Cony football coach BL Lippert knew he’d get a good response.
As for how good? That was a pleasant surprise.
In each of the last two seasons, Lippert had both his staff and that of his opponent for Cony’s first home game wear T-shirts for autism awareness. This season, however, Lippert reached out to 14 coaches around the state about wearing the shirts, and all 14 were on their sidelines Friday night, wearing the shirts and sending the message.
“It was pretty universally well-received,” said Lippert, whose son, Lincoln, has autism. “It was pretty cool to see, the entire staffs at Foxcroft and Leavitt, something like 25 guys total in T-shirts there. It means a lot to my family, and to be honest, one of the chief responsibilities I feel I have now is to promote autism awareness to help not only Lincoln, but help any kids in our community or around the state that are struggling with it.”
A few years ago, Lippert got the idea to take advantage of his position as a football coach to spread an important message.
“I thought about the way it impacts his life the most, and I know a lot of people would think ‘fundraisers,’ ” he said. “While (those are) special and necessary, I thought perhaps the best way I could use my platform as a football coach was to influence my 60 or 70 guys to be aware of autism and look after special needs kids.”
To spread the cause this season, Lippert reached out to coaches with whom he had come to know well through events such as the Lobster Bowl and the Maine Elite Passing Camps in Lewiston. He knew it was an attractive message, but that teams often have their own promotions, fundraisers and themes that can make them unable to help out.
All 14, however, eagerly jumped on board.
“I said to all those coaches, ‘I know everyone’s got their Friday night traditions, and shirts they wear and undershirts and socks. I don’t want to change anything you do, and if you say no to this, I would never hold anything against you,’ ” Lippert said. “Nobody batted an eye. They said ‘Yeah, I’ll do anything to promote it and help the cause.’ ”
Lippert said he was not surprised, however, to see the football community step up.
“I think coaches by nature try to look out for some of society’s weakest members,” Lippert said. “I was really thankful that those 14 coaches were willing to do that. … It transcends rivalry, it transcends high school football. Just to bring awareness to the cause is my goal as a coach, and really my job as a father.”
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So far, Maranacook’s eight-man debut is going as well as could be expected — if not better.
The Black Bears are 3-0, and sporting a defense that has been particularly tough. Maranacook has allowed only 12 points per game, the best mark in eight-man football and the 15th-best across the state.
“I think, defensively, I can’t really praise my kids enough,” coach Jordan DeMillo. “I think their tackling and their aggressiveness spoke for itself.”
DeMillo said the key to the Black Bears’ defensive play has been their tackling. They don’t whiff on hitting ball carriers and there’s always another defender ready to help with the tackle, and because of that, the big plays surrendered have been few and far between.
“I think (that 15th ranking) was a testament to our kids’ ability to gang-tackle and really be aggressive,” he said. “The Boothbay coach literally said ‘I don’t know what you do for tackling clinics, but you could put on a show.’ ”
It’s not an accident. DeMillo said he drills the team for at least an hour every week on tackling technique, making sure his players never forget the fundamentals.
“If your kids can make 1-on-1, open-field tackles, you’re going to be good. If they can’t, it’s going to be a long game,” said DeMillo, who praised defensive linemen Ashael Plum and Wyatt Douin. “That’s immediately become apparent in this league. That first contact — even if you can’t bring him down, if you can slow him down long enough for your players to catch (him), that’s crucial. … We do give up yardage here or there, but we almost never give up the big one.”
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For Gardiner coach Joe White, Friday night was more like it.
After two disappointing, mistake-filled losses, the Tigers bounced back by going up four scores before cruising to a 37-20 win over Hampden.
“The win was nice, but we’ve got to get another one,” said White, whose team improved to 1-2. “We can’t look back on what could have been.”
The Tigers were stung by poorly-timed and undisciplined mistakes, penalties and mental errors in their losses by one point to Windham and two to Brewer. This time, however, Gardiner got up to a 30-0 lead, rolled from there and didn’t shoot itself in the foot along the way.
“On touchdowns we didn’t get holds, and big plays defensively we capitalized on those turnovers and we didn’t have to take penalties that set us back,” he said. “We tried to help the offense out defensively, and it’s always good when you can take an interception for a touchdown or a fumble recovery.”
Kyle Adams had the pick-six, one of four in the first half alone the Tigers recorded.
“We played a fairly clean game Friday night,” White said. “We didn’t have any costly offsides, we didn’t have any costly holds. … We didn’t get set back by those penalties.”
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