Silas Bellows crosses the ball during Coastal Christian School’s 1-0 win in the Maine Christian School Sports League middle school championship game on Thursday, Oct. 30 in Auburn. (Mic LeBel photo)
The Coastal Christian School coed soccer team defeated Ossipee Valley in an exciting overtime shootout to win the Maine Christian School Sports League middle school championship on Thursday, Oct. 30 under the lights at Edward Little High School in Auburn. After the game was tied 0-0 after regulation and two overtime sessions played in a steady rain, Coastal Christian outscored OVCS 4-2 in the shootout to win the hard fought title match.
The top seeded Rams finished the season undefeated. It is the third year in a row that Coastal has punched their ticket to the middle school championship game, winning it in 2023 and losing in overtime in 2024.
The Rams dominated ball possession and outshot Ossipee Valley by a vast margin in regulation and overtime. However, none of their shots made it past scrappy Knights goalie Scotty Weirick, who made spectacular saves and was named the tournament’s most valuable player award. Ossipee Valley was the No. 7 seed in the tournament and Weirick’s goaltending helped the Knights upset a pair of opponents to reach the championship game against the Rams.
Although Coastal Christian dominated the game, the Knights had a chance to pull off an upset with a breakaway opportunity in the closing seconds of regulation. Rams goalie Kaiden Cusumano dove and barely got a hand on the Ossipee Valley shot so that the ball glanced off the far post to keep the score knotted and the match headed to overtime 0-0.
Coastal Christian controlled the ball throughout the two overtime sessions but could not get a shot past Weirick so the game headed to a shootout. Grayson Joslin, Jayden Radley, Joel Dickinson, and Konstantine Stapp scored for Coastal on their shots. Stapp played goalie for the Rams in the shootout and gave up a pair of goals and stopped one Ossipee Valley shot before watching the Knight’s final attempt sail over the crossbar and out of bounds. The Rams players and coaches rushed into the goal area to celebrate with Stapp as Coastal Christian won the shootout 4-2 to earn the championship.
Led by head coach Jerry Radley, assistant coaches Emma Roberts and Olivia Burgess, and manager Katie Bellows, the Coastal Christian middle school team roster included Aaron Hunt, Kate Dickinson, Silas Burgess, Rachel Flaherty, Willow Morgan, Thomas Gillespie, Silas Bellows, Konstantine Stapp, Jayden Radley, Jace Scofield, Joel Dickinson, Elias Parker, Scarlett Radley, Bryce Betz, Vincent Hodsdon, Elliott Meyer, Kaiden Cusumano, Grayson Joslyn, Claire Robertson, Rebekah Bellows, Eliza Burgess, Ivy Lefebvre, Noah Robertson, Carter Scofield, and Nico Hodsdon.
Here are some bonus photos from the game:
