Week 12 Thoughts on the Weekend

- It doesn’t seem that long ago that this 2023 season started. Then again it was back when the leaves on the trees were still green and the sun was not setting before 5 pm. While the season officially kicked on at midnight on August 14th, for many the season went much further back if you count the camps, the lifting, workouts, studying the playbooks, going to the 7-on-7s, more lifting, and yet more workouts. The awarding of a gold ball does not happen magically with the handing over of the coveted trophy without first putting in the work. As the legendary Vince Lombardi said, “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

- The lead-up to the state championship games gave us first place teams from all four classes competing for state championships for the first time since the return to four classes in 2013. And prior to that, the last time it happened was in 2011 when six undefeated teams met in the three state champions in Portland. Six 11-0 teams. Bucksport, Cheverus, Lawrence, Leavitt, Wells, and Yarmouth.

- With almost every team making the playoffs, it created the interesting peculiarity where only Thornton Academy finished the season playing the maximum of 12 games.

- We apologize to every person who we sent our blanket fan FAQ response to yesterday when asked if the game was streaming or if the game would be broadcasted on TV. There weren’t too many but it was enough. Understand that making posts, watching the game, getting pictures or videos, providing game updates, and banning the onslaught of the scum that I pointedly refer to as scammers can be a very time-intensive endeavor. So if I can save time like copying and pasting the link to the FAQ, then that is what must be done.

- In years past there has been a rotation of the home team between the Northern and Southern teams in the state championship. When Class A and D went to a single table, this forced a change that resulted in the higher seeded team being the home team. So in 2023 when the realignment resulted in regions returning to those classes, it was decided by the football committee to restart the rotation and name one region the home side across classes A through D. This year that went to the South. Next year the North teams will be the designated home team.

- Our first game of the day in Portland was the Class A state championship between the Southern region representative, the 7-4 Thornton Academy Golden Trojans and the Northern region representative, the 10-0 Portland Bulldogs. These teams did meet during the regular season on September 1. In that game Portland beat Thornton Academy in Saco by the score of 35-28.

- Right away in this game things did not start favorably for Portland. On their second place of the opening drive of the game running back Aidan McGowan was stripped of the ball and Thornton Academy recovered on the Portland 32 yard line. Thornton Academy would only get 12 yards in the almost two minutes to follow and settled for a JP Baez 37-yard field goal and the early 3-0 lead. By the end of the first quarter the two sides exchanged two possessions each that were separated by punts. Six more punts took place in the second quarter until Portland got onto the scoreboard. With 4:26 remaining in the first half and Portland sitting on their own 41 yard line, Cordell Jones took a snap and instead of running launched a high-arcing pass to Hunter Temple, who had outraced the secondary with nobody in front of him as he hauled in the pass and proceeded to run untouched into the end zone for a 59-yard touchdown. Portland would get the ball back after a Thornton Academy punt and drove deep downfield over the final 3:19 of the first half. On the final play of the first half Portland brought out Justin Bouchard for the 33-yard field goal but his kick was wide right.

- Both sides struggled to move the ball in the first half with much ease. Missed passes, penalties, and punts were the name of the game for both sides. While Portland had a distinctive yardage advantage (137 to –4), they just weren’t able to get enough momentum. Both sides combined for 11 penalties in the half. And they combined for 11 punts with only a handful that were returned.

- Thornton Academy made good on the opening drive of the second half as they drove 68 yards over five minutes and punctuated the drive with a Harry Bunch touchdown run on fourth and inches at the Portland goal. The PAT kick gave them a 10-7 lead. Thornton Academy would hold Portland on their opening possession and forced a punt. On the punt a Thornton Academy player got a piece of the Portland punt, which sent it flying over the Bulldogs sideline where it was spotted at the Portland 27. With the short field the Golden Trojans added to their lead a little over two minutes later as Wyatt Benoit went on a masterful run of 13 yards (when he likely ran for double that amount total) to the end zone. The PAT kick upped that lead to 17-7. Portland was forced once again to punt, and like their last drive suffered a punting mishap (a punt of net 10 yards) that give the Golden Trojans another short field at the Portland 32. This time the Bulldogs got a break as Wyatt Benoit was hit on a run and the ball was knocked loose. It took a bounce and was recovered by Isaak Alkafaji. With less than half a minute in the third quarter Louis Thurston threw a short pass to Hunter Temple along the Thornton Academy sideline. Hunter would outrun the defenders for a 58-yard touchdown run. The PAT kick brought Portland within three at 17-14. Thornton Academy would make it a two-score game when Wyatt Benoit broke out of the pocket and went on a 66-yard run along the Thornton Academy sideline for a touchdown with eight minutes remaining in the game. The PAT kick gave them a 24-14 lead. The Bulldogs would not be able to chip away at the deficit as they suffered a turnover on downs and then an interception by Brady Kezal that was the last significant play of the quarter and of the game.

- It was definitely a tale of two halves for Thornton Academy. In the first half they gained only –4 yards, while getting 201 yards in the second half. They also held onto the ball around 17 minutes and 39 seconds of the half. Meanwhile Portland struggled mightily in the second half. They only gained 95 yards and had the ball an under whelming 6 minutes and 21 seconds. The deflected punt and the short punt, the interception, and going two for seven passing in the second half was took much to over come.

- Thornton Academy’s Wyatt Benoit had quite the game. He went 8 for 12 passing for 87 yards, but it was his ground game that was significant as he ran 11 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

- The title is Thornton Academy’s second in three years as they became the first Class A team to appear in three consecutive state championship games. The title, their 11th, ties them with their cross-river rival Biddeford for the most Class A footballs in state history. Portland on the other hand is still seeking their first championship since 2002. The loss is their fifth since that time (2015, 2016, 2018, 2022, and 2023).

- In a unique observation, Thornton Academy recorded the fewest wins of any Class A champion going back to 2004 with their 8-4 record. However, they are not the most recent team to have done so as other teams in other classes have won a title with eight total wins. Maine Central Institute won the Class C title in 2017 with an 8-4 record. Nokomis won the Class C title in 2018 with an 8-4 record. Lisbon won the Class D title in 2019 with an 8-3 record. Cheverus won the 8 man large school title in the 2021 season with an 8-0 record. And Wells won the Class D title in 2023 with an 8-3 record. Only one team has won a title with seven victories and that was Dexter, who won the 2021 8 man small school title in 2021 with a 7-2 record. It should be noted that one of their games was cancelled and they also had a regular season bye week.

- Up the turnpike in Lewiston, at the same time was the first game of the day at Ron Roux Field in the Class C state championship between the Southern region representative, the 10-0 Leavitt Hornets and the Northern region representative, the 10-0 Oceanside Mariners. These teams did not meet in the regular season. In fact, one would need to go all the way back to 2012 to find the last time these teams played one-another. In the week seven meeting it was Leavitt that defeated Oceanside 42-16.

- A sign of what was to come happened on the first drive of the game as Oceanside was backed up and forced to punt for the first time this season. In that sequence of events a Leavitt lineman deflected it, where it was scooped up and scored by the Hornets just 3:05 into the game. Leavitt would increase their lead after forcing another three-and-out and, with a short field to work with made even shorter by a Oceanside face-mask penalty, Leavitt scored on their first play of the game from a Will Keach run to go up 14-0. After Leavitt forced a turnover on downs against the Mariners, they scored their third touchdown, albeit taking four plays to do so, as Noah Carpenter threw a 32-yard touchdown pass & run to Keach. The Hornets lead was 22-0 after the successful two-point conversion. Things continued to go downhill for Oceanside as they lost their center Nate Thompson to injury late in the first quarter. Going into the second quarter Carpenter scored a touchdown with his feet and on a pass to Aiden Turcotte to put the Hornets up 36-0. They added a final touchdown, a Jace Negley one-yard run in, to cap a 65-yard drive for a 43-0 halftime lead.

- The 43 points at the half already ranked Leavitt as the 6th highest score in Class C state championship game history, and had them as the 23rd highest scoring game across classes A through D in championship game history.

- With Leavitt getting the first possession of the second half it only took them two plays by one player to further that lead. Keach returned the opening kick 58 yards before going down at the Oceanside 2 yard line. He got the first offensive call and ran it in. The PAT kick gave them a 50-0 lead. A stopped drive and a Mariners fumble lead to two more Leavitt touchdowns, one a Carpenter pass to Keegan Reny and the other a fumble-return for a 45-yard touchdown by Mason Henderson. Oceanside would get a small bit of personal pride as Robbie Blair scored put the Mariners on the scoreboard 65-6. In the fourth quarter Brandon Bilodeau scored for Leavitt and Cohen Galley scored for Oceanside against the Hornets JV defense to give us the final of 71-12.

- With Noah’s three touchdowns on the day, he finished the season with 43 touchdowns (24 passing and 19 rushing). Cohen Galley’s touchdown gives him 47 (23 passing and 24 rushing) on the season. Eight players figured in the Hornets touchdowns.

- Prior to this game’s final, the highest score by a team was the 1985 Cheverus Stags, winners of the Class A championship over Lewiston by the score of 65-13.

- In the modern era (2004 to present) only five teams have won back-to-back state titles with perfect seasons. Cheverus did it in 2010 and 2011 in Class A, Yarmouth did it in 2010 and 2011 in Class C, Winslow did it in 2014 and 2015 in Class C, Wells did it in 2017 and 2018 in Class D, and now Leavitt has done it in 2022 and 2023 in Class C.

- While we would like to continue to talk about the extraordinary season that Leavitt had, unfortunately the conversation of their achievements seems to get overshadowed by their success. It seems to be a trend in the social media circles that the moment a team goes on a lengthy winning streak, or wins two titles in a row, that someone seems to think that the success should force them to be moved up a class or removed from the state ranks for football. We could come up with some lengthy statement about it. But instead we will go to a comment last night by one of the better sports writers you will find. “Every time someone kicks the crap out of somebody y’all want reclassification. Which is why Maine has six state champions for like 75 teams. Leavitt is the best team in the state this year, period. It doesn’t mean they should have to compete with schools double their size every year just to make you feel good. They have earned their success at their level, and it’s going to continue.” – Kal Oakes

- By order of its finish, we are moving to the afternoon game from Lewiston, the Class D state championship between the Southern region representative, the 7-3 Wells Warriors and the Northern region representative, the 10-0 Foxcroft Academy Ponies. These teams did not meet in the regular season. The last time they met was in the 2018 Class D state championship game at the University of Maine. That game, moved from Friday to Saturday due to a snowstorm, resulted in a 55-20 Wells victory.

- The game was a tale of two halves. One half went the way many people predicted. The other half went the way one team made it happen. The first half saw two things happen. The first was Foxcroft Academy playing strongly and capitalizing on Wells turnovers. Four of them to be precise. Foxcroft Academy started the scoring first as Silas Topolski intercepted his first of two interceptions on the game which then led to a Wyatt Rayfield touchdown pass to him. The Ponies then capitalized on another Warriors miscue as they recovered a fumble on the kickoff return. Rayfield would score shortly afterwards on a 28-yard touchdown pass to Gage Beaudry to put Foxcroft Academy up 14-0 in the first quarter. Beaudry would score on a 30-yard touchdown run later that put Foxcroft Academy up 21-0. By the end of the half Wells had yet to get within the Ponies 20-yard line and were staring a three-touchdown deficit.

- In the interest of disclosure we will admit that we felt this game was out of reach. We were likely not the only ones. The Foxcroft Academy had played a very dominant season and made Wells pay dearly for each of their turnovers. Leads of this much just don’t evaporate.

- Minutes into the third quarter Wells turned the ball over again, a fumble, and this appeared to be the most crushing turnover yet of the game. Foxcroft Academy was poised to strike, getting to the Wells 14 and going for it on fourth down. However, Wells made the stop and forced the turnover on downs. Going back the other way, Wells drove downfield and got a seven-yard touchdown run from Conner Whitten at 3:58 of the third quarter that put Wells on the board. The missed PAT meant they were down 21-6. The Ponies would drive the length of the field but suffered two strokes of misfortune. The first was a Rayfield touchdown pass that was called back due to a penalty. On the following play Cody Haynes intercepted the Rayfield pass in the end zone to end a second deep Foxcroft Academy drive. Back Wells went the other way, covering 79 yards before Eli Potter got the 80th and final yard with his touchdown run. The Warriors scored on the two-point conversion and the game was 21-14 with 7:41 to go. Foxcroft Academy would drove the length of the field and like their two prior drives, this one ended in the red zone with another turnover. This one of the fumble-variety that gave Wells possession on their own 17-yard line with about six minutes to go. They then went on one last drive, eating as much time off the clock and they methodically moved down field. This drive, unlikely almost an hour ago or even just 15 minutes ago, culminated in the Warriors having a fourth and goal at the Foxcroft Academy three-yard line with 24 seconds remaining. Brooks Fox took the snap out of the shotgun formation, looked right, and found Whitten all alone. His pass hit the running back, who stopped and sent an oncoming Ponies player diving before taking a spinning-step forward across the goal line for the touchdown to make it 21-20. Going for two and the victory, Whitten made a beeline for the endzone’s right corner and turned around in time to catch a Fox pass that went over two Ponies players and into the breadbasket for the successful two-point conversion and the improbably 22-21 lead. Foxcroft Academy would have 19 seconds to go 63 yards. Two plays later, one a sack and the other an illegal forward pass, and the improbable comeback was finalized with the most unlikely of finishes in a state championship game.

- They have been comeback victories before. In our time there was Ben Lucas’ Last Drive that culminated with Cony’s 2013 30-23 victory over Kennebunk. Bonny Eagle came from behind the following day to score the 31-28 game-winner against Cheverus. Then there was the MCI Miracle, the touchdown scored on a busted field goal attempt in the final moments of a tied game in misting conditions that sent the Huskies into a 20-14 celebration in the 2016 Class D title game. And then five years later Dexter scored The Tigers Touchdown on the last play of the game to defeat Maranacook 34-30. Big moments, big finishes, these are etched into the memories. Wells’ finish will get added to that list in our memory having had the biggest come-from-behind victory in recent memory, if not state football history.

- Conner Whitten had a game to remember on the state’s biggest stage. He ran 23 times for 140 yards and ran for and caught a touchdown. But most important was his game-winning two-point conversion. On the other side of the ball, Gage Beaudry ran 15 times for 125 yards and score the team’s third touchdown while catching the team’s second touchdown.

- Even with Foxcroft Academy’s loss, they finished the season scoring the second most of points by any team in classes A through D with 519. That was just 3 points shy of Leavitt’s state-leading 522. They also finished the season with a state-best 5.72 points allow per game. That is less than Old Orchard Beach’s 7.82 points allowed per game. They also shattered weekly highs and lows in points scored and points allowed in the renewed history of Class D.

- The title is Wells sixth football title and their fourth since 2016.

- What would be the fourth and final game of the day was the afternoon contest in Portland for the Class B state championship between the Southern region representative, the 9-1 Kennebunk Rams and the Northern region representative, the 8-2 Lawrence Bulldogs. These teams did not meet in the regular season. We’re unsure when they may have been a game between the two as it would be well beyond our records.

- After Lawrence was forced to punt on their opening drive, it was Kennebunk that struck first as they gains 51 yards, the last 13 came from Jonah Barstow as he scored the Rams first points that gave them a 7-0 lead. Lawrence’s second drive almost ended very badly as the fourth down snap evaded the Bulldogs punter. He was able to recover the loose ball and got enough on his punt to send it out of bounds at the Kennebunk 44. They were not able to get much more than a few yards before they pinned Lawrence deep with a punt that was spotted at the Lawrence 12 yard line. Between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second quarter, Lawrence went on a drive that lasted 7 minutes and 41 seconds and ended with quarterback Michael Hamlin scored on a seven-yard touchdown run. With the PAT kick successful the game was tied 7-7. Kennebunk reclaimed the lead almost three minutes later when Brady Stone ran up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown run. Their 14-7 lead would get tied yet again as Hamlin pass into the end zone has bobbled by the initial receiver, only to be caught by a diving Gavin Lunt. The Bulldogs carried a little momentum into halftime as Cole Quirion intercepted a Gray Compton Hail Mary pass in the final seconds. The Bulldogs’ Hamlin took a knee bring the teams to halftime.

- Both teams set a hard pace as each featured wing-T offenses that puts a premium on brute force running between the ends. Except for a few pass attempts, both sides stuck to the run.

- Kennebunk immediately hit the turf running to start the second half as the first play resulted in a 55-yard run from Jonah Barstow on the opening play of the second half. Several plays and 3 minutes and 10 seconds later, Stone scored his second touchdown of the night to put Kennebunk up 21-14. Lawrence would be forced to put on their first drive of the second half, but got a fortunate break as they recovered a Kennebunk fumble on their 36 yard line. However, the luck of the recovered did not transition over to the offense and they were forced to punt a second time. On this drive Kennebunk went 64-yard drive that lasted 6 minutes and 53 seconds, ending with a Moose Keys. The PAT kick would be no good but the Rams would hold the 27-14 lead. Lawrence quickly responded with a short-fast drive that ended with a one-yard Colton Carter touchdown run, bringing the Bulldogs to a 27-20 score. Kennebunk would put the game out of reach in the final five minutes of the game behind a 46-yard touchdown run from Keys, his second of the game, and an Austin West 14-yard touchdown run. These scores sandwich a Lawrence turnover on downs at their own 23-yard line as they team tried to take to the air in a last-ditch effort to put points on the board. Up 40-20, the final nail in the coffin for Lawrence was a fumble that Kennebunk recovered with 1:23 remaining. The Rams ran off the clock and then proceeded to celebrate their championship victory.

- Kennebunk finished the game with 378 yards and touchdowns from four of their running backs: Jonah Barstow, Moose Keys, Brady Stone, and Austin West. While Barstow only had one touchdown on the afternoon, his 166 yards on 22 carries paced the Rams and was more than Lawrence’s backs Colton Carter and Gavin Wilson had combined (73 and 56 yards respectively).

- The victory finally gives Kennebunk a title after two difficult losses in 2013 and 2016. The 2013 30-23 loss to Cony came on the final drive. The 2016 28-6 loss featured a promising season by the Rams only to see them get dominated by the Dragons in a repeat trip to the University of Maine for the Friday night championship game.

- The Lawrence loss was a bitter pill to swallow for a Bulldogs team that had recently lost four consecutive regional finals from 2017 to 2021. Their 2006 Class A championship win over Gorham continues to be their most recent championship.

- The weekend saw a Southern team sweep of all four games. While there was a sweep of the 11 man championship games, the North swept the two 8 man championship games.

- Last week we put forward a poll and asked who you thought would win each of the four state championship games. Here are the final results as of tonight,
Class A - Portland (305) over Thornton Academy (146)
Class B – Lawrence (374) over Kennebunk (323)
Class C – Leavitt (493) over Oceanside (105)
Class D – Wells (202) over Foxcroft Academy (199)

- With the championship game venue changes in the past few years, we wonder what is in the works for 2024. With last year’s move to different venues we saw things change from Augusta(8 man)-Portland(A/B)-Bangor(C/D) to Bangor(8 man)-Portland(A/B)-Lewiston(C/D). With the changes coming to Portland in the way of renovations at Fitzpatrick Stadium for the incoming USL soccer team, what does this mean for Fitzpatrick Stadium’s viability as a host for the class large school classes? Do we see the MPA football committee embrace more rotating change of locations at the various artificial turf stadiums across the state?

- Quote of the week #1
"When a lot of teams start 0-2, they just fold and think that it’s not their year, but these guys never stopped believing. In week three, we were getting asked, ‘When’s the last time Thornton Academy started 0-3?’ Then we went down to Bedford (New Hampshire) and lost in running time and people were saying, ‘What do you have to do to make the playoffs?’ We never lost faith in the guys and I’m so glad they never lost faith in us as coaches."
Kevin Kezal, Thornton Academy head coach

- Quote of the week #2
"We have been so focused on what we are doing, it’s really hard to think about it. ... People can argue about it; this team has done things no other team has done. I couldn’t be more prouder of them."
Mike Hathaway, Leavitt head coach

- Quote of the week #3
"I walked right up to my coach after we scored that touchdown, and I said ‘Coach, let’s go win this (expletive) right now. Screw this. We’re not going for the tie. We came here to win."
Conner Whitten, Wells running back

- Quote of the week #4
"They didn’t expect us to come out of halftime tied up 14-14. I saw the papers. I saw the reporters. They all picked against us. They thought (Lawrence) was going to blow us out. They weren’t ready for us that second half. We just realized it was our last half, let’s end this on a bang."
Jonah Barstow, Kennebunk running back

- Back in August we put the question out there to the people on who they thought would win the state champions. Nobody picked all six champions. The closest was four correct picks made by Jason Cassette. Here is the breakdown of the state champions and the names of people who selected them.
Thornton Academy – Paul Santamore, Brent Albright, Dana Totman, Noah Dixon, Bob Beatham Jr, and Jason Cassette
Kennebunk – Jason Cassette
Leavitt – Paul Santamore, Bryan Walker, Mark Truman, Eric French, Brent Albright, Dana Totman, Noah Dixon, Devon Jon St. Pierre, Daniel Clegg, Chris Lessner, Bob Beatham Jr, and Jason Cassette
Wells – Paul Santaman, Eric French, Brent Albright, Dana Totman, Daniel Clegg, Bob Beatham Jr, Jason Cassette
Mount Desert Island – none
Orono – Noah Dixon, Chris Lessner

- My team here would like to thank the dozens and dozens and dozens of people that have worked with us, helped us, provided us with information or scores or updates, or helped make interacting on this page so much fun. The work during the season can be overwhelming and exhausting. Between articles, recaps, scores, schedules, and comments it takes a committed effort. And that is an effort that we try to live up to every day. As much as we would love to do a line-by-line thank you to everyone that has made covering football in this state such a enjoyable thing to do, you all know who you are through our conversations and gratitude. Thank you all for what you do and we look forward to working with you next season.

- Streak tracker 
We will finish the season with just 2 unbeaten teams in Maine, down from last week’s 5. 
6 teams ended their winning streak of 4 or more games; Foxcroft Academy (18), Oceanside (10), Portland (9), Lawrence (5)
The longest active winning streaks belong to Leavitt (22), Orono (10), Portland (9), Mount Desert Island (7), Kennebunk (4), Thornton Academy (4), and Wells (3)

- While the season has come to an end, there are still several events on the high school football calendar;
* The 111th Maine Thanksgiving Day Turkey Bowl between Deering and Portland
* The 52nd annual James J. Fitzpatrick Trophy winner
* The 38th annual Gatorade Maine Football Player of the Year
* The 13th annual Frank J. Gaziano Memorial Offensive and Defensive Lineman Awards

- In December we will also be releasing the following;
* The ten student-athletes that can be voted on to name the 2023 Fans Star of the Season
* The Champions of New England, highlighting the state title winners from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont
* The 6th annual New England Top 50, courtesy of the rankings at MaxPreps, to determine the top 50 football teams in the six-state New England area
* The top 25 most viewed posts on our Facebook page this season

So for one final time in 2023, what are your thoughts on the weekend?