PORTLAND — 110 minutes of well-played soccer were not enough to determine the Class A boys’ state championship between the Bangor Rams and the Gorham Rams.

The teams were tied 1-1 when the game entered penalty kicks at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. For Bangor, the most stressful situation in the game was “Payneless.” Senior goalkeeper George Payne made his first three saves of the penalty kicks as Bangor won the shootout, 4-1.

“It was nerve-wracking, with everything on the line, everything we worked for three months,” Payne said. “It was there in front of us. It was incredibly nerve -wracking, but it’s exciting.

“(My teammates) said get us one save and we would be good. One save and we will do the rest. I went into it to help them out as best as I could.”

Saturday was second time the teams met. The first was in the preseason. Afterwords, Bangor coach Garth Berenyi Sr. knew they might possibly met again.

“They are a good team, and we said, ‘Know what, that team is probably going to win the South this year. Hopefully we can play them again,'” Berenyi said.

That preseason tilt ended in a 1-1 draw.

After a scoreless opening half, the scoreless stalemate ended in the first three minutes of the second half. Ethan Orach found Jackson Fotter, who unleashed a strike into the upper corner to give Gorham a 1-0 lead with 38:22 remaining.

“Nobody got any real great chances in the first half,” Gorham coach Tim King said. “We do that, not having the ball a lot and we can strike quickly. Jackson is such a great player, and that was a sensational shot in the side net. That’s why he’s probably the best player in the state, in my opinion.”

Bangor took possession after the kickoff and quickly tied the game when Carson Atherley found Josh Sherwood, who scored with 37:04 remaining in regulation.

“We were working to get (the balls) on the outside and bring it in,” Josh Sherwood said. “We could get balls in and there were a few times we broke down their centerbacks quite well, and we were looking for some sort of opportunity that we can just put it in.”

Berenyi Sr. knew his team would come through after Gorham broke the 0-0 deadlock.

“I was on the sideline and I knew we were going to score,” Berenyi Sr. said. “Our guys were hungry and they knew we had to play for 80 minutes. They didn’t expect it to be an easy game. I was surprised they reacted as quickly as they did. We had three guys on that shot who had a chance at the ball.”

Gorham had a free kick attempt with 15 minutes to go. Its set play was unsuccessful, though. Gorham tapped the ball into play and sent it to the end line, but Bangor set up defensively cleared the ball.

Bangor had two good long-ball opportunities in the final five minutes. The first one was called offsides, but Bangor tried it again. Garth Berenyi Jr. received the ball and booted it on top of the goal.

After two unsuccessful corner attempts by Gorham in the final two minutes, Bangor had its closing chance in the dying seconds. After a corner kick, Bangor’s shot hit the crossbar with 15 seconds remaining.

Both teams had opportunities in the first overtime, but neither could capitalize.

“It was so back and forth, I felt like it was the beginning (of overtime) where we had some chances, and at the end, they did,” King said. “At any point of the overtime it’s do or die. It was just an evenly played game.”

Payne made the save of the game in the second overtime when he sprawled out to make diving save.

“That was also pretty exciting,” Payne said. “With (the Gorham player) on the breakaway, I did everything I could to keep it out of the net.”

nfournier@sunjournal.com

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