PITTSFIELD — It was supposed to be a battle of undefeated Class C superpowers Friday night. It turned into another lopsided victory for Wells.
The Warriors controlled play throughout the anticipated crossover game at Maine Central Institute and cruised to a 54-8 victory. Wells improved to 5-0 and ran its win streak to 33 games.
“People like to overhype (the steak) a little bit,” said Wells senior Matt Tufts, who had four sacks. “We take it one game at a time. It’s just a win streak. We’re playing for the Gold Ball.”
Maine Central Institue quarterback Ryan Friend sits on the field after getting sacked by Wells’ Matt Tufts (35) on Friday night in Pittsfield. Morning Sentinel photo by Michael G. Seamans
MCI (4-1) played without a number of key players. Running back Cole Steeves was on crutches after a knee injury in last week’s victory at Waterville. Six others, including four starters, sat for what MCI coach Tom Bertrand called a violation of team rules.
“We set some standards, in terms of small things that are important,” Bertrand said. “We’ll have that same standard next week, and if we have kids that don’t meet that, they won’t play against Winslow. There’s things that are more important than football.”
Even with a full roster, the Huskies would have been hard-pressed to slow the Warriors.
Jacob Scott had a pair of first-half touchdown runs for the Warriors. The first went for 29 yards with 9:34 left in the first quarter and came one play after a Payton MacKay touchdown run was negated by a Wells holding penalty.
Scott’s second touchdown run came late in the second quarter and pushed Wells’ lead to 27-8.
MacKay’s 42-yard touchdown run gave Wells a 13-0 lead late in the first. Matt Ouellette’s 64-yard catch from Brady Fox with 6:55 left in the half gave the Warriors a 19-0 lead.
“That’s a good football team,” Wells coach Tim Roche said of MCI. “If they would’ve had those other guys, I think it would have been a better game. But we’re a pretty good team.”
MCI tried to go to a short passing game much of the half. But it was a long pass, a 68-yard reception by Nason Berthelette from Ryan Friend, that accounted for the Huskies lone first half touchdown, cutting the Wells lead to 19-8 after Friend’s conversion run with 6:39 to play in the half.
“We knew they weren’t going to let up. We made some plays, and they responded,” Bertrand said.
Wells scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to pull away, and it needed to run just four plays to do so. MacKay ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries. Jonah Potter added two touchdowns and 85 yards rushing.
Berthelette was the workhorse for MCI’s offense, catching 12 passes for 108 yards.
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