AUGUSTA — Brunswick found a rhythm to its attack in the final 12 minutes of the Class A North boys soccer final Tuesday against Lewiston.
The Dragons scored five late goals en route to a 6-0 victory over the Blue Devils. Jack Banks recorded a hat trick for No. 3 Brunswick (13-3-1), which advanced to the Class A state championship against South champion Scarborough.
The two teams will play at Deering High School in Portland at a time to be determined.
No. 4 Lewiston, which had defeated Brunswick 3-2 in the regular season, finished 11-5-1.
Brunswick had the first scoring opportunity of the game when Kaelin Gerwig’s shot brought Brunswick fans out of their seats, but it went wide of the net early in the contest.
Banks scored the lone goal of the first half when he received a pass from Maxwell Hamilton inside the box and slid a shot past Lewiston keeper Payson Goyette in the 24th minute.
In the second half, particularly in the final 12 minutes, it was all Dragons.
It all started when Lewiston received a penalty kick that David Abdi pushed over the cross bar with about 12 minutes remaining in regulation.
Brunswick cleared the ball out of the defensive zone past all the Lewiston defenders. A Brunswick player chipped the ball over Goyette (four saves). David Abdi tracked it down for the Blue Devils, but he kicked it into the net on the clearing attempt for an own goal.
Banks then scored on a free kick and a penalty kick to extend the lead to 4-0 lead.
David Nzuzi and Luke Patterson capped the scoring for the Dragons.
The Dragons defense made it difficult for the Blue Devils for the majority of the first half. The Dragons’ defenders cleared Lewiston’s first corner of the game out of the 18-yard box.
Brunswick also blocked about five shots in the opening half. The Blue Devils did get four shots on goal, including back-to-back chances in the 12th minute.
The Dragons rode the momentum of taking the lead. A cross to the backside to Liam Driscoll was on target, but Driscoll’s shot just went wide of the goal about a minute after Banks’ goal.
Then Brunswick launched a shot into the air and Goyette stopped the initial shot. The rebound was loose, but the Dragons couldn’t get the ball into the goal.
Brunswick goalie Brady Laforge stopped a couple of quality Lewiston shots in the second half. The first one was on a Hamze Nur shot attempt in the 13th minute . Laforge then stopped a Shafi Ibrahim free kick a minute later.
Ibrahim had another opportunity a few minutes later when he tried to go far post, but Laforge (seven saves) made a diving stop.
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