On a cool, rainy night at the Gehrig Johnson Athletic Complex, a downpour of offense from Presque Isle powered the Wildcats to an 8-0 victory over Houlton. 

Freshman Jenson Sargent opened the scoring early in the first half with a floating shot off of a rebound in front. The Shiretowners would find themselves with several opportunities close to the goal in the following minutes, but were repeatedly denied opportunities to score by a stellar Wildcat defense led by senior back Conner Michaud. 

As the pressure swung back in the favor of Presque Isle, it was Evan Chapman ’24 who would find the back of the net with 15 minutes left in the half off of a Dawson Kinney ’23 pass. Shortly thereafter, the game would be broken wide open when sophomore Malachi Cummings notched his first of the game off of yet another careening rebound. 

That intensity certainly didn’t fade during the halftime break, as it only took 25 seconds for junior Quinn Demerchant to convert from a Houlton turnover, giving his team the 4-0 lead with well over 39 minutes left to play. 

The Wildcats would not score their fifth goal for another ten minutes or so, but that wouldn’t be for a lack of chances, as following the kickoff, the ball didn’t leave the Shires’ half of the field for nearly a full ten minutes. When it was finally cleared, any hopes by Houlton’s defense for a chance to take a break were shattered when the ball was quickly returned back downfield, eventually leading to a second tally from Malachi Cummings. 

Thirty seconds later, the margin would grow once again, as Michaud beat the goaltender for his third career goal off of a penalty shot as a result of a foul drawn by junior Jonah Roy. 

The game would become rather stagnant for the next twenty minutes until a Ryllan Thibault ’22 shot grew the lead to an astounding seven, and that wouldn’t even be the last, as Kinney would cap off the game with a last second strike as the clock ran down. 

Eighty minutes and eight goals later, the Wildcats would walk away with a shutout win, outshooting their opponent 32-1. “Our team played together throughout the whole game and when we play like that as a whole we’re extremely tough to beat,” said junior goalkeeper Xavier McAtee after the game. Presque Isle improves to 2-1 with the win, while Houlton falls to 1-2.