High school football playoffs are finally here and in Western Class D, the road to the Gold Ball kicks off Friday night with a pair of games.
No. 7 Boothbay (2-5) will travel to Harlow Park to take on No. 2 Dirigo (6-1), while fourth-seeded Old Orchard Beach (4-3) will host No. 5 Winthrop/Monmouth (3-4) at Joe Regina Field. Both games will be played at 7 p.m.
The Ramblers and Seagulls met once earlier this season, and Winthrop/Monmouth coach Dave St. Hilaire is well aware his team is going to have to find a way to stop OOB quarterback Bryan Roberts to have a chance.
“He’s a big, strong, hard runner,” St. Hilaire said. “He’s the focal point of the their offense and we can’t just let him run wild.
“We just can’t let Roberts just run up and down the field and move the chains. He’s a super player and one of the top players in the conference. That’s where we have to start defensively.”
This is nothing new for the Seagulls, however, as most teams have keyed in on Roberts all season. Old Orchard will also look to use Andrew Graves — more of a utility player who will line up in the backfield and out wide — and fullback Eric Hogan to complement the play of Roberts.
“It’s no secret (the offense) starts with Bryan but we have multiple weapons,” OOB coach Dean Plante said. “You key on Bryan because he’s the quarterback. We’re hoping that we’ve improved as well and it should be a good game.”
It will be difficult exactly to know what to expect from the two teams because seven weeks have passed since the two last played. At that time the Ramblers were still getting used to St. Hilaire’s new offensive and defensive schemes, and the Co-op is hoping that the passage of time will help produce a win this time around.
“In the last four weeks…we’ve rushed for 193 yards or more each game,” St. Hilaire said. “The week before we ran for 47.
“The kids are getting it and they’re understanding it. They don’t miss assignments and they’re executing.”
On Saturday, meanwhile, No. 6 Maranacook (3-4) will travel to third-seeded Oak Hill (7-1) for a 12:30 p.m. start in what could be a sloppy game with rain potentially in the forecast.
“It is what it is,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “We’ve got to play football regardless. It’s part of the game.”
At 36.6 points per contest, the Raiders possess the highest scoring offense in the conference. In order to counteract Oak Hill’s big-play offense, the Black Bears will be looking to reduce the amount of possessions each team has by taking care of the football, limiting penalties and leaning on their double wing attack.
“As a coach you’re kind of tempted to try and open it up and try a bunch of stuff, but you can’t go three-and-out,” Maranacook coach Joe Emery said. “You really need to control the clock as much as possible because it’s going to get ugly if they have a huge time of possession. It usually doesn’t work out for the opposing teams this year. You have to have long, sustained drives to beat Oak Hill.”
Maranacook managed to do that to an extent in a 21-0 loss to the Raiders earlier this season, as it was a just a two-score game until an Alex Mace touchdown in the closing minutes brought the contest to its final score.
That being said, Oak Hill played that contest without two-way starter senior Kyle Flaherty, a player whom Emery considers to be one of the three best running backs in the league along with Mace and Dirigo’s Tyler Frost.
“We’re playing well. I think the kids have a lot of confidence,” Doucette said. “This is the healthiest we’ve been all year and we feel like we’ve built some depth over the course of the year.”
The winner of Saturday’s contest between Oak Hill and Maranacook will advance to the semifinals, where they will face the winner of Dirigo and Boothbay.
Top-seeded Lisbon (6-1) will face the winner of Winthrop/Monmouth and Old Orchard Beach. The Greyhounds were scheduled to face Telstar (1-6) in the opening round but the Rebels elected to forfeit the contest.
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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