Week 9/10 Thoughts on the Weekend

- We were not quite sure how we wanted to tackle this weekend’s recap. Due to the aftermath of the Lewiston shooting games were required to be postponed to the weekdays after Sunday. This meant no Friday or Saturday football. We are not here to debate those decisions. We felt then, much as we still do now, that the right decision was made to delay all the games. Sportsball in all its forms can be played another day. The loss of human life cannot. So we too had to adjust what we did, much like everyone else. So we decided to try our best to merge what we can from week nine into the week ten recap. That means that some items may not get mentioned for brevity sake.

- The lone Friday game of the weekend was held in Fryeburg as the Raiders hosted Cheverus in the Class C South regional semifinal. The biggest swing of the night came in the second period as Fryeburg Academy, already ahead 7-0, tripled the lead following a touchdown run after a blocked punt, and then a touchdown pass followed a fumbled kickoff return. Those two scores happened in a series of plays separated by just 13 seconds. And not to be outdone, the Raiders responded to a Giovanni St. Onge quarterback keeper score with a 90-yard touchdown kickoff return by Logan Walton for a 28-6 score in the third quarter. Gunnar Saunders scored his second touchdown of the night for Fryeburg Academy in fourth quarter before Cheverus got the final nine points by way of a Elijah Timlin touchdown run and a safety on a Raiders punt in the end zone that led to the 34-15 final. The win puts the Raiders in their second regional final in six years. Their last trip in 2018 was against Leavitt, which the Raiders won 20-14 in Turner.

- No matter how sluggish of a start they might have, a constant is that Lawrence is going to make a deep playoff run more often than not. First was their rise through the Northern B ranks to the number one spot in the region. Then there was Saturday’s 42-7 victory over Gardiner. When they we not running over the Gardiner defense, the Bulldog defense was making stop after stop in addition to their four interceptions on the day. The win will put them into their sixth regional final in the past ten year. They will host the winner of Monday’s game between Messalonskee and Cony. The Bulldogs will look to do something that hasn’t been done since 2012 and that is to win their regional final and get back to state.

- While Oceanside got the comments for their explosive offense and unbeaten run, Medomak Valley hasn’t been too far behind the pace as the Panthers are returning to their second consecutive region final following Saturday’s 18-6 win against Hermon. After a scoreless first quarter, the Panthers took an early lead and did not yield even after Hermon came within a score in the third quarter.

- In a game that lacked much of the hoopla of their match-ups in 2021 and 2022, Leavitt jumped out to a commanding 52-point advantage at the half as the Hornets defeated Cape Elizabeth 59-29 in their Southern Class C regional semifinal on Saturday. The victory puts Leavitt in their fifth consecutive Southern Class C regional final. They defeated York in 2019 and Cape Elizabeth in 2022 while losing to Fryeburg Academy in 2018 and Cape Elizabeth in 2021.

- Oceanside, the top-ranked team in Northern Class C, continued their unbeaten run with a 52-14 victory over Nokomis in the Northern Class C regional semifinal. They held leads of 36-6 at halftime and 52-6 at the end of the third quarter before the Warriors scored a touchdown in the final quarter. The victory brings them to their first regional final under the reconsolidated Oceanside High School name, and even longer still since their pre-consolidation name Rockland Tigers went to a regional final.

- The Winthrop/Monmouth-Hall-Dale co-op known as the Ramblers rallied when it mattered the most. They tied the game 14-14 in the fourth quarter after Oak Hill having the lead for much of the game. The Ramblers got their golden opportunity when Brody Adams picked off a Kai Taylor pitch, returning the interception to Oak Hill’s 33 with a little over a minute left. The Ramblers moved the ball up to Oak Hill’s 13-yard line, setting the stage for Gabe Robinson’s game-winning walk-off field goal for the 17-14 victory. For the fourth consecutive season the Ramblers have made it to the regional final / Class D semifinal game.

- Wells showed no signs of being sluggish coming off their long bye week and a half in their Class D Southern regional semifinal game against Freeport. Running back Eli Potter scored on four touchdowns in the first half, while defensively the team forced four touchdowns, one of which was a blocked punt, en route to a 42-0 halftime lead and a 42-7 victory. While we mentioned that the Ramblers have been to a number of Class D semifinal contests, this is Wells’ first regional final game in five years. The Warriors have won their last four games against the Ramblers: 41-0 earlier this year, 41-22 in the 2018 Southern Class D regional semifinal, 36-18 in a 2018 Class D regular season game, and 46-0 in a 2017 Class D regular season game.

- It has been a solid season for John Bapst as they separated from the Northern Class D pack to lock down second place and a first round bye for the playoffs. The Crusaders started out hot with two touchdowns on their first two drives and held a 20-6 lead at the half, en route to a 28-14 victory over Old Town in the Class D North regional semifinal. John Bapst will play in their first football regional final in 11 years. Their last trip was in 2012 in the old Eastern Class C where they lost to the eventual 2012 Class C state champion Foxcroft Academy by the score of 33-7.

- Speaking of Foxcroft Academy, the Ponies looked just as dominant as ever during their 62-7 victory over Winslow in the other Class D North regional semifinal game. After the Ponies forced Winslow into a three-and-out punt on the Black Raiders first drive, Foxcroft Academy’s Gage Beaudry scored the first of three rushing touchdowns in the first half. He ran for 184 yards on the evening. Another Pony with a big night was Jadon Richard. In addition to his 36-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Rayfield in the second quarter, he intercepted three Winslow passes and returned one of them for a touchdown. This was part of a 21-point first quarter run and a 42-0 lead at halftime. Winslow scored their first touchdown, a run from Matt Quirion, just second into the start of the fourth quarter, but Foxcroft Academy added two more touchdowns before the final buzzer sounded. The win puts the Ponies in their fifth regional final / state semifinal in six seasons / seven years.

- Mount Desert Island twice played as the road team and twice won their games to earn their second ever state football championship trip by way of their 26-6 victory over top-seeded Camden Hills on Saturday. The Trojans were able to re-gain possession following a fumbled punt and then scored shortly afterwards on the first of four Spencer Laurendeau rushing touchdowns on the afternoon. The Trojans held a 14-6 lead after a late William Haslam rushing touchdown put Camden Hills on the board. This was in a half where the Trojans outgained the Windjammers by a almost a 7-to-1 margin (218 to 33). Mount Desert Island recovered a fumbled Camden Hills return, setting up Laurendeau’s third touchdown of the day for a 20-6 lead. With a little under four minutes in the game, Laurendeau scored his fourth and final touchdown that led to the final score.

- The 8 man Large School Southern regional final had two teams that each provided their own feel-good stories coming in. Greely, one year removed from re-establishing their own football program after having to co-op due to low numbers and going 0-7 in 2022, came into the game winners of their last four games after starting the season 1-3. Brunswick is almost starting from scratch with their program after going 0-8 in 2022 in Northern Class B. Brunswick was the winner of their regular season meeting, a 42-38 victory on September 14th. Greely came out with a strong first half, leading 18-8. Brunswick narrowed that gap as Cam Beal completed a touchdown pass to Liam Scholl and a two-point conversion to Trevor Gerrish that narrowed the gap to 18-16 just a few minutes into the third quarter. That was as close as it got as Greely scored twice, the first a 70-yard Andrew Padgett touchdown run and the next a Jerik Phillips 25-yard touchdown run that gave the Rangers a 32-16 lead. They exchanged a touchdown a-piece in the fourth quarter that gave us the final score a 40-22. This will be Greely’s first ever football state championship appearance.

- Maranacook held Old Orchard Beach to their second lowest offensive production of the season on Saturday. The other side of that is the Seagulls still were just as dominant as ever during their 56-8 win in the 8 man Small School Southern regional final on Saturday. The triple-threat that is Wes Gallant, Brady Plante, and Riley Provencher were their usual selves as they had a hand in five of the team’s eight touchdowns. Defensively the team was just as stingy as they have been all season with five forced turnovers of Maranacook while limiting them to 53 yards of offense and five first downs. With this win the mind-boggling numbers continue on offense and defense for Old Orchard Beach. In ten games the Seagulls have scored 648 points. There are some 8 man teams that have not scored that many points in two or three seasons combined. Defensively the Seagulls have allowed just 40 points in ten games. Only six teams since 2004 have allowed 40 or fewer points in that span. And, just so you know, the core production from this team is coming from juniors.

- In a game that had none of the shenanigans that led to a premature end in the regular season, Orono was able to weather a late Stearns rally to emerge victorious by the score of 58-40 to punch their return ticket to the 8 man Small School state championship on Saturday. Orono held a 28-6 second quarter lead with quarterback Jack Brewer throwing two scores and rushing for a third. They also had blocked a Stearns punt for their fourth touchdown. The Minutemen, playing in their third consecutive regional final, showed they were no spring chickens to these sort of big-pressure contests as Caden Raymond and Lucas Pelkey scored in rapid succession that brought Stearns to within a 34-28 gap in the final moments of the first half. The two teams exchanged scores in the third quarter before Orono pulled ahead for good with a Jack Brewer to Will Francis touchdown pass and a Ben Francis touchdown run that was the last score of the game.

- There are seven games that will not be part of this recap discussion. The four Class A semifinal games will be held tomorrow along with the remaining three Class B semifinal games.

- There have been ten lower-seed victories in these playoffs. Number three-ranked Mount Desert Island had two of them after defeating number two Morse and then number one Camden Hills.

- For a second consecutive year in the 8 man large school class the contenders are not top regular season teams. In 2022 it was number three Waterville and number two Yarmouth. In 2023 it will be number three Mount Desert Island and number two Greely.

- New Hampshire tracker
Bedford defeated Merrimack 48-0 last week. The Bulldogs finished the season 9-0.
Bishop Guertin defeated Nashua South 37-20 last week. The Cardinals finished the season 5-3.
Dover lost to Exeter 16-7 last week. The Green Wave finished the season 5-3.
Merrimack lost to Bedford 48-0 last week. The Tomahawks finished the season 3-6.
Portsmouth-Oyster River defeated Timberlane 47-7 last week. The ClipperCats finished the season 9-0.
Spaulding defeated Winnacunnet 35-18 last week. The Red Raiders finished the season 5-4.
Winnacunnet lost to Spaulding 35-18 last week. The Warriors finished the season 1-8.

- Quote of the week (week nine)
"These guys come out, and this is a sanctuary for them - a place where they can just get together and play football, whether it’s a game, a practice, whatever. We have a player who lost an uncle, and we wanted to show him we had 47 players, their coaches and an entire community behind him. That’s how we roll; we’re a family."
Dave St. Hilaire, Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale head coach

- Quote of the week (week ten)
"It was putting in the work in the offseason. Last year was kind of a proving season. We got to learn. This year, we executed."
Andrew Padgett, Greely quarterback

- Streak tracker
There are 6 unbeaten teams in Maine, down from last week’s 7.
6 teams ended their winning streak of 4 or more games; Camden Hills (8), Stearns (7), Dirigo (6), Oak Hill (5), Hermon (5), Houlton (4)
The longest active winning streaks belong to Leavitt (20), Foxcroft Academy (17), Old Orchard Beach (17), Oceanside (9), Orono (9), Fryeburg Academy (8), and Portland (8)

What are your thoughts on the weekend?