On Oct. 7, the Boothbay Region Special Olympics soccer team traveled to Husson University for the Central Maine skills competition and tournament.

The high school age and adult team started the action off by playing against Living Innovations with longtime friend and contender, Molly Berry.

Joey Ranco got by the defense, and with an assist from Ronda LeConte, scored the first goal. He scored Boothbay's second goal and Adam Jackimovicz kicked in the third goal. The Boothbay team made adjustments and substitutions. Next, Thomas Wilcox put in goal number 4 and from that point, Boothbay had the skill and advantage over Living Innovations.

Joey Ranco scored goal number 5 and on the next play, Adam Jackimovicz passed to Brenda LeConte who put in goal number 7. Matt Farnham tackled the next player, passed to Joey for the eighth goal, which secured the win. Danny Miller played in the goal and made many dramatic and fantastic saves.

The skills competition was half over after the first win and Royce Rogers was on top of the pack. He finished his skills earning a silver for all his good work. Anthony Angelico worked real hard at the goal kicking as well as dribbling, landing the fourth place ribbon, and Blake Chadwick, in the 16-21 year old category, took the top position. The team burst into applause as Kelsey Hoyle, a new athlete, led the team in cheers.

Next, the student team played their old rival, Oceanside Special Olympians, coming away with the gold. Matthew Hyson played goalie. He stopped six shots on goal. Deshawn Averill, “the beast,” put in the first goal. Valerie Giles played in the front line wing position for the first time and made a blocked attempt at the goal. Chloe Desjardins substituted in the front line and “the piper,” John Rankin, kept moving and sweeping away Oceanside’s ball. Vincent Giles provided relief for “Piper," getting to the tackle position as needed. It was a hard game.

The second game of the high school age and adult team was with Amicus. Joey Ranco scored three goals and Brenda LeConte scored one. Boothbay won the game, 4-1. As the tourney continued, Boothbay had to face Amicus again in the final game with the gold medal on the line. The pressure was on as Amicus put in their best player and longtime friend, Chris Oster, who has amazing athletic skills. He was flanked by Cailyn Goss, who is no stranger to athletics as well. It was a tough back and forth game.

Adam Jackimovicz got by their line twice and scored on assists from Ronda LeConte and Matt Farnham, who had the best tournament action ever in his long career. Danny Miller continued to block shots on goal, some with lots of action and dramatics, attempted by the tough Chris Oster. Cailyn Goss attempted to block Ronda LeConte but she got enough of the ball on the kick for the winning goal in the final eight seconds of the game. The crowd erupts as the Boothbay Special Olympics team is back on top.

The weather was beautiful which made winning all the more sweet. Boothbay athletes were congratulated on Thursday back at school and received many letters from the fifth and sixth grade writers of Mrs. Parkhurst’s classes.