Week 5 Thoughts on the Weekend

- Now that we have began the second half of the season we have also entered the October phase of the season. Are you noticing that difference in the weather? Well, if you were in Dover on Saturday for the York and Brewer game you may have said “this is fall?” However, elsewhere in the state the fall season has made it quite obvious that it has set in. And with that comes all the usual hallmarks of the time of the year.

- We celebrated three coaching milestones this weekend. On Friday, Hermon’s Kyle Gallant and Mt. Ararat’s Frank True each celebrated their 50th victory as a head coach. On Saturday, Telstar’s Timothy O’Connor coached his 100th varsity game. For Timothy, he is the 22nd active coach to reach that century mark.

- Despite Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale allowing a touchdown and a two-point conversion on Thursday during their win over Morse, the Ramblers continue to rank near the top of the state in fewest points allowed. How close to the top you might ask? Their 26 points are only six less than the state’s leader Bonny Eagle. The Scots also allowed just 8 points in their victory over Oxford Hills. Both teams are first in their respective regions.

- There were a couple of big mid-season match-ups on Friday. Perhaps none was as anticipated as the showdown between Portland and Thornton Academy at Fitzpatrick Stadium. Any time you have a meeting between the last two contestants of a state championship game, it becomes a must-see event. Unfortunately that billing did not live up to the game itself as it was all Thornton Academy, who won 36-0. This was the first time Portland has been shut out in three and a half years – a 35-0 loss to Marshwood in the 2021 Southern Class B regional final. While both teams were facing injuries and illnesses to key players, Portland was also reeling from the loss of parent and youth coaching institution Ryan Jordan. While all that was not a reason for the way the game went down, not of it obviously aided Portland in their loss. The Golden Trojans benefited multiple times with short field opportunities and took advantage of them as often as they could, while Portland was unable to get on track even when they picked off two first-half Thornton Academy passes. Meanwhile, Thornton Academy’s running game kept chugging along through the hard-nosed efforts of Connor Ayoob. When he wasn’t scoring, he had two touchdowns on the day, his ground game opened up opportunities for other timely scores. Despite the result of the game, neither team gained ground or lost ground in their respective Class A regions.

- There is not much real estate that separates Deering and Cheverus in the city of Portland. For the Stags, renovations at Bolous Stadium have forced them to schedule their first two games at the Rams’ Memorial Field. That short drive made the trip back to Cheverus all the more joyous as they clinched a 21-6 win over Deering on Friday. While a 14-0 fourth quarter lead might seem somewhat of a foregone conclusion, Deering made it very close when Nathan Foley brought the Rams to within a touchdown with less than five minutes to go in the game. It was only three minutes later when Cheverus’ Colton Jewett, who ran for 260 rushing yards, scored his second touchdown of the game that put the contest out of reach.

- Despite the Cheverus win, they were unable to gain ground on regional rivals Marshwood and Falmouth. The Hawks, who at one point held a 21-0 lead over their Berwick neighbor Noble, was witness to four consecutive touchdowns from Knights quarterback Mark Lapointe that helped lead to Noble’s 35-27 victory. For Falmouth, they scored on the game’s opening drive and never looked back in a 38-0 win over Biddeford. Navigators quarterback Tres Walker threw three touchdown passes and ran for another with Abram Wintersteen catching two of those scoring strikes. Marshwood’s loss dropped them back from third to fourth, while Falmouth’s win moved them up from fourth to third. Their Crabtree numbers (Falmouth’s 125.000 and Marshwood’s 117.500) at the end of the week both exceeded Cheverus’ 112.500.

- While the marquee match-up of the week was largely viewed as the showdown in Portland, the battle of unbeaten teams in the capital city was equally as compelling. However, like Thornton Academy’s win, Cony’s 53-7 victory over Fryeburg Academy was equally as dominant a win. How dominant exactly? The Rams jumped out to a fast lead and kept going. By the half they held a 40-point lead (47-7) over a Raiders team that came into the game riding the state’s third-longest active unbeaten run - an eight-game leading streak. Parker Morin showcased why he is considered one of the best 2025 quarterback’s in the state by throwing for 281 yards with a 68% completion and four touchdowns in just one half of play. The passing game spread the wealth around as Cooper Clark, Ethan Demmons, Anderson Noyes, and Landen Perry found the end zone by way of Morin’s passing.

- The Brunswick Dragons looked poised to record their first victory in over a year, before a Messalonskee touchdown with 1:11 remaining in the game helped the Eagles walk celebrate a 35-32 victory at home. The Eagles climbed to a 29-16 halftime lead, one that lasted to the fourth quarter. The Brunswick rally began when Christian McMaster scored his second touchdown on the night with 8:47 to go in the game. The successful two-point conversation made it a 29-24 game. Six minutes and 44 seconds later, along with a change of possession, Robbie Bowen found the end zone. Another successful two-point conversion gave the Dragons their first lead of the game at 32-29. However, Messalonskee struck fast only 52 seconds later to reclaim the lead. An unsuccessful two-point attempt proved to be inconsequential as Brunswick was unable to get the late rally.

- The varying schedule nature can lead to some interesting tiebreaker quirks. In the case of Massabesic and South Portland, and Skowhegan and Mt. Blue, each finished the weekend tied on Crabtree points. On both instances neither team has played their regional rival. In both instances it was the second tiebreaker of regional records that separates the two. Massabesic has only played two regional games and South Portland has played four. The Mustangs finished the week with a 1-1 regional record, while the Red Riots are 1-3 in regional play. While not explicitly stated on the MPA website, when there is a disparity in the number of regional games played by each team the record is converted into a percentage. That means Massabesic is at .500 while South Portland is at .250. Meanwhile, Skowhegan finished the week with a 1-2 regional record while Mt. Blue is 1-3. Converting those records into percentages, that puts Skowhegan ahead at .333 while Mt. Blue is .250.

- As dominant as Wells is, there is one team that has had the Warriors number in the last decade. That is the Leavitt Hornets. Since the Warriors defeated Leavitt 21-13 in the 2011 Class B state championship, match-ups between the two teams have been decidedly in Leavitt’s favor. How so? In seven meetings since then the Hornets have won all seven games. No other team has beaten Wells that often or that consecutively since then. Most of this game, a slugfest between two consistently top-tier teams in the state, was in Leavitt’s favor as they seized a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter that lasted until the waning moments of the game. The Warriors culminated a drive with a touchdown pass from Noah McDonough to Colin Moody to go up 12-7 with 19 seconds in the game. Then, following the kickoff, the Warriors’ Nathan DeMauro picked off a Leavitt desperation pass that basically iced the game. Along with beating Leavitt for the first time in close to 14 years, Wells has climbed back up the Class C standings to fourth place at the end of the week.

- It is way too early to be talking about the end of the month. And yet it is still not too early to think about the what-ifs. One possible what-if is Class C ending up with three undefeated teams. Gardiner defeated Medomak Valley 28-8. Greely beat Foxcroft Academy 34-19. Hermon beat Skowhegan 38-14. All three teams are 5-0. They do not play each other in the regular season. So there is a very real possibility that on October 26th we could see three teams sitting at 8-0. To see how common or uncommon that is we opened up the post-2004 archives. There were four seasons in our records where two teams in a region went undefeated: in 2006 Bonny Eagle and Marshwood went 8-0, in 2008 Deering and Thornton Academy went 8-0, in 2015 Old Town and Winslow went 8-0, and in 2019 Brunswick and Cony went 8-0.

- It was a tough start for the Old Town Coyotes. Opening the season against Medomak Valley, Gardiner, and Foxcroft Academy, they started out 0-3 with a trip straight to the bottom of the Class C rankings. Since then the Coyotes have beat Maine Central Institute and Hampden Academy at home for two straight wins and an escape from the cellar. Those wins, coupled with losses to several class rivals, have been enough to put them at 8th place. Next week they will travel to Newport to face the 3-2 Nokomis Warriors.

- Friday’s game between Dirigo and Madison and the 14-6 victory for Madison served as an intersection of sorts. Each team had different starts to their season, which each are at different trajectories. Dirigo rocketed out to a 3-0 start, led by Hudson Lufkin. Since his injury in week three, although not entirely coinciding as a result of it, the Cougars have lost their past two games. Madison started off with a 40-point loss to John Bapst followed by a narrow three-point win over Lisbon. That Lisbon win began their current four-game winning streak. As one would expect in a low-scoring contest like the two teams had on Friday, strong defensive efforts played a big part. That effort was showcased by Madison’s four defensive interceptions, things that hurt the Cougars attempts to claim their lead late in the game. Then they had a fierce goal-line stop with under two minutes to go, backing Dirigo from the Madison 2 yard line all they way to the 20 before a turnover on downs clinched the victory.

- Another team riding a four-game unbeaten run are the Yarmouth Clippers. After beating Spruce Mountain and Lake Region several weeks ago, the Clippers added to their impressive run with a 50-18 victory over Gray-New Gloucester. And unlike most large school teams, these Clippers aren’t pounding the rock like their versions of old. Instead, they aerial attack has been carving out their success. Quarterback Ignatius “Iggy” McGrath is averaging a little over 300 yards passing and four and a half touchdowns a game. A favorite target is Adam Pelotte, who has 13 touchdowns from McGrath. While Yarmouth ranks in the middle of 8 man large school class in points allowed with 160, they are second with 222 points scored.

- Yarmouth’s win, combined with Mt. Ararat’s 58-22 victory over Lake Region and Spruce Mountain’s bye week, has created a bizarre ranking situation where the four teams are separated by just 5 Crabtree points. In fact, Yarmouth sits in second place on a mere .018 of a Crabtree Point above third place Spruce Mountain. In fourth, but by no means outside of the chase, is Lake Region. The Lakers are only 1.071 Crabtree points back of Spruce Mountain.

- Mount Desert Island served up a notice Friday to the rest of their region that the Trojans are a force to contend as they defeated Ellsworth 44-6. While normally a low scoring team (MDI is 9th in the 11-team 8 Man Large School Class in points scored), they erupted for 44 points. The backfield tandem of Lincoln Gray and Kenneth Stillwell combined for 293 rushing yards and six touchdowns, a lion’s share of the team’s 332 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. Defensively they held the Eagles to only 65 yards in the first half and a zero on the Ellsworth side of the scoreboard at halftime. The Trojans finished the weekend tied with Mt. Ararat and Spruce Mountain for the fewest points allowed in the class at 84.

- We all know about the unbeaten run of Old Orchard Beach. But who has the second longest unbeaten streak in the 8 man small school class? That would be Orono. After facing the early meat-grinder start against Old Orchard Beach and Stearns, the Red Riots beat Traip Academy 42-26 at home for their third consecutive win. Orono’s Richie Watson was no stranger to the end zone with his 77 receiving yards and 110 rushing yards and four touchdowns – one receiving and three rushing. While he was familiar with the offensive side of things, linebacker Josh Wood was equally familiar on the defensive side of things as he recorded or was a part of 21 tackles on defense. The streak has brought Orono up to second place in their region, ahead of felling 3-2 teams Bucksport and Dexter.

- A bye week was just what the doctor, or maybe it was the coach or some profession, ordered for Washington Academy after the Raiders started the season 0-2. Last week they rebounded with a 54-18 win against Mount View. This Friday they made the long drive to play a Boothbay Seahawks time coming off a 28-26 win over Traip Academy. Boothbay opened up the scoring, before Washington Academy quickly climbed out to a 19-6 lead. Boothbay would score twice, one of which was Shawn Gamage’s second touchdown of the game, that brought Boothbay to within a point at 19-18. However, an ill-time interception and subsequent Raiders touchdown put the game out of reach in favor of the visitors. For Washington Academy, it is the seventh time they have won back-to-back games. That remains the longest winning streak they’ve had in MPA varsity football. The Raiders have an opportunity to go on their first ever three-game winning streak on Friday when they travel to Houlton.

- Massabesic galloped out to an early lead and held it all game long as they defeated Scarborough 35-25 during their homecoming night on Saturday night. That result, along with Sanford and South Portland’s wins on Friday, created a four-way tie-up Southern Class A. Those four teams all sit at 2-3 with a narrow rankings margin between them. Only 4.444 Crabtree points separate fourth place Massabesic from seventh place Sanford.

- Following York’s loss last Saturday to Foxcroft Academy at Our Lady of Victory Stadium on the St. Thomas Aquinas High School campus in Dover, New Hampshire, the Wildcats had an opportunity to return back to the artificial turf this past Saturday to host Brewer. This time around, player under an unseasonably warm afternoon, it was all York in the second half as they won 10-0. This was the last time York will play a home game outside of Maine. Their final home game will be on October 25 when they host the New Hampshire Division III Monadnock Huskies at Kennebunk.

- We have entered the point in the season where you will find that a tougher strength of schedule will overcome a team with more wins. There are two situations where a 1-4 team is ranked about a 2-3 team. In Class C, 1-4 York is ahead of 2-3 Medomak Valley. In Class D, 1-4 Maranacook is ahead of 2-3 Mattanawcook Academy. Knowing our followers as well as we do, we know that many want to know how such a thing is possible. Naturally our first instinct is to say that it comes down to the Crabtree numbers and end it at that. However, we also know that such a reason is not going to be sufficient enough to answer your collective curiosity. So we are going to dig into the numbers and provide you with the answers your curiosity desires. In Class C, York’s opponents are a combined 26-14 while Medomak Valley’s opponents are 17-23. York has the advantage of 5-0 Monadnock on their schedule, while Medomak Valley’s Crabtree points are dragged down by 0-5 Oceanside and Hampden Academy.  Over in Class D, Maranacook’s opponents are a combined 25-15 while Mattanawcook Academy’s opponents are 16-24. Maranacook’s crossover games in Southern Class D are a combined 8-2 and Mattanawcook Academy’s crossover opponents are 0-10. See, simple. No really craziness. No witchcraft. We know some may respond with “yeah, well, you can only play who is on your schedule”. Our response is that for some, their schedule does them lots of favors and for others it does them no favors.

- Ill-advised mistakes did Camden Hills absolutely no help early on in their Saturday afternoon game against Cape Elizabeth. We counted at least four long gains called back due to penalties. Gains that would have given the Windjammers either a touchdown or great field position deep in Capers territory. That was significant reason why Camden Hills went into halftime down 8-6. Things were not any better in the third quarter as their punt returned bobbled a punt, Cape recovered it, and proceeded to return it about 20-30 yards for a 14-6 lead. Camden Hills would tie things up late in the third quarter, followed by two quick touchdowns in near rapid-succession with seven minutes left in the game to take a 30-14 lead. The run, along with a cleaned-up game by Camden Hills, was too much for Cape Elizabeth to overcome as the Windjammers would celebrate a 44-22 win. The win was not the prettiest for Camden Hills as they finished with 120 penalty minutes to the Capers’ 30.

- This is the point in the article that we have not been looking forward to. We could skip it and pretend the game did not happen, but that is not how we do things. Yes, we are talking about Telstar’s 86-0 win over Mount View. We do not look forward to the discussion because any time there is a significant blowout the how of it happening is quickly kicked to the curb in favor of a lot of hand wringing about unfairness and the system being a joke and the supposed unsportsmanlike behavior and other such hyperbole. We have seen it before. In 2021 Thornton Academy beat Bangor 84-13 and Cape Elizabeth beat Hampden Academy 78-0. The uproar in the comments around those two games continued for days and days. Comments such as the usual “they should play go a private school schedule” or “they should be forced to play up a class” were routine. The meme about The Dark Knight’s Joker saying “everybody loses their minds” would have been fitting. Never mind the reality that two of those teams were just incredibly good and the other two were not. Never mind the reality that teams continued to play two games of football according to the rules and did not give up.

By halftime of Saturday’s game between Telstar and Mount View, the score was 54-0. Knowing that Telstar was going to score 32 more points in the second half, the question we will ask you all is what more should the Telstar coach tell his team and what should the Mount View’s coach tell his team? Should coach O’Connor tell his players to just gain ten yards for a first down and stop? Or, to snap the ball and take a knee three times and just punt away each possession? Should coach Hartley tell the players to just give up and quit?

This is not to demean either team. Our hats go out to both teams. These games are a no-win situation even when one team will win at the end. Mount View’s struggles are well documented as they continue to find ways to keep themselves afloat despite low numbers on an underclassman-heavy team. They are a team that wants to maintain their own local identity and not succumb to the “just go co-op with someone else” response from people without a vested involvement to the team. As for Telstar, they know what they are facing against Mount View. They can only play the teams on their schedule. And yes, the players should be encouraged to give it their all like we would expect of anybody else regardless of situation or circumstance.

Short of the MPA football committee adopting a slaughter rule over the running clock – in 6 man football rules, if a team is losing by 45 or more points after halftime the game is considered over and the winner is said to have “45’d their opponent” – we have to trust that the coaches know what they are doing and that the kids know what they are doing. Do not let the optics of such a score lead you all to think that sportsmanship went by the wayside well before the score went final. Especially in the absence of being there or knowing those involved.

- Out of state tracker
Bedford defeated Exeter 42-7 on Friday. The 5-0 Bulldogs will host 2-3 Nashua North on Friday.
Exeter lost to Bedford 42-7 on Friday. The 3-2 Blue Hawks will host 1-4 Dover on Friday.
Keene lost 47-7 to Nashua South on Friday. The 1-4 Blackbirds will host 2-2 Merrimack on Saturday.
Laconia defeated Epping-Newmarket 22-13 on Saturday. The 3-2 Sachems will travel to 2-3 Somersworth on Friday.
Monadnock defeated Kearsarge 40-0 on Friday. The 5-0 Huskies will host 3-0 Stevens on Saturday.
Winnacunnet lost to Portsmouth-Oyster River 26-13 on Friday. The 4-1 Warriors will host 5-0 Manchester Memorial on Friday.

- Quote of the week
"(Our chemistry) is unbelievable. It’s the little stuff like going to a buddy’s house and playing a little cornhole with them or coming on a Monday night and throwing the ball around in the summer that really builds that and helps you out in the fall."
Parker Morin, Cony quarterback

- Streak tracker
There are 10 unbeaten teams in Maine, down from 12 last week
2 teams ended their winning streak of 4 or more games: Fryeburg Academy (8) and Portland (8)
The longest active winning streaks belong to Old Orchard Beach (16), Greely (14), Bonny Eagle (5), Camden Hills (5), Cony (5), Gardiner (5), Hermon (5), John Bapst (5), Kennebunk (5), and Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale (5)
1 team ended their losing streak of 4 or more games: York (5)
The longest active losing streaks belong to Mount View (25), Belfast (15), Waterville (14), Brunswick (10), Lisbon (9), and Mountain Valley (9)

- First place teams after week five
Class A North – Portland (same from last week)
Class A South – Bonny Eagle (same from last week)
Class B North – Cony (same from last week)
Class B South – Kennebunk (same from last week)
Class C – Gardiner (same from last week)
Class D North – John Bapst (same from last week)
Class D South – Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale (same from last week)
8 Man Large School North – Camden Hills (same from last week)
8 Man Large School South – Mt. Ararat (changed from last week)
8 Man Small School North – Stearns (same from last week)
8 Man Small School South – Old Orchard Beach (same from last week)

- Five games of interest to us in week six
Falmouth at Marshwood
Bonny Eagle at Portland
Wells at Greely
Kennebunk at Westbrook
Gardiner at Leavitt

What are your thoughts on the weekend?

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