In continued Presque Isle Recreation and Parks Department soccer action, the Missiles and Crunch matched up in grades 3-4 play. The game started off as a see-saw battle and ended in the exact same fashion. Crunch’s Asher Tuttle broke the ice with the first goal of the game. Shortly after, Jacob Watt brought his Missiles right back into the game by scoring a nice goal to notch it at one apiece. Tuttle was an offensive juggernaut scoring his sixth goal of the season to put the Crunch back on top. However, the Missiles fired back with a goal from Josh Nadeau to end the game in a 2-2 tie.
Fifth- and sixth-grade action brought out two defensive-minded teams in the Crew and Sting. The game started out with numerous great defensive plays, until Colby Bonville received a beautiful corner kick from his twin brother Bryce, which was one-timed into the net to put heavy pressure on the Crew. The first half would end with a 1-0 advantage for the Sting.
In the second half, Crew’s Connor Michaud settled a miss kick from a Sting defender and pummeled it into the net to tie the game. The game became a rush to see who will bust out and make the winning goal. As the clock ticked down from 10 seconds into single digits, Crew’s leading goal scorer Gage LeTourneau snuck the ball pass the goalkeeper to help his team achieve the 2-1 victory.
In a week-ending grades 3-4 game, the Crunch and Blast faced off. The Blast fought hard throughout the game but, the league’s leading goal scorer was on the other side of the field. Asher Tuttle added two more goals for his Crunch team in the 2-0 triumph.
In the final week of fifth- and sixth-grade league action, the playoffs proved to be dramatic. In the play-in game, No. 5 Mutiny played No. 4 Sting.
The Sting stung first with a great breakaway goal by Sting striker Rhylee Kinney. The first half played out as a great defensive battle from end to end. As the second half got under way, the same tuned played with the defensive battle until Bryce Bonville crossed the ball to brother Colby, who one-timed the ball into the back of the net to put their team up two. As Mutiny tried to fight their way back into the game, Colby Carlisle made a nice shot into the upper corner of the goal, but it was just a little too late as the Sting moved on to face top-ranked Rapids.
In the semi-final round, the Rapids claimed a 3-0 victory over the upset-minded Sting. The Rapids came out to show the league why they are the No. 1 team in the league by scoring two quick goals to knock the buzz out of the Sting. Nathan Willett, the league’s leader in goals, knocked in both of the Rapids’ early goals to give his team a comfortable lead before Rebecca Gallagher added to the total by adding one of her own.
The other semi-final game showcased No. 3 Clash and No. 2 Crew. This game was a great battle throughout the entire game. The Crew’s defensive-minded tactics kept the ball out of their net for all of regulation play with the Clash’s Tanner Smith clearing the ball with force every time the Crew entered his parameter.
After 40 minutes of play, the match was scoreless and the two teams went into a five-minute overtime. Nerves started to show on both teams as the game became one of a kickball setting with both teams clearing the ballat well and often. As the clock ticked down from one minute left in overtime, the crowd and players became extremely tense trying anything and everything to put the ball into the net. As the buzzer went off the score was still tied at zero and the game came down to penalty kicks.
Gavin Akeley, Ollie Graves and LeTourneau were successful in their attempts for the Crew, while Smith converted the Clash’s lone PK as the Crew moved into the championship. LeTourneau made some great saves to help give his team the victory.
In the title game, LeTourneau staked his Crew team to a 1-0 lead at halftime. Willett buried a pair of penalty kicks to put the Rapids on top with 10 minutes to play before LeTourneau converted a Michaud assist into the tying goal.
In overtime, LeTourneau completed the hat trick with a goal the came off a Sophia Lambert assist, which came with just 40 seconds remaining. The Crew held on to hand the Rapids’ its only loss of the season with the 3-2 triumph.
