Luke Bakos leads Grass Roots of N.E. to boys U-16 title

By PAUL R. DUBOIS

Valley Breeze Sports Editor

pdubois@valleybreeze.com

CUMBERLAND - Sometimes sports puts you in a do-or-die position.

Luke Bakos found himself in that position twice on Saturday and came up huge both times as he led Grass Roots of New England to the Cumberland Youth Soccer Association Boys U-16 playoff championship.

The goalkeeper for his team, Bakos came up huge in both the semifinal and final games that both went to shoot-outs.

His team was locked in a scoreless tie after regulation and a five-minute overtime in the semi-finals and had to go to shoot-out, where five players from each team get a free kick on goal. Not only did he stone the opposition, Bakos also kicked a goal to lead his team to a 4-2 win and a berth in the finals.

It was deja-vu in the championship game against regular season champion Subway. The teams battled on even terms throughout the game, which ended in a scoreless tie.

Once again the game went to a shoot-out, and once again Bakos came up huge, making a pair of diving stops on shots and once again scoring a goal as his team pulled out the win and took the championship trophy.

In the final game, Tom Lacroix, Grass Roots' leading scorer, put his team up 1-0 in the shoot-out by whistling a kick into the corner of the net. Bacos stuffed hard shots from both Mike Sczerapa and Dan Salazar, and then scored a goal himself as his team went up 2-0.

Ben Bradley knocked one out of Bakos' reach for a score, cutting the lead to 2-1, but Chris Southiere countered for Grass Roots, making it 3-1 with two shooters remaining for each team.

James Picard knocked home his shot for Subway, giving his team one last hope after a Grass Roots miss. Nick Lindgren was the final shooter, and when his bullet boot sailed over the net, Grass Roots took the title.

In the shoot-out against Michael's Meats, all four Grass Roots of New England shooters put the ball into the net - Lacroix, Bakos, Southiere and Alex Chammat - and when Bakos blocked two of the four shots that came his way, it was over.

Subway was the regular season champion, and Grass Roots finished second.

Subway made it to the final game with a 1-0 win over Lepine Financial when Bradley kicked a perfect goal that went just over the Lepine keeper and just under the crossbar for the game's only score with time running out.

In the championship game, Subway dominated play early and gave itself several scoring opportunities, but could not get the ball past Bakos, who made several key saves. Helping to anchor the defensive effort for Grass Roots were Jack Carroll, Brandon Perry, Andrew Van Winter and Lacroix.

Helping to keep Grass Roots at bay in a scoreless first half were Subway's Nick Wentzell, Tyler Mobrice and especially Lindgren, who was all over the field.

In the second half, Chris Southiere nearly broke away on a couple of occasions for Grass Roots, but Lindgren ran him down both times and took possession of the ball.

Mike Sczerapa had several strong rushes for Subway, including one deep into the Grass Roots zone when he was tripped and awarded a penalty kick. That could have been Subway's best opportunity to score and Sczerapa ripped a stinging shot, but Bakos reacted and managed to stop the sizzler, keeping the game scoreless.

Through the remainder of regulation and overtime, neither team could dent the net, setting up the shoot-out and Bakos' heroics.