by Ernie Clark
Special to the BDN
BANGOR, Maine — Karter Eldridge admits the corner kick hasn’t necessarily been a strong suit of the Hall-Dale boys soccer team throughout the 2024 season.
But when the day came to determine a state champion, the execution couldn’t have gone better for the Bulldogs.
Eldridge, a sophomore, headed home a corner kick with 23:10 left in the second half Saturday as Hall-Dale of Farmingdale captured its first state championship in program history with a 1-0 victory over Washington Academy of East Machias in the Class C final at windy Cameron Stadium in Bangor.
“It feels so amazing,” Eldridge said. “As a sophomore you dream of doing something like this, and I wouldn’t rather do it with any [other] group. I love these boys.”
The state title is the first for 16-2 Hall-Dale, which had made its only other appearance in the gold-ball game in 2012.
Washington Academy was seeking its first state championship since winning back-to-back crowns in 2015 and 2016. Coach David Whitney’s Raiders finished the season with a 13-4-1 record.
A 20-mile-per-hour wind from north to south made this a tale of two games, and when Hall-Dale emerged from a first half with the wind in its collective face locked in a scoreless deadlock the vibe on the Bulldogs’ bench was full of optimism.
“When the wind was coming against us, they had the ball and kept peppering our keeper [Landon Gilbert], and props to him, he’s just a freshman but he’s a really good player,” Eldridge said. “But our through-balls just weren’t going through because of the wind.
“When we got to the second half, we felt pretty good about things.”
The breakthrough came midway through the final period when sophomore Reid Parlin’s corner kick from the far left side curved high and toward the goal crease where Eldridge headed the ball under the crossbar and past WA goalie Ethan Cates.
“We were never really good at corners all season, but a few games ago against Waynflete we decided that I would start in the net and I was going to pop out and hopefully it would go to the back post,” Eldridge said. “It hadn’t worked until now so it’s amazing that it worked.”
While Hall-Dale continued to control much of the play late in the game, WA was not without chances to score the equalizer in the second half.
A 30-yard free kick by Zaedyn Philpot required a diving save by Gilbert with 14:30 left, and seven minutes later a through-pass sent the Raiders’ James Welch in behind the defense, only to have Gilbert barely beat him to the ball and clear it away.
WA coach Whitney was proud of his team’s performance, but he knew entering the game that his team needed to score with the wind at its back during the first half.
“We just couldn’t close it in and get a goal in that first half. We had some opportunities, but hats off to Hall-Dale for the way they played,” he said. “We had some opportunities in the second half, too, and thought we could tie it up, but sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t.”
Hall-Dale finished with a 10-8 edge in shots on goal, 8-1 during the second half. Gilbert preserved the shutout with eight saves while Cates had nine stops for Washington Academy.
