minutes, but the final 12 minutes, things started to click,” said Gray-New Gloucester coach Neil Carroll. “That’s where you win or lose games. It was a battle today.”

The ties that bind

Waynflete second-year coach Will Burdick started his high school coaching career with Gray-New Gloucester, spending two seasons with the Patriots before taking over the Flyers last season.

“I appreciate everything Gray did for me allowing me to coach there,” Burdick said. “I enjoyed my two years. I have a lot of respect for them. I’m happy to see those guys. I still follow them.”

“Will’s a good guy,” said Carroll. “He gets the best out of his guys. You know you’ll get the best from his program.”

This fall, Waynflete started with a 3-2 home loss to Hall-Dale, then was beaten by Class B powers Greely (5-0) and York (6-0). The Flyers began a resurgence with a 1-0 victory at rival North Yarmouth Academy, before blanking host Sacopee Valley and St. Dom’s by 8-0 scores.

Gray-New Gloucester, meanwhile, has enjoyed a solid campaign, already eclipsing last year’s record of 5-8-2.

After edging Freeport in the opener, 1-0, the Patriots lost to two-time reigning Class B champion Yarmouth (3-0), then knocked off Leavitt (5-1) and Poland (5-1). After a 1-1 draw with NYA, Gray-New Gloucester beat Wells (4-0) and Lake Region (5-1) before losing to Cape Elizabeth Tuesday, 4-0.

Last year, the teams played to a scoreless tie in Gray.

Thursday, on a pleasant early-October afternoon (64 degrees and sunny at kickoff), Waynflete found itself on the brink of extending its win streak to four, but instead, the Patriots surged late and earned a pivotal victory.

Waynflete senior captain Lucas Plumb knocks the ball away from Gray-New Gloucester senior Griffin Richmond early in the Patriots’ 2-0 victory Thursday. Hoffer photos.

It took 11 minutes for either team to register a shot on goal before Flyers’ junior Noah Stern-Rich tested Gray-New Gloucester junior goalkeeper Tristan Cuttler, but Cuttler made the save.

The Patriots’ first bid came in the 14th minute, but a long shot from Inman was easily handled by Waynflete junior keeper Diego Schair-Cardona.

After Flyers junior Charles Reynolds had a shot blocked in close, sophomore Logan Timmons missed wide for the visitors.

With 16:08 left in the half, off a throw from senior Kaiden Christie, freshman Owen Duda looked to put Waynflete in front, but he was denied by Cuttler.

After senior Carter Laliberty forced Schair-Cardona to go sprawling to make a save, senior George Shattuck, off a feed from Reynolds on a rush, missed just wide.

The Flyers came within inches of the lead with 7:02 to go, as Plumb headed the ball past Cuttler, but it rang off the right post and a rebound bid from Reynolds was stymied as Cuttler dove to his right and made a nice save.

A minute later, Waynflete got another chance and this time, took advantage.

With 6:08 on the clock, Shattuck got into the box and was brought down from behind, giving the Flyers a penalty kick.

Plumb then stepped to the line and fired a high shot that Cuttler had no chance to stop, but it appeared that the Patriots got a break when it hit the crossbar and dropped to the ground.

Waynflete senior captain Lucas Plumb launches a penalty kick that eludes Gray-New Gloucester junior goalie Tristan Cuttler for the game’s first goal.

But Gray-New Gloucester wasn’t able to dodge the bullet after all, as the official, who had a great look at the play, ruled the ball landed over the line, then bounced out and the goal counted for a 1-0 lead.

The Patriots looked to answer, but after taking a pass from senior Cole Frey, Kautz was denied by a sprawling Schair-Cardona.

The Flyers nearly doubled their lead with 3:37 remaining before halftime, but Shattuck’s shot glanced off the top of the crossbar.

Waynflete had a 7-3 advantage in shots on frame in the first half, but wouldn’t manage another as Gray-New Gloucester would eventually steal the show late in regulation.

Three minutes into the second half, Kautz tried to set up junior Isaiah Portas in the box, but Schair-Cardona beat him to the ball.

After Plumb twice was just off-target trying to extend the lead, Portas missed wide at the other end, then with 10:14 on the clock, Inman passed to senior Ashten Golebiewski, whose left-footed floater left Schair-Cardona feeling helpless before it glanced off the crossbar and the rebound was cleared.

A minute later, Inman passed to Kautz and with a defender down, Kautz had a great look at the equalizer, but he missed just high.

The Patriots appeared destined for a frustrating loss, but they were able to turn the game on its ear.

With 6:11 left, Kautz was able to feed Inman, who got behind the defense and Schair-Cardona and steer the ball into the net to even the score.

“We just passed and talked,” said Inman. “We had to lift each other up. Boje had a great pass. It was all about the passing.”

After Kautz sent a long pass from senior Griffin Richmond just wide with 4:13 remaining, overtime loomed, but Gray-New Gloucester wasn’t interested in playing more than 80 minutes.

With just 1:20 left, Kautz again set up Inman again and this time, Inman settled the ball, then with Schair-Cardona coming out to challenge, he floated the ball over the keeper and into the net for a 2-1 lead.

“I just tried to chip it over him and luckily it went straight down into the goal,” said Inman.

“Those two guys at the top just battle,” Carroll said.

Waynflete tried to answer and earned a free kick from the side as time wound down and Plumb served in a promising ball, but Christie’s header went just wide and a rebound attempt was blocked as the horn sounded, giving the Patriots a palpitating 2-1 victory.

Gray-New Gloucester races to congratulate junior goalie Tristan Cuttler at the final horn.

“It’s an important win for us,” Inman said. “We needed this.”

“That’s been the change of culture,” said Carroll. “Last year, we’d go down one, it would turn into to five. It’s been a huge change and it’s owed to these 22 guys. The captains have taken over. I got quieter and we played better and maybe I should learn from that. This is big for us. Six wins is more than we had last year.”

Cuttler made six saves for Gray-New Gloucester.

Waynflete finished with a 7-6 edge in shots on frame, got four saves from Schair-Cardona and had a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks, but it wasn’t enough.

“It’s definitely a hard way to lose,” said Burdick. “I thought we played well for 60, 70 minutes, but credit to Gray, they took the momentum and they capitalized. It was a well-fought game all around. It’s frustrating to be on this side of it. We talked about trying to get ball pressure in the midfield and stay compact in the back to not allow lanes between our outside and center backs. Unfortunately, they were able to capitalize. Games like this, every single detail has to be accurate. If you slip up, a good team will take advantage and they did.”

Until next time

The teams meet again Oct. 17 in Gray and both will be tested in the interim.

Gray-New Gloucester (ranked sixth in the Class B South Heal Points standings at press time) returns to action Tuesday of next week when Lincoln Academy pays a visit.

“I think we have a few more wins in us,” said Inman.

“They come back to our place and it’ll be another good game,” said Carroll. “We have some more big ones coming up. We don’t want to draw Yarmouth, Cape or Greely after the prelim. If we can get a couple more wins, we could avoid that. Our goal is 10 (wins), so we’re going to see if we can get it.”

Waynflete, currently in the fifth spot in Class C South, stays home to meet Oak Hill Saturday and Traip Academy Monday.

“We have to learn from games like this and use the frustration and anger we feel and turn it into something positive,” said Burdick. “We strung a couple wins together, but our schedule tests us two or three times a week. We hope to get more results going forward. I think we’ve made progress. We’re going in the direction we want to go. It’s just about learning and continuing to get better.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.