AUBURN — Hall-Dale earned the second regional title in program history with a 2-1 victory over reigning Class C state champion Mt. Abram in the Class C South title game Wednesday at Edward Little High School.

The Bulldogs (15-2) will face C North champion Washington Academy in Saturday’s state championship game at Cameron Stadium in Bangor on Saturday at 10 a.m.

“Feels like a long time coming,” Hall-Dale coach Jesse Rowe said. “We worked really hard as a program, and in the program’s history the last time we went (to a state final) was 12 years ago.”

The top-seeded Bulldogs (15-2) had dropped two one-goal games to the third-seeded Roadrunners (11-4) during the regular season, 3-2 on Sept. 27 and 1-0 on Oct. 11.

“We really just came out, we knew we had to do it, and at the end of the day, I feel like we worked harder,” Hall-Dale senior Keegan Cary said. “We wanted it more than they did. We just wanted it more, had that mentality, ‘We’re going to go into this 110% and leave nothing else on the field.’”

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Cary struck first in Wednesday’s game, scoring on a free kick 13 minutes into the game to put Hall-Dale up 1-0.

“We just got a free kick in a pretty good spot,” Cary said. “I feel like I’ve been taking them all year, just got lucky and put it in, (making it) 1-0.”

Roadrunners coach Jason Wing said Cary’s kick when into the net after a misdirected header by one of Mt. Abram’s players.

“We had a couple miscues in the box that hurt us,” Wing said. “Our defense has been solid all year, and I think we dominated the rest of the game, most of the time, just a couple miscues that they capitalized on.”

Twenty minutes later, senior Jaxon Olsen found the back of the net for Hall-Dale.

“My fellow teammate, Colin McArthur, was taking the ball down the line, right, and he had it,” Olsen said. “He had the first opportunity early game, but didn’t quite get it. The second time, he just got past the defender and then slotted across the middle. I was there, just tapped it in.”

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Mt. Abram junior Kaiden Longley scored the Roadrunners’ only goal about five minutes into the second half, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Wing said Longley is “a little guy,” who takes a lot of punishment during games but doesn’t back down or ease up until the final whistle.

“That was one that got us to close the gap a little bit, so, we thought we had a chance,” Wing said. “We were hoping to gain a little momentum and we had lots of opportunities down there that we missed. We missed a few chances to tie it up.”

Olsen said Wednesday’s win is the first of his career over Mt. Abram, and it “felt great to finally beat them when it matters.”

“I think every team that’s ever played has always had that one team to get by, and for us, it’s been Abram,” Rowe said. “They’ve been well-coached, well-schooled, and they’ve represented C South tremendously; we have nothing but respect for them.”

Rowe graduated from Hall-Dale in 2000 and is in his seventh season leading the team. He said the prospect of winning a gold ball means a lot to him, but it’ll mean even more to all of the alumni that came before him.

“We’ve been around since 1979 as a program, so it would be huge to deliver that, and I think we’re ready,” Rowe said.

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