WINSLOW — Erskine Academy sophomore Brock Glidden’s heart was still racing from his team’s premature victory celebration and he could barely see the Winslow goalie through the darkness that was beginning to settle on Kennebec Savings Bank Field when his number was called for the biggest kick of his life.

“I was kind of worried,” Glidden said.

If given the opportunity, Glidden later admitted, he would have been willing to wait for Winslow’s keeper, Jake LaPierre, to start cramping up, as many had in Wednesday’s marathon Class B North quarterfinal. But time was of the essence. According to Erskine athletic director Doran Stout, if the game was called on account of darkness, they would have had to start all over again and play it in its entirety on Thursday.

Glidden rendered it moot when he scored at the end of the second round of penalty kicks to give the 10th-seeded Eagles the upset of the tournament, 3-2, over No. 2 Winslow, and set off the second, and finally justified, celebration for Erskine.

“I think it’s great. Absolutely wonderful,” he said.

Erskine ((12-4) will face No. 3 Presque Isle (8-4-3) in the semifinals at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Presque Isle. Winslow ends its season 12-2-1.

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The Black Raiders rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 25:14 with two goals by senior Cody Doughty to force overtime. After two 15-minute sessions, the teams went to five vs. five penalty kicks.

Each team made four of its five attempts in the first round, with Winslow senior David Selwood converting the final kick to necessitate the second session.

In the second round, Erskine made its first four, while Erskine goalie Takoda McGraw, who had taken over netminding duties for Denver Cullivan at the start of the penalty kicks, stopped Justin Burgher on Winslow’s third try.

Erskine made it four-for-four and thought it had won after Ben Smith’s try for the Black Raiders went wide left, sparking the Eagles’ first celebration.

But McGraw was ruled to have left the goal line before the ball was kicked. That gave Smith a second chance, which he converted, putting the pressure on Glidden to end it.

After going without a shot on goal in a scoreless first half, the Eagles got on the board first with a free kick after Winslow was whistled for a push on Trevor Hubbard. Senior midfielder Hoang Barnett’s shot from about 20 yards deflected off a Winslow defender and inside the right post for a 1-0 lead with 36:48 left.

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Eight minutes later, Luke Peabody made it 2-0 by finding the upper right corner from close to the 18.

Doughty quickly got the Black Raiders back in it with his first goal from about 30 yards out with 25:14 left. Less than two minutes later, he tied it by booting a pass from Hunter McCaslin past a diving Cullivan into the lower left corner.

“We had an injury on defense so I put him back on defense. As soon as they got that second goal, I had no choice but to push him back up,” Winslow coach Aaron Wolfe said. “As soon as that happened, he gave us a spark and put those two goals in.”

“They got freed up in the center of the field and, I give them credit, they didn’t stop attacking,” Hubbard said. “Both teams played their hearts out.”

Erskine had most of the opportunities in the two overtime sessions, out-shooting Winslow 5-2. Overall, the Black Raiders held a 21-14 shot advantage at the end of play.

Although it survived the final 30 minutes of timed play, Winslow did suffer a couple of costly losses in the second overtime when senior Jake Houghton and sophomore Daylon Carpenter drew yellow cards. Carpenter drew his for an illegal substitution when he entered the game for an injured teammate before being waived in by officials.

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“One thing that really hurt us was we had two guys with yellow cards and I couldn’t use them,” Wolfe said. “We had a plan if (penalty kicks) did happen. I had to change the plan on the fly and obviously, in hindsight, maybe would have switched it around a little. But I think it definitely affected our rotation.”

Erskine, which lost to Winslow, 2-0, in their only regular-season meeting, is now the lowest remaining seed in the boys tournament.

“We came in 10th seed not expecting a win. But after our first playoff game (a 3-0 prelim win over No. 7 Mt. Desert Island), we found that great spirit in our team and just decided to come out here and play and win,” Barnett said.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33


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