Maranacook’s Owen Dunn outruns a pair of Dirigo defenders during the eight-man Small School South final against Dirigo last seasonin Dixfield. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
The Maranacook football team handled Sacopee Valley with relative ease in its eight-man Small School season finale last Saturday night in Hiram.
Now, the Black Bears will need another victory over those same Hawks to extend their season.
The eight-man Small School playoff fields are set, as No. 2 Maranacook (5-2) will host No. 7 Sacopee Valley (1-6) in a regional quarterfinal game Friday night at 7.
“I don’t enjoy playing the same team back to back,” said Maranacook coach Jordan DeMillo, whose team beat Sacopee 46-6 on Saturday. “But at least there’s no two-hour bus ride for us this week.”
Maranacook quarterback Kody Goucher had a big game against the Hawks, finishing with 252 yards of offense (128 passing, 124 rushing) to go along with five touchdowns.
Sacopee Valley runs the triple-option offense, but gave Maranacook a new look with some empty backfield formations last weekend.
DeMillo said the Black Bears will be ready for whatever comes their way Friday.
“It seemed like they were missing some guys with injuries,” DeMillo said, “and it sounded like they could get a few guys back this week. It’s really critical we don’t overlook them.”
• • •
Lawrence (3-4) dropped a tough 36-33 decision Saturday night to traditional Class A power Bonny Eagle, which needed a Cam Marcello touchdown pass with 1:16 left to prevail.
The Bulldogs, who trailed 21-0, took a 33-28 lead when Parker Higgins rushed for a touchdown out of the wildcat formation with 2:54 left in regulation. The touchdown came with the Bulldogs trying to overcome a wrist injury to quarterback Michael Hamlin.
“We lost our quarterback and his ability to take snaps,” Lawrence coach John Hersom said. “The wrist injury, we were limited a little in the second half. We had to rely on our running game quite a bit. We don’t have a lot of offense out of the shotgun.”
Backup Colby Nadeau also took some snaps.
Leavitt’s Will Keach, right, hits Lawerence quarterback Michael Hamlin during a Sept. 30 game in Turner. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Hersom said Hamlin will be re-evaluated early this week to determine his availability in the regular season finale against Messalonskee (1-6) on Friday night.
We just have to assess it this week,” he said. “We’ll talk to the trainers and his parents and see what everyone thinks.”
The Bulldogs, who are fifth in Class B North, have played a tough non-conference schedule, with games against Bonny Eagle (4-3) and defending Class C champ Leavitt (7-0).
“We’ve had some tough crossover games,” Hersom said. “We’ve played some teams we just don’t see every year. It makes it a little more challenging.”
Hersom added that the tough schedule should make his team a formidable threat in the playoffs.
“We never count ourselves out against anybody,” he said. “Playoffs is what we strive for. We’ll be confident when that time comes.”
• • •
Skowhegan got into the Halloween spirit Saturday, when the normally black-clad River Hawks unveiled bright orange jerseys for their home game against Thornton Academy.
The new shirts have white numbers and a big “SKOWHEGAN” wordmark in black above the front numbers.
Skowhegan’s Kyle LePage (58) tackles Thornton Academy’s Henry Lausier (14) during a football game Saturday in Skowhegan. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
When the school ordered two sets of jerseys — one black, one white — from uniform supplier Rawlings, it also received a bonus set of reversible jerseys, coach Ryan Libby said. The reversibles are orange on one side and gray on the other. (The gray shirts were worn earlier this season.)
But after dropping a 47-7 decision to the Golden Trojans for the River Hawks’ first loss of the season, Libby may want to put the new jerseys in mothballs.
“It likely will be, for a while,” he said when asked if the orange shirts would be retired.
Skowhegan also has new black helmets with a River Hawks logo on each side after wearing plain white headgear last season.
• • •
Football players and coaches love routines, so when the power went out Friday at Cony High, adjustments were needed.
The school lost power because of high winds and heavy rain in the region. The Rams were set to play at rival Gardiner on Friday night,
Students were sent home for the day — just prior to when power was restored at the school.
“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Cony head coach B.L. Lippert said. “If you get sent home because of a snow storm, you’re probably not going to have a basketball game that night. Our kids were like, ‘Oh, the game is off.’ I was like, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ The power came back on about three seconds after they announced (the students) were going home. I was hoping they’d keep us in school, keep that routine. But, the dye was cast at that point. We had to stay, as teachers, until 2:15 (p.m.). It extended the day, dragged it along even longer, so our kids had more time off (before the game). It was a little bit of an unsettling feeling, knowing that it wasn’t the normal routine… You don’t want any of your routine thrown off, but I think we handled it pretty well.”
Cony’s Dom Napolitano runs for a 48-yard touchdown and gives Cony a 27-12 lead over Gardiner with 1:54 left in the football game Friday at Hoch Field in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
“I felt like it kind of messed us up a little bit,” added Cony running back Elijah Klaiber. “But coming in (to the game), I told the guys, ‘This is going to be a good one.’”
Still, the 144the Cony-Gardiner game went on as scheduled, one of the few games to be played on Friday night.The Rams prevailed 27-12 and now lead the all-time series 76-58-10.
Cony quarterback Dom Napolitano rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. He also had a 60-yard fumble return for a touchdown and an interception. Klaiber rushed for 91 yards on 16 carries.
• • •
AROUND THE STATE: There are just five undefeated teams left in the state, including three — Yarmouth, Dexter and Mountain Valley — in the eight-man ranks. Oxford Hills of Class A and Leavitt of Class C are the others. All five teams are 7-0. … Foxcroft Academy has allowed just 60 points, the fewest in the state. However, the Ponies (5-1) have played one fewer game than most, as some Class D schools had bye weeks this fall. … Dexter has scored a state-best 370 points for an average of 53 a game. … Five eight-man teams have scored more than 300 points this season, including Dexter, Yarmouth, Stearns, Mountain Valley and Mattanawcook. By comparison, no team playing the traditional 11-man game has topped the 300-point mark, although Foxcroft (293) and Leavitt (277) are close.
Staff writers Dave Bailey and Dave Dyer contributed to this report.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
