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Click on Photo for a large view AND caption with names of players (Photo compliments of Scott Edwards) | |
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Reprinted from the November 3, 2004 Issue of the Littleton Courier http://courier-littletonnh.com/ Woodsville Boys Soccer Earns First State Title By KRYSTIN CONNOLLY The Littleton Courier Staff PENACOOK, N.H. — In just its first season in Class S, the Woodsville boys soccer team proved it is a force to be reckoned with, blanking the top-ranked Pittsfield Panthers 4-0 Sunday night to win the state championship. “Unbelievable. There’s no words for it,” said Woodsville senior Phil Blanchard. “You work all season for that, that’s what it’s all about.” Blanchard said after losing 10 players to graduation last spring, the feeling of this year’s team was to “step it up” and play harder. He said being the Class M team that dropped down to Class S after the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) realigned the four classes, the Engineers were the favored team to win and “had a bulls eye on [their] backs all year.” “We’re supposed to win, [so] we did,” Blanchard added. For Woodsville head coach Mike Ackerman, who has made it to the playoffs every year in his 28 years of coaching, the win was a long time coming. Grinning from ear to ear after the game, Ackerman said he and his teams had been “knocking on the door” for 28 years. This time, with the door finally opened, he was left speechless when asked what it felt like to win. But he did say, “I may not sleep for a week.” The last time any Woodsville boys soccer team made it to the final game was in 1989. Ackerman said his team “came to play,” and added, “they were focused the whole game and played excellent.” He noted every year his wish for the Woodsville boys soccer team is to make it to the final game. At the beginning of this year he hoped it would happen, though he knew he lost 10 skilled players. “I knew that the guys coming up from junior varsity would really have to step up, fill in those spots, and they did,” he said. Woodsville started the game off in control and never lost focus, out-shooting the Panthers 20-5 in the first half and 29-16 overall for the game. Forwards Dimitri Kapotis and Derek Graham attacked the net just 30 seconds into the game, but the Pittsfield defense stopped them in their tracks. The pressure continued, as Kapotis collected the ball on the left wing after a nice sliding play. He shot a pass to the center for Graham that went just over his head, but Jeff Robbins was there to gather up the loose ball and he rocketed a shot over the net. Kapotis sandwiched two more shots around a Blanchard try. With 28:46 to go, Blanchard grabbed a rebound off a Kapotis shot inside the goal box and slid it past Pittsfield keeper Tom Adams for the score, sending the Woodsville fans into an roar of cheers and blares on the blow horn. Blanchard said he made a “hustle play” on the rebound and it paid off. “It felt good,” Blanchard said of scoring. “Coming into this playoff game, I had the Sunapee goal [and a goal against Lisbon], but I haven’t been scoring much this year really. I had maybe eight or nine goals this year, but in playoffs, I didn’t want to lose.” Three minutes later, Kapotis used his blazing speed to squeeze through two defenders and dribble the ball up field toward the net, but his shot went just wide. Engineers keeper Mike Blake made a beautiful catch save on a hard shot and Woodsville immediately went on the offensive again as Graham launched a shot that Adams just barely dove and saved. Midway through the first, Blanchard intercepted the ball near midfield and shot a pass up for Graham on the right wing, who drilled a shot into the inside corner of the far post for a 2-0 advantage. After the goal, the Panthers worked the ball from midfield into their offensive zone, but Blake made a nice diving stab to preserve the 2-0 lead. After a Kapotis shot was saved by Adams and the goal kick put the ball at midfield, senior Mike Harrington quickly gathered it up and lofted a high pass to the head of Kapotis. The ball bounced in front of Kapotis, drawing Adams out of the net. Kapotis waited for the ball to bounce up and headed it over Adams to make it 3-0 with 15:30 to play in the first half. Pittsfield had another scoring opportunity on a corner kick with 10 minutes to play, but after Blake deflected the shot, he hustled out of the net to beat everyone to the loose ball and quickly smothered it for the goal kick. Blake came up big again, making another nice save with 4:29 to play, and with three minutes left, Woodsville caught a break defensively. A Pittsfield player sailed a direct kick in front of the center of the net and another Pittsfield player tried to head it in for a goal. But his header moved the ball away from the net and the Engineers were able to clear the ball. “We played great in the back, the whole team played great every one of them,” said Ackerman. “I couldn’t even single anybody out. You got guys like Mike Blake playing in goal who’s never played goal before this year and he came up big.” Blake was just about speechless himself after the game and said he was “stunned” and “shocked” at winning the state title. He said his team “knew they could do it,” but added that he was a bit nervous to start the game. “As soon as I got the first save [he felt better],” Blake said. “It’s always [that] the first save is a key one for me, I don’t know why. I gotta get that one and then I go from there.” The senior keeper said that aside from never playing in goal prior to this season, he had not played the game of soccer since the sixth grade. He said that he became interested in playing goal over the summer, so he called Ackerman and asked him if he needed a keeper and Ackerman said yes. Pittsfield picked up the pressure a bit to open the second half and Blake made two beautiful saves, as well as a nice kick away to break up a Panthers rush. Engineers defender Alex Tucker helped him out once, booting the ball out from near the net when the ball got behind Blake and marinating the 3-0 lead. With 26:03 left in the game, a Pittsfield player slammed a shot toward the net, which ricocheted off the crossbar and Woodsville was able to clear it out and prevent any further scoring threats. As the Panthers tried a few more times with wide shots and a couple corner kicks, the Woodsville defense of Greg Dellinger, Nick Edwards and Tucker continued to be strong, as they have been all season, clearing the ball and frustrating the Pittsfield offense. With 10 minutes to play, Graham got off a shot that was caught by Adams. After Blake made another good play in net, the goal kick moved the ball down to the Woodsville offensive zone, where Kapotis was tripped and a direct kick was awarded to the Engineers. Instead of kicking the ball in net, Blanchard threaded a pass toward a teammate, but it was broken up and cleared by the Panthers. Two minutes later, Kapotis netted his second goal of the day when he lofted a kick from near the 18-yard area over the head of Adams. The 4-0 Woodsville lead deflated Pittsfield for the final four minutes of the game. Ackerman said with a 3-0 lead at halftime he talked to his team about, “staying focused and not getting back on our heels, [as well as] winning the midfield and keeping the ball in their end.” Ackerman added that in the first five minutes of the second Pittsfield came out hard, but then his team recovered and started winning the ball again. “They played hard, they played their hearts out,” Ackerman said about Pittsfield. “They came out second half and came right after us.” He added that head coach Rick Anthony is “a class guy and has an excellent team,” and said the entire community of Pittsfield should be proud. “I’m very happy for him [Ackerman] he’s just put in so much time,” said Blanchard. “He wouldn’t tell you, but he was a nervous wreck coming into this game.” He added that Dellinger, Edwards and himself attended Ackerman’s youth soccer camps and clinics and learned a great deal. “I don’t know if he knew that the kids he’d be teaching how to play soccer would win the championship with him,” Blanchard added. The Engineers end the season with a record of 17-2-1, while runner-up Pittsfield is 17-3-0. Woodsville will lose Blanchard, Blake, Dellinger, Edwards, Harrington, and manager Josh Torrey to graduation.
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