The Gardiner Area High School football team doesn’t have a speedy 6-foot-6 wide receiver on its scout team. It doesn’t have a 6-foot-4 one, either, which made the task of mimicking Mt. Blue all the more daunting this week.
“Yeah, it’s hard,” first-year Gardiner coach Matt Burgess said. “I don’t have those guys to put out there. It’s tough to practice against that type of speed.”
No. 3 Gardiner (7-2) will meet No. 2 Mt. Blue (8-1) in a Pine Tree Conference Class B semifinal game at 7 tonight at Kemp Field in Farmington.
Elsewhere this weekend, No. 3 Maranacook (8-1) will play at No. 2 Traip (7-2) in a Western C Campbell Conference game Saturday in Kittery. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. Also, No. 4 Messalonskee (6-3) travels to Fairfield to take on No. 1 Lawrence (9-0) in a PTC A semifinal at 7 tonight.
Mt. Blue will roll out one of the most prolific offenses in the state.
The Cougars average 46.8 points a game, second in the state behind Class C Orono (50). They have scored at least 50 points in five of their nine games and have been held to under 40 just twice.
Quarterback Jordan Whitney, along with Jordan Hersom at Leavitt, is one of the top quarterbacks in the PTC B. His favorite targets include 6-foot-6 wide receiver Cam Sennick and the 6-foot-4 Nick Hilton.
Izaiha Tracy and Eric Berry provide a formidable one-two punch in the backfield.
Just how dangerous is Mt. Blue offensively?
“We really think our weapons are pretty equal,” Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin said. “I would imagine it’s tough for people to put together a game plan because we are so tough to defend. I honestly don’t know what you’d say is the best option.”
Burgess agreed.
“They have two Plan A’s, and we need to stop both,” he said. “Hey, if it were easy it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. But we need to defend some of the stuff they can do. They can run and pass equally effective. We have to stop both.”
Gardiner is trying to reach the PTC B final for the third consecutive season.
The Tigers hope a full four quarters of talented running back Alonzo Connor will make a difference in the rematch. Connor injured his elbow in the regular-season meeting at Kemp Field and was limited to about a quarter of action.
He still rushed for 88 yards and a score in the game.
“Hopefully, we can get him going early and often,” Burgess said.
Gardiner also hopes to spread the field a bit and get quarterback Dennis Meehan more involved in the offense. With skill players Justin Lovely and Matt Hall, the Tigers have opened up the playbook a bit more this season.
Parlin said the Cougars are partly responsible for Gardiner’s diversified offense this fall.
“As the year has gone on, their offense has improved,” he said. “I think we may be part of the reason for that. When Connor went out, it put a little more on Meehan’s plate. He’s become a more effective runner and thrower. They do a great job of spreading you out. They have a good scheme and are a tough team to defend.”
Maranacook, like Mt. Blue and Gardiner, also will see a familiar team in the conference semifinals.
The Black Bears defeated Traip 22-6 in the regular-season opener, although both head coaches say their teams are vastly different and improved since September.
“I expect a battle,” Traip coach Ron Ross said. “We’re two teams that mirror each other. We are probably the most physical teams in league. I don’t think we’re the same team as we were then. We had some injuries. We’re a lot different than we were.”
Cory Aldecoa leads the Rangers with 1,200 rushing yards. Tyler Nay (750 rushing yards) and Devon Draker (527) also contribute to the ground attack.
“It’s a pretty good one-two-three,” Ross said.
Luke Emery leads the Black Bears with more than 1,300 rushing yards.
“We’ll be ready,” Maranacook coach Joe Emery said. “We know they are a tough team, and we’ll need to play mistake-free football.”
Added Luke Emery: “If we play how we are capable of playing, we should be OK.”
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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