WALES — There are some free kicks that don’t look as inviting as the gift Maranacook forward Jon Findlay received Wednesday.

Oak Hill rookie keeper Cody Plourde, playing his first season in the cage at the varsity level as a senior, misplayed what was originally a long, lazy kick into the Oak Hill end. He picked the ball up, but his momentum was about to carry him outside of the goalie’s 18-yard box.

So he dropped the ball.

Right in front of Findlay.

The alert Maranacook sniper lofted the ball toward the front of the empty cage. Oak Hill defender Brian Bradstreet got a toe on the ball, but with the spin, the ball caromed into his own cage. It was the only goal in a tight, physical game on the outfield of the Fairchild baseball complex, and lifted the Black Bears to a 1-0 victory over the previously unbeaten Raiders.

“It’s another own-goal,” Oak Hill coach Joe Fletcher said. “We’ve allowed five goals this season (in seven games), and three of them have been off our own feet. Defensively, we played well aside from that.”

“It’s better to be lucky than good,” Maranacook coach Don Beckwith said. “I believe good teams get good luck, they make their own.”

Findlay was as surprised as anyone when the ball fell to his feet.

“I was like, ‘OK, thanks,'” Findlay said. “Coach asked me if I slapped it out of his hands. I told him I didn’t. I was just surprised to see that.”

The smaller dimensions of Oak Hill’s field tend to produce the type of physical play on display Wednesday. It was something for which Beckwith and his squad needed to be prepared.

“We work on shielding, and just being physical with each other,” Beckwith said. “We’ve been sick lately, so it’s been tough to do. But they’re a good team. They work hard.”

The Maranacook goal came with 8:35 to play in the first half. Just 2:08 later, the Raiders nearly earned the equalized on a header by Zach Lennett, who went hard to the turf after his header just grazed the left post and trickled wide for a goal kick.

In the second half, the Raiders had the majority of the opportunities, but several of the squad’s 10 shots went wide of the cage. Maranacook’s Greg Goucher needed to play just one ball in the second stanza.

“They kind of packed it in in the second half and really hung back,” Fletcher said, “and I’m going to take that as a compliment. They respected us enough to be careful.”

Maranacook had the lone corner kick in the game, early in the first half, and Oak Hill came out on top in the shot column, 17-12. The Black Bears earned valuable Heal Points with the victory. They entered the game fractions of a point ahead of Oak Hill in third place, and improve to 6-1-1. The loss drops the fourth-place Raiders to 6-1-0.