The Cony football team runs onto the field before a Sept. 22 game against Lawrence in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
AUGUSTA — There’s no such thing as a dull matchup when the Cony and Gardiner football teams meet. Game 145, though, has just a bit more on the line.
Two seemingly even squads are set to meet in the first matchup of winning teams in the rivalry in more than three decades. It’s a battle that will determine playoff positioning and one that will be played on the new Fuller Field turf for the first time.
“You think about this rivalry, and it’s a week that brings its own emotion and excitement as it is,” said Gardiner head coach Pat Munzing. “When you add in being the playoff aspect of it and battling to see where you might lie, it definitely heightens the game even more.”
Cony (4-3) and Gardiner (4-3) will meet at 7 p.m. Friday with the winner to get the No. 3 seed in Class B North and the loser to receive No. 4. It’s the regular-season finale the rivalry deserves with both teams looking to enter the playoffs with the coveted boot in their trophy case.
It’s been an up-and-down season for Cony. The Rams started the year 1-3 with all three losses by double digits as season-ending injuries to running back Conner Heidle, linebacker Tyler Pelletier and wide receiver Rocco Napolitano took a toll. Even a 27-26 overtime win over Mt. Blue in Week 5 left much to be desired.
“Against Lawrence, we just got embarrassed on our home field,” said Cony head coach B.L. Lippert, whose team lost its homecoming game 40-7 to the Bulldogs in Week 4. “We got the win against Mt. Blue, but we didn’t play that particularly well. … Those injuries really hurt us, and we’ve had to figure some things out.”
More recently, though, a new identity has helped Cony turn things around. Although Lippert won’t openly call the Rams a passing team, it’s no secret what they have in quarterback Parker Morin, who threw for a state-record 480 yards in a 55-20 Week 6 win over Bangor and 219 in last week’s 31-22 victory at Falmouth.
It doesn’t hurt that the sophomore has one of the state’s top receiving targets at his disposal. The connection from Morin to wideout Parker Sergent has been a deadly one for Cony with the latter having made 56 catches for 831 yards and 11 touchdowns in a thoroughly impressive senior campaign.
“We’ve been teammates for so long, and we’ve put in a lot of offseason work,” said Sergent, who’s now on the other side of the rivalry after his dad, Nate, won the James J. Fitzpatrick Trophy for Gardiner in 1997. “He’s a good quarterback, and I love playing with him. He always knows how to find me.”
The Cony and Gardiner football teams play for this boot, which has all the scores of the series that dates to 1892. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
After a 4-1 start, Gardiner has now lost back-to-back games after a 46-6 loss at Cheverus in Week 6 and a 22-14 defeat to Skowhegan last week. The Tigers have suffered some injuries on the lines to Ben Kimball and Keegan Kimball, weakening a unit that, despite a size disadvantage, has pleased Munzing this year.
“It’s no secret that we’re not really big on our offensive or defensive lines, but those guys still had been a bright spot and had really carried us through our first four or five games,” Munzing said. “(Ben and Keegan) really carried us through a lot, so to lose our big cogs over the last two weeks, it’s been tough.”
Like Cony, Gardiner boasts a talented underclassman quarterback, Chase Burgess. The Tigers needed someone to step up this year after the loss of one of the Pine Tree Conference’s top quarterbacks, Wyatt Chadwick, and the junior has excelled in the role since winning it in fall camp.
Although Burgess is a bit more of a running quarterback than a passer, his ability to throw on the run keeps opposing defenses on their toes. A strong receiving tandem of Zach Kristan and Cody Dingwell only exacerbates that threat, and the return of Brady Davidson will only add to Gardiner’s passing game.
“They have some good pieces in that offense,” Lippert said. “Any time you have a first-year starter in there at quarterback, (your defense is) going to want to mix the looks in there for him and don’t let him get comfortable — bring pressure when appropriate and keep those receivers covered on the back end.”
Cony will miss Pelletier, who thrives in those situations, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of beating Gardiner in the trenches. The Rams have one of the PTC’s best defensive lineman in Jonny Lettre, who will look to feast on a Tigers offensive line that might still be missing Ben and Keegan Kimball.
As for Cony’s offense, Lippert knows he’ll be facing a Gardiner defense with a secondary far better than most the Rams have faced. With that in mind Munzing, though wary of Morin and Sergent, wonders if Cony might eschew a pass-happy attack to show some new looks in the run game with Anderson St. Onge.
“Their run game, I think it’s much better than they let on,” Munzing said. “Coach Lippert does a really good job of taking advantage of defenses in terms of what he can get and what he can’t. It’s about who we’re trying to take away and what we’re trying to do, so we’ll have to see what they throw at us”
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