Crisfield boy’s soccer claims regional championship with impressive performance against Mardela

MARDELA SRPINGS, Md. – Crisfield boy’s soccer claimed the 1A East II Region Championship over Mardela 6-1 Tuesday in Mardela Springs.

Both teams came into the region final off of big wins in the semis–Crisfield winning 5-0 over Cambridge-South Dorchester, and Mardela topping Pocomoke 4-2–but it was the visiting Crisfield squad who carried that momentum into Tuesday’s game. The Crabbers struck quickly with goals from Aiden Martin and Connor Haynie to go up 2-0 with just over 10 minutes gone in the first half.

The Warriors stabilized for the final 30 minutes of the frame, holding a majority of possession but unable to cut into the deficit.

Crisfield’s offense picked back up to start the second half, with Haynie finding his second of the game just two minutes after the break. The Crabbers kept churning out strikes after that, reaching a 6-0 lead before finally conceding late in the match.

“It’s the best game we played all season, probably, in my four years I feel like,” said Haynie. The senior forward finished with two goals and an assist, with a hand in Crisfield’s first three tallies. 

“We had a plan. We came out. We executed the plan,” Head Coach Harold Frock said, “When you practice what your plan is going to be, and you execute, it just makes you–it makes me very proud to be their coach.”

The Crabbers found themselves as the last team standing in the region despite a rough 1-7 start to the season that included a 3-1 loss to Mardela back on September 24th. “We have a lot of passion. I mean, our season didn’t start out well, if you’ve been following us, but we finished it, that’s for sure,” Haynie said.

For 16th-year head coach Frock and his team, it was the first region title since 2023. It’s an experience that Haynie recalled being a part of as a freshman. “It means a lot, because I remember [my] freshman year when we won it, it meant the world. It meant the world to our seniors then and I just didn’t want it to be over.” The parallels to 2023 didn’t stop there for the senior captain, who said, “Compared to my freshman year team, [this team] is sort of the same because we have a lot of passion and we all are there for each other. Whenever, wherever.”

The team celebrated on Mardela’s field, knowing they’ll have to go on the road in MPSSAA 1A Quarterfinals. Even in the midst of the hugs and cheers, Frock couldn’t help but think about the Crabbers fishing for their first state semifinal appearance since 2019. “At the end of the day, we came out with the win. But we still have more work to do.”