Saturday, November 5th saw the Yarmouth Clippers bring home two soccer championships and two individual championships in cross country in Class B competition.
Let’s start with soccer. Both the Girls and the Boys played at Hampden Academy, the Girls against Waterville, the Boys against Winslow. Perhaps due to the 9:30 am start time, the Girls got off to a slow start, and trailed 1-0 at the half despite outshooting the Panthers. But the Clippers completely dominated the second half, scoring three goals in the space of ten minutes, two by Katie Clemmer ’17 and one by Sara D’Appolonia ’18, to seal a 3-1 victory. This is the first state championship for the Girls since 2003, a real thrill for senior starters Ella Antolini, Gretchen Barbara, Katie Clemmer, Abby Condon, and Corey Langenbach, as well as first year coach Josh Thornton.
The Boys game followed at 12:30 pm. Unlike the Girls, the Boys scored two goals halfway through the first half, and added a third after a Winslow goal to lead 3-1 at the half. The Clippers kept up the pressure in the second half, tallying two more goals to complete a 5-2 victory, the third consecutive Class B championship for the Clippers. YHS has won eleven State Championships, ten in Class B and one in Class C. Seniors Henry Coolidge, Matt Dostie, Gibson Hartnett, Chris Romano, and Tucker Whitney anchored the team for Coach Mike Hagerty, but a strong group of underclassmen puts the Boys in good shape for next year and beyond.
Both cross country team competed for the Class B championship. The Girls, the defending champions, gave Greely a tough fight, but the Rangers prevailed, beating the Clippers by eleven points. However, Abby Hamilton ’17 won the race with a time of 18:05:31 for the 5K distance, the best time in any class for the day. The Boys placed fifth of seventeen schools. Luke Laverdiere ’18 won the boys race in a time of 15:49: 59.