March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Marshalls at core of Madawaska mania

There’s probably not another house in Madawaska as excited as the Marshalls’ right now.

Ed Marshall, along with his assistant coach and wife, Cathy, directed his girls soccer team to a Class C Eastern Maine championship Saturday. Son Ben Marshall scored a goal to help lead the boys team to their fifth regional crown. Daughter Meghan is the backup goalie on the girls squad.

This Saturday, the Marshalls will head down to Orono to play for the Class C state titles. The girls will meet Richmond at 10 a.m. and the boys will face Falmouth at 1 p.m.

“There’s a lot of excitement up here, but it’s going to be business as usual this week,” Ed Marshall said. “Of course, there’s less time to do business since it’s dark at 4:15, but this week is gravy for us. We just have to keep the energy up.”

Although it’s exciting and unusual, Madawaska’s strong soccer teams have doubled up on Eastern Maine titles before – the Owls last won double regional soccer championships in 1992.

“It’s always nice when that happens,” said boys coach Marc Michaud.

Saturday’s win was the girls’ second regional crown.

Madawaska fans had a cellular phone link going on at last Saturday’s games. By halftime of the girls’ game against Schenck in East Millinocket, the boys had won their title with a win over Searsport.

And back in town, fans on the other end of the phone knew that the Owls had a 2-1 lead over the Wolverines.

“Come halftime, we had won and they wanted to put a little more effort into it,” Ben said.

When the girls got home, they were met at St. David’s Parish on Route 1 in Madawaska, where the boys boarded the bus for the rest of the trip into town.

“Normally, before we parade into town we stop and the girls get on our bus,” Ben said. “This year, we got on theirs.”

Both teams got a reception at the high school later that night.

Aside from his girls soccer post, Ed Marshall is also the Madawaska athletic director. You’d think with all of his responsibilities that he would never get to see his son play, but with control over the scheduling he was able to attend 14 of Ben’s games.

“I was able to make some arrangements with the times, and the athletic directors in the Aroostook League were helpful,” he said. “My team was very supportive of me as well.”

The Marshalls won’t have to worry about who watches which game on Saturday. Both teams are playing in the same location with starting times three hours apart, so the family will be in the same place.

With both teams in the state championships, the only question may be who is actually left in town that morning.

“There’s a couple of fan buses going down and I saw a lot of people signing up in school,” Ben Marshall said. “It should be great.”


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