by Ben Gaines
On Friday morning the Panther Boys Soccer team traveled to Middletown to play in the semi-finals of the Final Four for the Class C Boys Soccer Championship Saturday. The 17-5-0 Panthers were matched up against the 21-0-0, Bobcats of Lansing.
The first thirty minutes of the half gave the fans a great show of two strong teams battling, albeit on the Panthers’ half of the field. In the eleventh minute the Bobcats set up for a corner kick. The ball was well placed into the front edge of the goal box where Justin Gaines #11 was positioned on the near post. “I am not sure who settled the ball, but I was able to get a foot on it and cleared the ball but #14 [of the Bobcats] redirected the ball to the far side of the goal,” said Justin. The remaining 10:43 ran out with no additional goals.
The second half started with both teams playing hard to gain and maintain possession of the ball. The Bobcats had more possession than the Panthers. The Panthers had several good runs down the field, but they would be stopped by the defensive line of the Bobcats.
When the clock showed all zeros the Panthers saw the curtain fall on their Dream Run.
Hoosick Falls’ great run had been stopped by a single goal; now they knew the pain that they had served so many teams this season. The Panthers Soccer Team set their names in history and in the record books. First Section II Title for HFCS since 2002, First Regional Title and the First Final Four appearance in the State for the program. The Panthers were also the first team to have three sets of brothers on the team – senior – #12 -Taylor Bacon and freshman – #20 – Riley Bacon and senior – #8 – Evan Phillips and junior – #4 – Drew Phillips and the three Gaines brothers – for the first time three brothers from three grades – freshman – # 16 – Tyler Gaines, sophomore – #11 – Justin Gaines and senior – #6 – Cody Gaines. This was the first time thee sets of brothers started and played on a single varsity soccer team for a season in the State.
The seniors on the team, Taylor Bacon, Taylor Baker, Tyler Carr, Cody Gaines, Chris LaCroix, Evan Phillips and Jason Woods, finished the soccer season having set the bar very high for future teams to strive for. The entire team provided the fans with great memories and brought Hoosick Falls two titles, Section II Champs and Regional Champs, while playing in the Blue and White in 2012 under Coach Mike Young.
