READFIELD — High school football is geared toward upperclassmen.
It is not that sophomores — and in even rarer cases, freshmen — cannot be successful on the grid, yet the sheer physicality the sport demands is better suited for student-athletes who have matured both mentally and physically.
Additional Images
In a division like the Western D Campbell Conference, where small teams more often than not rely on major contributions from two-way players, seniors are worth their weight in gold.
As any coach who has been around for a few years can tell you though, successful teams come in waves. It is rare in the small-school setting that teams can produce championship contenders loaded with seniors year after year.
That begs this question: What do you do in one of those years where seniors are as scarce as 50-degree days in November?
You simply do the best you can with what you have, and that is what the Maranacook football team has done this season.
The Black Bears — who are down to 23 players in its program after starting the season with 26 — have just four seniors this season. Of the eight other teams in the conference only Traip has that few seniors, while Dirigo has seven fourth-year players.
“I’ve had to keep the game plan pretty simple,” Maranacook coach Joe Emery said. “There are some things I would like to do that we can’t, but on the other side of the coin this team has come to practice every day and worked hard.
“Every game they come to play and it’s probably the closest-knit team I’ve ever coached. They just love playing football.”
Leading that front has been Marancook’s two veteran seniors, Josh Murphy and Mike Antanavich.
Murphy, a two-way starter on the offensive and defensive line, is the team’s leading tackler, while Antanavich is also a two-way starter. He has played alongside Murphy on the offensive line and also at middle linebacker.
“The seniors have done a real good job with leadership,” Emery said. “Josh Murphy is probably the most vocal. Michael is pretty quiet but he leads by example. He pretty much knows everything that goes on, especially on the offensive line.
“He’s never played linebacker before and he’s started at Mike backer all year. He’s gotten progressively better. He controls the line and most of the defensive calls.”
Both Murphy and Antanavich agree there have been some trying moments this season with such a young team, but they have tried to make the best of the situation.
“It’s been an experience. It’s been a once in a lifetime kind of thing,” Antanavich said. “We make the best of it. We all have heart and we all play for each other.”
“It’s been a little bit tough having such a young team and trying to like, kind of get them to focus in practice and stuff,” Murphy added. “There’s a lot of goofing around.
“…When they all start talking in the huddle we have to get them back focused.”
While Murphy and Antanavich are the most veteran players for the Black Bears, they are not the only seniors. Caden Brown has had a tough go of it the past two years, as he missed the bulk of his sophomore and all of his junior year with injury.
This year, however, he has played the whole season.
“I’m really happy that I didn’t have any major injury this year,” Brown said. “I’m really happy I was able to end my season with an entire, full season because it’s been pretty rough for the past few years and I really love playing football.”
According to Emery, Brown has been the team’s most improved player this season.
“We voted him one of the captains and he’s been awesome. Caden is just another great kid,” Emery said of Brown, who has played wing back and cornerback for the Black Bears. “He’s a quiet kid but he’s very intense. He’s not the greatest athlete in the world but he plays so hard. It’s fun to see him succeed.”
Maranacook’s fourth senior, Josh Ehriorobo, came into this season with some experience playing football according to Emery, but this is his first season with the black and gold.
“(He) plays (defensive) line on varsity and since about the third game we started putting him in more and more,” Emery said. “He plays probably about half the game at (defensive) line now.”
The season is not yet over for the Black Bears, but they are well aware of the monumental task they face if they hope to extend their season past the first weekend of November.
Maranacook (3-4) travels to Oak Hill (7-1) for a Western D quarterfinal opening game Saturday at 12:30 p.m. If the Black Bears can find a way to get past the Raiders, then their path to the conference title would also likely include games at front-runners Dirigo (6-1) and Lisbon (6-1).
Ultimately, only one team can emerge from Western D, and if that is not Maranacook the seniors hope the legacy that they leave behind will be one that prepares the younger players on the team for future success.
“I hope this program takes off in the next couple years,” Antanavich said. “I know that we’ve had some good and bad years in the past four years, but I really hope they learn something this year that it’s not all about the game.
“I guess you could say, it’s more of a life thing.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
Send questions/comments to the editors.
