The curtain came down on Bangor High School's boys varsity soccerseason two months ago, but the afterglow still remains for themembers of the Rams' historic squad.
Evidently, it's still there for the fans as well. Just a weekafter the shipment of championship jackets arrived at Bangor High,Maine sports fans have chosen Bangor High's unforgettable soccerseason as the 2006 Bangor Daily News/WZON Maine Sports Story of theYear.
Despite stiff competition from Farmington native and WinterOlympics gold medalist Seth Wescott, the University of Maine hockeyteam, and the Portland Sea Dogs, Bangor won in Internet votingconducted by Bangor all-sports radio station WZON and the BDN by justover a 2-to-1 margin.
Bangor High's first-ever soccer state championship - the first inClass A ever won by a school located further north than Fairfield orWaterville - won the balloting with 40 percent of the online vote inthe ninth installment of this annual unscientific poll that drew1,764 total votes in two weeks.
Bangor boys soccer coach Adam Leach said being named Maine'ssports story of the year made an already special season even more so.
'Yeah, it does. It gives us a chance to extend the fun a littlebit,' Leach said. 'You know, it shows me the way the sport has come along way over the years. Ten years ago, I don't think you'd even havea soccer-related story be one of the choices in this.'
'It's just been really exciting knowing that people are finallygetting excited about the sport in general,' said senior tri-captainRoss Allen. 'And it's cool that we can be a part of that.'
Despite losing 13 seniors to graduation, bringing in four freshmenamong a lot of new faces, and losing the services of tri-captain CamCormier for two-thirds of the season due to ankle surgery andrehabilitation, the Rams went through the regular season with animpressive 12-1-1 record.
Yet even with that success, it wasn't until they played perennialtitle contender Brunswick in the noncountable Kennebec ValleyAthletic Conference title game that they believed they were truestate championship material.
'We were thinking maybe we could win the Easterns and how awesomethat might be,' said Allen.
Leach admitted the Rams' big goal initially was to win a semifinalfor the first time and just get into a regional final.
That 1-0 win over Brunswick changed that kind of thinking,however.
'Our goals and our expectations changed after that game,' Allensaid. 'It really made us a confident team and helped us realize wewere of state championship caliber. It got every one of us thinking.'
The Rams went on to score seven goals - each by a different player- in four playoff games culminating with a 1-0 win over previouslyunbeaten West champion Scarborough.
'That right there tells the story of our team and what made itspecial,' said Leach. 'There were no superstars on our team, and theones who did stand out are very humble who got to where they arethrough hard work and understanding it's a team game,'
Then came the trophy which had never before graced Bangor High'strophy case, followed by Leach being named 2006 Region I (NewEngland) large-school coach of the year by the National SoccerCoaches Association of America, the championship jackets, and nowstory of the year.
'I was talking to one of my teammates and we said with this we canjust add another thing to our file,' said senior tri-captain JoJoHwalek. 'I think it's amazing. It just caps off a perfect season forus, pretty much. It brings it back into focus for us again and willprobably have a few people watching the state game on DVD one moretime.'
Bangor's storybook season captured 41 percent of the voting (210votes).
The other contenders for story of the year and their correspondingvoting percentages are as follows: Wescott winning gold insnowboardcross (19 percent, 97 votes), UMaine hockey reaching FrozenFour (14.8, 76), the Portland Sea Dogs winning their first EasternLeague title (12.7, 65), the UMaine baseball team advancing to theNCAA Regionals a second straight year (4.3, 22), Lawrence High Schoolfootball team's unbeaten Class A state championship season (4.3, 22),and changing the Eastern Maine basketball tournament format (3.9,20).
