Week 1 Thoughts on the Weekend

- Hello one and all! Wow those summers seem to go by fast, don’t they? It seemed like it wasn’t that long ago that we were unveiling schedules, or going over the Maine Cool Department Travel Tracker, or covering the 35th annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic. I was just talking to my nephew about this and to not get old. Of course he is 6. He also said I am really old. Not the sort of response I was looking for at the time. Sigh… What was I talking about? Oh yeah, the summer is over and I am not happy. No, that wasn’t it. I was talking about how fast summers seem to go by. Anywho, here we are with the end of the first week.

- The 2025 football season in Maine kicked off on Thursday with three games. Last year it was two games. The year before that it was just one game. It is just a sign of how times change and changes need to be made to suit the changes.

- For 40 minutes the game between Noble and Windham was a scoreless affair. It wasn’t necessarily a sloppy game. Both teams only combined for three turnovers and a number of penalties that likely won’t happen later in the season. It wasn’t until Tyler Gray’s 23-yard field goal for Noble that the double-goose egg was wiped off the board. The lead would be exchanged twice more as Windham’s Landon Wyman hauled in a deep pass over the middle from Patrick Davenport and ran the rest of the way for a 70-yard touchdown, followed by the ensuing drive that was capped by Noble’s Mark Lapointe and his quarterback keeper. Those scores all took place over a span of four minutes and twelve seconds with Noble leading 10-6. The Knights defense stepped up big over the next two Windham drives on a Joey Descart interception and a fourth down stop by Noble’s Logan Duquette, who tackled a scrambled Davenport at the line of scrimmage. This is Noble’s third season-opening victory. The last time they lost in the opener was 2022, a 40-0 loss to Windham.

- It was a trying 2024 for the Sanford Spartans, a season that saw them finish with there worst record since going winless in 2008. Then there was the community-shattering death of Jony Hunter in May. Perhaps Thursday night’s 28-14 win over Biddeford signaled the turning of a new leaf for the Southern Maine team. The team, which was the debut of new coach Todd Hildebrand, carried a 14-0 lead into the first half with touchdowns by Jayden Franco and Adam Cote Jr. The Spartans night was not without adversity as Biddeford tied it up in the third quarter as Kelly O’Guinn ran in a touchdown and Julius Searles caught a pass in the end zone to put the score at 14-all. Rather than let the scores drag them down, Sanford rose above it as Franco scored two touchdowns in the bottom half of the third quarter to give the Spartans what would be the go-ahead score for the eventual victory.

- Portland was able to overcome their slow start with two second-half touchdowns and a keen focus on capitalizing on Oxford Hills’ three turnovers to walk out of Fitzpatrick Stadium with a 21-7 season opening victory. The victory was a grind’em contest that gave new head coach Nick Cliche his first victory and was Portland’s fifth consecutive season opening win. The Vikings made it close by stifling Portland through most of the first half. The Bulldogs early lead only came by way of a 53-yard pick-six by Alex Martin. Oxford Hills would tie it in the third quarter on a 16-yard touchdown run from Cameron Roy. Their ground game kept things close, but crucial struggles such as their one for nine conversion rate on third down bogged down their opportunities. Portland meanwhile was able to reclaim and pad their lead with a Cordell Jones goal line run in the third quarter for a 14-7 advantage. Then Alex McKusick ran in a 10-yard score for the final points of the game.

- Bangor’s quarterback and linebacker Kyle Johnson helped provide plenty of big plays on both sides of the ball as they defeated the traveling Deering Rams 21-0 at Cameron Stadium. On offense he ran for two of the touchdowns and connected with Zac Cota for the third score of the night. His assistance helped pace an offense that ran for 231 yards on the ground. Defensively he recorded a sack and his tackle for a loss on fourth down ended a promising Deering drive deep in Bangor territory.

- When Massabesic was last in Class A things were not looking that good. Prior to the 2019 move to Class B, the Mustangs won just 5 of 39 games from 2014 to 2018 and did not make any playoff appearances. Friday appeared to be the dawn of a new Mustangs Class A era as they beat Lewiston 26-6, their first Class A win since a 34-7 won over Bangor on October 12th, 2018. While Lewiston made it close with a second quarter touchdown, they were not able bring things level with a Massabesic team that took an early lead and then scored two second-half touchdowns for the win.

- On paper, the Friday night match-up between South Portland and Bonny Eagle looked to be a good match-up. Both sides came into the season with lots of promise. By the final buzzer it was a clear sign that Bonny Eagle was going to be a tough match-up for anybody. That was established early on as Lucas Klehn rushing touchdown and Ben Noe’s pick-six put the Scots up 15-0 almost four minutes into the first quarter. By the end of the first half Colin Moran had throw touchdown passes to Caden Cooper and Nick Breton and Colby McCormack ran in a touchdown that put Bonny Eagle up 36-0. Defensively, Bonny Eagle didn’t allow South Portland to cross the middle of the field until the end of the third quarter, holding the Red Riots to just 129 total yards of offense. The win is Bonny Eagle’s sixth consecutive victory over South Portland. The last time the Red Riots defeated Bonny Eagle was during the 2015 season opener, an 18-14 win.

- In a bit of non-football related info, I really enjoyed what the Brunswick Dragons Football Facebook page did with their take on our Game Day Thread. The updates and info was timely and helpful. In football related news it was a close start for the Dragons in their return back to Northern Class B. After Lawrence took a 7-0 lead on the opening drive, the Dragons rallied with a Christian McMaster touchdown. However, although that point it was all Lawrence as they scored five unanswered touchdowns to take the 42-6 win.

- Maybe Kennebunk took a lasting memory or two from the 2024 Class B state championship game against Falmouth. One of them was that no lead should be viewed as insurmountable. The other is to seize momentum whenever you can. The Rams went into halftime down 10-0 and had been offensively stymied throughout the half. Things were a bit different in the second half. In the final 24 minutes it was Kennebunk that did all the scoring. Sam Matthews had a had in the Rams first touchdown, a scoring pass to Jaiden Homa, and then had two feet involved in the Rams second touchdown as he ran for the score that made it 14-10. And despite Falmouth having the advantage in yards gains through much of the contest, Kennebunk forced two turnovers on downs in the fourth quarter, both within their 20-yard line, that preserved the Rams win.

- When the Cony Rams weren’t finishing drives all over the field that led to their seven touchdowns and 47 points, defensively they were shutting down a vaunted Messalonskee offense through six turnovers and the beneficiaries of Eagles penalties that killed numerous attempts at gaining momentum. Rams quarterback Parker Morin helped direct an offense with scoring passes to Ethan Demmons (2) and Landen Perry (1).

- Last year we talked about Foxcroft Academy, Freeport, Oceanside, and Wells and their successful starts to the season. Coming into 2025, the four teams combined for 36 season-opening victories. Two of those streaks happened to come to a halt on Friday though. Hermon was able to shut down Foxcroft Academy 26-6, while Gardiner held Oceanside scoreless in their 31-0 win. On the other side of the ledger, Freeport beat Mountain Valley 31-14 to extend their season-opening win streak to seven consecutive seasons. And then there is Wells, the team that nobody can seem to beat in the season opener. The Wells thrashed Nokomis 32-12 for the Warriors 18th consecutive season opening victory.

- Speaking of Gardiner, the 31-0 win was a perfect cap to the Tigers evening that began with an unveiling of a statue to Brad Carleton and a pre-game ceremony commemorating former Gardiner coach John Wolfgram. If you are interested in watching the on-field presentation for the late Mr. Wolfgram, go to Munzing Media’s Facebook page for the broadcast.

- Leavitt served up a reminder on Friday that while Class C is different, they are going to figure into the title chase following their 50-8 win over Hampden Academy. The Hornets outgained the Broncos 371 to 118, using a ground game that amassed 291 of those yards.

- If you weren’t sure what to expect from Greely coming into 2025, a year removed from their 8 Man Large School Class state championship, perhaps Friday night’s “away game” at Cumberland against York could give you some food for thought. The Rangers took a 22-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 36-0 halftime lead en route to a 42-0 victory. Quarterback Luke Piper through for 150 yards with two touchdown passes to Jackson Justice and one touchdown pass to Ben Kyles as part of an offensive that racked up 324 yards. Defensively Noah Allen had five tackles, one for a loss, and a sack as part of an effort that held the Wildcats to just 72 yards of offense and two turnovers.

- The Ramblers of Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale were all over the place on Friday during their 28-12 win over Oak Hill. The backfield duo of Carter Rand and Ross Fichthorn carried the way on offensive, combining for 267 yards on 34 carries. Rand scored two of the Ramblers touchdowns on offense while Fichthorn had the other. Not lost in the shuffle were the efforts of Brock Dewar. He had an eye-popping five of his ten tackles going for loss of yards that caused all sorts of havoc for Oak Hill.

- It has been a long, difficult road for Lake Region football. Prior to 2024 and going back to 2004, they only experienced one season where they went .500 or better. Their first playoff victory in a long time happened in 2021 when they defeated Gray-New Gloucester 62-14. Then 2024 happened. A year where they went 6-2, finished in third place, and made it to the 8 Man Large School class semifinals. So how did the Lakers begin their 2025 campaign and how will it stack up to the season prior? Given the results of their 50-14 win over Ellsworth, it appears to have started out very well. Their ground game led the way with 265 of their 325 total yards of offense. Jaiden Meehan and Jayden Cote combined for 219 yards, with Meehan scored four of his five touchdowns on the ground. Up 18-6, Lake Region’s Matthew Mansulla returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a 60-yard touchdown that helped add to that lead. Meehan finished the game with 175 yards of offense through the air and the ground with his five touchdowns. Defensively Brayden Wilson had 6 tackles, and 2 for losses while Devlin Ferland had 3 tackles and an interception for the Lakers.

- Spruce Mountain wasted little time on Friday showing what they are about during their 38-8 win at Bucksport. Defensively the Phoenix held the Golden Bucks to only 95 total yards. On the other side, Dylan Jewett almost doubled that effort with 186 rushing yards in his one half of play and four touchdowns.

- For one quarter, it was a back-and-forth contest between two of the states premier 8 man teams in Old Orchard Beach and Orono. Orono got the opening kickoff and went the length of the field to score. Then Old Orchard Beach found the end zone, then Orono, followed by Old Orchard Beach again, and then Orono. After the first quarter ended it was Orono up 18-14 and the game seemed to be a back-and-forth contest. Then it was Old Orchard Beach that scored. And they scored again. It was all Old Orchard Beach the rest of the way to the final buzzer. The Seagulls scored 46 points – six touchdowns – after the first quarter while conceding no points for a 60-18 win. Wes Gallant ran for 217 of OOB’s 431 rushing yards while finding the end zone four times. The Red Riots were not exactly stopped in their tracks; they did amass 310 yards of offense. However, 14 penalties and two turnovers did not help their cause to either slow down the Seagulls or get themselves back into the game. Old Orchard Beach is now undefeated in all six of their season openers since moving to 8 Man. They had outscored their opposition 327 to 68

- Due to the looming threat of showers and thunderstorms, all six of the Saturday afternoon games saw their start times moved up. Two games began at 11 am and the other four began at noon. Which naturally led to some grumbling by myself. Not because of the reschedules. No. My grumbling is that we went all summer with drought-like conditions. And then two out of the three weekends that we’ve had football there has also been rain.
 
- Medomak Valley twice held 18-point leads against Old Town during their Saturday afternoon contest. However, Old Town made it a close-fought battle at end in the 30-28 Medomak Valley win. As expected the game was heavily ground-based as the teams combined for 623 rushing yards – 319 for Medomak Valley and 304 for Old Town. Shamus Pease of Medomak Valley had three rushing touchdowns while Ethan Closson and Charlie Degrasse of Old Town had two touchdowns each.

- It was as close to a total effort as Winslow could get during their 54-0 win over Maranacook. Plugging in a freshman literally playing his first game in the backfield, Winslow’s Michael Loubier had quick the story for himself as he ran for 213 yards and four touchdowns on 10 carries for a Black Raiders ground game that finished the day with 416 yards. The Black Bears meanwhile had very little go right for them. Their ground game finished with –7 yards and instead found some success through the air as quarterback Dana Poulin passed for 104 yards.

- After the disappointing end to their 2024 season, Camden Hills wasted little time getting back on a winning ground by defeating Waterville 50-32 on Saturday. Quarterback Hollis Schwalm, who got injured during the team’s season finale against Houlton and was not available for their semifinal loss to Mt. Ararat, played like he was on a mission Saturday. He threw for 242 yards, with both of Braden Beveridge’s receptions going for touchdowns and Justin Batty catching five passes for 117 yards and a touchdown. Hollis also ran for 66 yards and two touchdowns. It was all part of a 438-yard effort by the Windjammers for the win.

- When we calculated the Crabtree rankings, one number jumped out at us - 16.666. That is the Crabtree Classic number for Washington Academy. Why is it so low you might ask? The Raiders are one of eight 8 man teams that have a scheduled bye week this season. That means instead of having eight countable games, instead they will have only seven. And since Mount View, the team with the week one bye, is on their schedule it reduced the number of countable games to six. Only one of those teams, the Dexter team that beat them, picked up a win. That means you take one and divide it into six and then multiple that number by 100 – 16.666.

- 10 games this week resulted in a shutout. When looking back at past week ones there were 8 shutouts in 2024, 7 in 2023, 4 in 2022, 5 in 2021, 6 in 2019, and 11 in 2018.

- The following rookie head coaches picked up their first win in their first game - Joshua Newhall of Dirigo, Nick Cliche of Portland, and Todd Hildebrand of Sanford.

- Out of state tracker
Bedford defeated Merrimack 48-20 on Friday. The 1-0 Bulldogs will travel to 1-0 Nashua South next Friday.
Exeter defeated Timberlane 24-20 on Friday. The 1-0 Blue Hawks will travel to 1-0 Portsmouth-Oyster River on Friday.
Keene defeated Goffstown 35-21 on Friday. The 1-0 Blackbirds will travel to 0-1 Spaulding on Saturday.
Laconia lost to Campbell 24-6 on Friday. The 0-1 Sachems will host 1-0 Gilford on Thursday.
Monadnock defeated Somersworth 26-7 on Friday. The 1-0 Huskies will travel to 0-0 Lebanon on Friday.
Winnacunnet defeated Spaulding 24-13 on Friday. The 1-0 Warriors will travel to 0-1 Timberlane on Friday.

- Quote of the week
"From the bus ride here to the final snap of this game, this entire game was dedicated to Jony (Hunter). After that last snap of the game, I know that all my brothers, we all broke down. We all looked to the sky, we all see Jony up there looking down on us."
Perrin Shaw, Sanford running back

- Streak tracker
There are 40 unbeaten teams in Maine
1 team had their winning streak of 4 or more games snapped: Falmouth (12)
The longest active winning streaks belong to Wells (15), Old Orchard Beach (12), Greely (10), Fryeburg Academy (5), and Portland (5)
5 teams ended their losing streaks of 4 or more games: Telstar (7), Sanford (7), Edward Little (6), Cheverus (5), and Brewer (4)
The longest active losing streaks belong to Mount View (21), Belfast (11), Waterville (10), Mt. Blue (8), Washington Academy (7), and Mattanawcook Academy (7)

- First place teams after week one
Class A North – Bangor
Class A South – Thornton Academy
Class B North – Cony and Lawrence
Class B South – Westbrook
Class C – Gardiner and Leavitt
Class D North – Maine Central Institute and Winslow
Class D South – Poland
8 Man Large School North – Camden Hills
8 Man Large School South – Gray-New Gloucester
8 Man Small School North – Stearns
8 Man Small School South – Sacopee Valley

- Five games of interest to us in week two  
Bangor at Thornton Academy
Wells at Hermon
Leavitt at Greely
Dirigo at Poland 
Mt. Ararat at Camden Hills