Week 10 Thoughts on the Weekend

- 20 games were played this week. Then 10 games will be played next week. Then 4 games to be played the week after that. And finally we will see 1 last game to bring a close to the 2024 schedule. Where does the time go? The sport that is both sprint and marathon always looks so long in August. Yet once we reach this time it appears to short.

- There were 5 upsets (based on seeding) this weekend. Looking back over the years the upsets are within the historical trends for week 10. There were 4 upsets in 2023, 2022 had 9 upsets, 5 upsets happened in 2021, while 2019 only had 1 upset.

- Of the eight regional finals scheduled for next week, 10 of the 16 teams involved were there in 2023. 9 of the same teams were also there in 2022.

- There has not been much recent playoff history between Bangor and Lewiston. In fact it has been a decade (2013) since their last playoff game. Since 2004 the history has been on Bangor’s side as the Rams have won three of the five playoff games between this two teams. Perhaps no recent game between the two was as big as the 2010 playoff meeting. That year they met in the Eastern Class A regional final. Bangor was looking to make a second straight trip to state. Meanwhile Lewiston was looking for their first trip to the state championship since 1987. Bangor would win that game 28-25. This time around Bangor established an early 8-0 lead on the first of three Kyle Johnson touchdowns runs, along with a safety that came when Lewiston’s quarterback Jeffrey Randall was flagged for intentional grounding in the endzone. Jayden Sands would help the Blue Devils tie it as he recovered a fumble in the end zone. Randall’s touchdown run in the third quarter gave Lewiston a 14-8 lead. However, Bangor would get two Johnson touchdowns while defensively they forced Lewiston to turn over the ball on downs that all but ended the game 22-14.

- Even when something went against Portland during their Friday game against Windham, they were still able to make things go in their favor during their 42-14 victory. The Bulldogs took a 7-0 lead early on a Charlie Abramson-Thompson score. Despite throwing an interception, Portland recovered a fumble on the following play and atoned for the turnover with touchdown runs by Louis Thurston and Cordell Jones for a 21-0 lead. They would get another touchdown before the end of the half as Carter Lucca’s pick-six of Windham’s Karl Longstreth gave the Bulldogs a four-touchdown lead. Portland and Windham would alternate two touchdowns each in the second half. Thurston recorded his second rushing touchdown for Portland, along with an Aidan McGowan scoring run. The Eagles got their lone points of the game by way of a Parker Sperry touchdown run and a Longstreth touchdown pass to Wyatt Washburn.

- Mauricio Sunderland helped pace Thornton Academy with four rushing touchdowns as the Golden Trojans defeated South Portland 36-12 on Friday. Sunderland’s three scores in the first half, along with four defensive stands that held South Portland to zero points, gave Thornton Academy a dominating 22-0 lead. The Red Riots would make an early second-half rally with two passing touchdowns from Parker Reny to Addison Blair and to Alex Horton that narrowed the deficit to 22-12. However, Thornton Academy would put the game well out of reach in the fourth quarter as Sunderland scored his fourth touchdown. Connor Ayoob’s touchdown run would be the last set of points scored in the game.

- It was only two weeks ago that Bonny Eagle’s Colin Moran scored the eventual game-winning touchdown that helped the Scots defeat Noble 21-14 in North Berwick. That win more-or-less helped Bonny Eagle slide ahead of Noble into second place in the Southern Class A standings. This game had plenty of excitement too as it featured four lead changes. None were as pivotal as the final lead change. Following a Ben Noe Bonny Eagle interception in their end zone, a Scots punt led to a Tavian Brown 50-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 21-18 lead. The Noble defense held firm, with their ensuing drive culminating in a Tommy Gagnon touchdown run that upped the lead to 28-18. Colin Moran’s fourth touchdown of the day for Bonny Eagle, his second scoring pass to Ben Augustino, narrowed the Noble lead to 28-24. However, the Knights would run out the clock for the win and their first regional final appearance since 1997.

- Like Deering’s game against Massabesic on September 27th, the Rams scored 21 points. This time around it was a stifling defensive effort that ensured this game wasn’t nearly as close as Deering walked away with a 21-0 win and a trip to their first regional final since 2010. Deering took an early lead on a Dash Newhall touchdown run, added to it with two Tavian Lauture field goals, and then finished the scoring with a Joey Foley touchdown run. The Rams held the Mustangs to just 44 yards of offense in the first half. While the Mustangs gained a little more yardage in the second half, their best opportunity to get back into the game following a fumble recover by Jackson Normand in the fourth quarter was quickly squandered as Corbin Burke picked off Massabesic’s Cam Bradbury.

- If you had not watched the Kennebunk and Marshwood games earlier this year or last year, you might have thought the Rams 21-7 lead in the fourth quarter all but signaled the end of the road for the Hawks playoff run. Once again that was not the case in Kennebunk on Friday night. Marshwood narrowed the gap to eight points with a Cody Bubier goal-line touchdown run. Then, with 2:10 remaining and the ball at their own 35-yard line, and with quarterback Tyler Hussey out for part of the drive due to an injury, the Hawks drove the 65 yards that culminated in a Hussey to Greg Castoras touchdown pass and a Hussey to Caden Rose two-point conversion that tied the game up 21-21. A missed Kennebunk field goal would send the game to overtime. With Kennebunk having the opening possession, they got the touchdown and the two-point conversion on runs from Brady Stone and Sam Haley. Marshwood would get a touchdown on their possession when Hussey found Mason Poitras in the end zone. However, on the two-point conversion the Rams defense stopped Hussey well short of the goal line for the 29-27 overtime victory.

- Two weeks ago Messalonskee held Falmouth to just a field goal advantage before the Navigators scored two touchdowns for their 31-14 victory. On Friday night the Eagles went into halftime down 16-7. Falmouth then broke the game wide open with a Tres Walker to Ben Robbins touchdown pass along with touchdown runs by Walker, Indi Backman, and Owen Ross. The last score and the final nail in the Eagles coffin was a blocked punt by Eli Bush, which he recovered for what would be the 51-7 score.

- The Cony Rams team would not be blamed if they opted to play anybody else in the playoffs except for Lawrence. In 2021 and 2023 the Bulldogs were the team that ended Cony’s playoff trips. You can add 2024 to that list as Lawrence beat the Rams 28-18 to advance to their second consecutive regional final and their sixth finals appearance in seven years. The game initially started out as a close-fought contest with a 7-6 Lawrence lead. The Bulldogs expanded the lead with two touchdowns, while forcing a Cony turnover on downs, to end the half with a 21-6 edge. Cony would fumble the ball on their opening two drives, giving Lawrence an opportunity to pad their lead to 28-6 on Michael Hamlin’s second touchdown pass of the night. The Rams tried to rally in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass and run by Parker Morin. However, it was not enough as Lawrence picked up the victory.

- Fryeburg Academy left no doubt in their Friday night game with a 42-0 halftime lead when the game was barely just an hour old. Ty Boone and Malik Sow combined for five touchdown runs (2 for Boone, 3 for Sow) while Ricardo Schulz scored on a pick-six that led to the Raiders lead. With running time in the second half, the Raiders kept York off the scoreboard for the rest of the game to punch the team’s ticket to their second straight regional final.

- Leavitt avenged their 21-14 regular season loss to Cape Elizabeth with a 27-20 win over the Capers on Friday. The win will put the Hornets into their sixth consecutive Southern Class C regional final. Things did not always look so certain through parts of the game. While Leavitt took a 14-0 first quarter lead, Cape Elizabeth stormed back with two touchdowns to tie the game 14-14 going into the half. The Hornets retook the lead in the third quarter, while the Capers scored a touchdown but missed the PAT kick. The Hornets put the game out of reach when Landon Daigle picked off his second pass of the game, returning this one for a touchdown and a 27-20 lead. Then they stopped the Capers with a Nick Mellen pass deflection on fourth down.

- Hermon capitalized on two Bruce Coulter first half touchdowns to turn an 18-0 advantage over Oceanside into what would become a 32-6 victory. Twice the Hawks forced the Mariners to turn the ball over on downs, the second time in the second half that led to a Sam Hopkins touchdown run to put them up 25-0. The two teams traded a fourth-quarter touchdown that led to the final score. Hermon will hope that their third regional final trip is a charm. Their previous visits resulted in losses to Winslow in 2021 (38-30) and Medomak Valley in 2022 (40-20).

- Wells made short work of Oak Hill on Friday as the Warriors advanced to the second consecutive regional final with a 55-14 win over the Raiders. Wells quickly established themselves with an opening touchdown by Dom Carbonneau, followed by two touchdowns each from Dom Buxton and Eli Potter. The Warriors were not done in the second half as Nate DeMauro ran for two touchdowns and Potter scored his third of the game. Oak Hill would get the final two touchdowns of the game from Kaiden Delano. Since 2004, Wells has won all seven of their games against Oak Hill.

- Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale used their ground game to great effect as they defeated Dirigo 36-6 on Friday. The Ramblers picked up all 370 of their yardage on the ground. Cody Cobb and Carter Rivers combined for 33 carries, 345 rushing yards, and five touchdowns. Two of Cobb’s four scores came in the first half, a half where the Ramblers built a 22-6 lead. The team also capitalized on a blocked Cougars punt, with the ball rolling through the back of the end zone for a safety. Dirigo would get a touchdown pass from Hudson Lufkin to Lucas Rice, However, their attempt to manufacture addition yards on a hook-and-ladder resulted in a fumble that Winthrop recovered. Cobb scored his other two touchdowns in the second half, while the defense intercepted Lufkin three times and limited the ground game to a paltry 63 rushing yards.

- Foxcroft Academy took full advantage of everything Old Town gave them during their 29-0 victory on Friday. Old Town elected to squib kick the ball for the onside. However, the ball did not travel the necessary ten yards and so Foxcroft Academy started out with the solid starting field position. That helped lead to a Landon Smith touchdown run. During the second quarter the Ponies’ Finn Holmes picked up an Old Town fumble. He would then get the next three rushing attempts that culminated in a touchdown run and a 14-0 Foxcroft Academy lead. They picked up 9 more points in short order as an Old Town long snap on fourth down went over the head of punter Ethan Closson, who proceeded to kick the ball out of bounds for the safety. The ensuing free kick gave Foxcroft Academy excellent field position. They quickly moved up field with Griffin Caruso scoring on the quarterback keeper for a 23-0 lead. The final points for Foxcroft Academy and for the game started out on a Ponies interception of an Old Town pass in the fourth quarter. Holmes would gain 58 yards on two carries, the last being a 49-yard touchdown run, for the final score.

- The last time Mt. Ararat played Camden Hills, the Eagles watched leads of 24-0 and 30-22 disappeared in a 36-30 Windjammers victory back in week five. This time around the Eagles held onto their lead to the final buzzer for a 48-12 victory. After taking a 12-0, Camden Hills staged their comeback attempt following the recovery of a Dash Farrell fumble. The drive led to a Ryder Lombardo touchdown pass to Isaac Dutille. Lombardo got the start at quarterback for Camden Hills due to an injury to their starter Hollis Schwalm. They would then recover an onside kick attempt. However, Farrell picked off a Lombardo pass and would eventually get the second of his three touchdowns on the day. In the second half Nick Doughty helped extend Mt. Ararat’s lead with his second touchdown of the night. Aidan Ramsay increased the Eagles lead to 32-6 after returning an interception for a touchdown. While Camden Hills doubled their score on a Braden Beveridge kickoff return for a touchdown, Doughty and Farrell picked up touchdowns in the fourth quarter to close out the game.

- After the Greely Rangers came so far as quickly as they did in the past two years, there was plenty of unfinished business for 2024 after falling to Mount Desert Island 28-0 in the 2023 8 Man Large School State championship game. The first step was a 7-1 regular season that put them into second place in the class. The next step was a semifinal match-up against a Lake Region team that had shut out Mount Desert Island 22-0 the previous week. At home against the Lakers, the Rangers quickly ran up an 18-0 score early in the second quarter and a 26-6 score at the half. Greely would pick up two more touchdowns in the second half for the 40-6 victory. Greely would outgain Lake Region 350 to 173 in the game.

- Since Mountain Valley defeated Old Orchard Beach 48-20 during week four of the 2022, the Seagulls have been untouched by their Southern regional peers. They won their 26th consecutive regional game by defeating Sacopee Valley 60-14 in the 8 Man Small School South regional final. They started off strong with a Brady Plante kickoff return for a touchdown. This was one of five touchdowns he had on the night. He also ran in a touchdown and threw scoring passes to Riley Provencher, Brayden Mansur, and Kooper Gervais. Provencher also had a touchdown of his own along with scoring five two-point conversions. The win will put Old Orchard Beach in their third consecutive state championship, the most by any 8 man team since it was sanctioned as a class in 2019.

- After three years of ending up a game shy of the state championship, Stearns finally will get their chance to play for a state championship as they defeated Houlton 62-20 on Friday in the 8 Man Small School North regional final. The game was fairly close early on. The scoring went back-and-forth into the earning minutes of the second quarter as the Minutemen held a 22-20 lead. That was as close as the Shiretowners would get as Stearns scored 40 unanswered points. The win puts Stearns into their first state championship since 2010. That 2010 game was their first title appearance in over a decade. Previous to that the team had played in eight state championship games over a 13-year span from 1986 through 1998.

- Medomak Valley showed with their start on Saturday that they would punish mistakes made against them as they defeated Nokomis 36-6. After turning the ball over on downs on their opening drive, the Panthers recovered a Nokomis fumble and then scored several plays later as Jaydiin Ruiz scored the first of four touchdowns on the day. Ruiz and Walker Simmons scored touchdown runs for a 20-0 Medomak Valley lead at halftime. Ruiz scored his other two touchdowns in the second half en route to the win.

- 602 rushing yards. That was the final total by the Winslow Black Raiders during their 56-34 win over John Bapst on Saturday afternoon. While they held a 28-14 halftime lead, the fireworks came in the final quarter as the two teams combined for five touchdowns. With the Black Raiders playing out of their traditional double-wing, John Bapst had few answers for a ground game that saw Liem Fortin and Hassan Hobbi combined for 531 rushing yards. Fortin alone had 331 rushing yards and two touchdowns through 23 carries on the day.

- Here is a quick rundown of the number of regional finals appearances since 2004 for each of the sixteen participants. This will also include semifinal games for Class A and D from 2019 through 2022 when those classes had just a single table.
Portland - 10
Bangor - 7
Thornton Academy - 13
Noble - 1
Falmouth - 4
Lawrence - 11
Kennebunk - 6
Deering - 3
Hermon - 4
Medomak Valley - 3
Fryeburg Academy - 3
Leavitt - 11
Foxcroft Academy - 12
Winslow - 12
Wells - 9
Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale – 8

- The 8 man state championship games will be held on Saturday, November 16, at Veterans Memorial Field in Kennebunk. This will be the fourth different location for the 8 man championships in as many years. The 2019 and 2021 games were held in Portland. The 2022 games were held in Augusta. And the 2023 games were held in Bangor. While the Maine Principals Association has not formally announced times, tradition dictates that the game featuring a team with the farthest travel gets the 2:30 pm slot. With the large school game featuring Greely and Mt. Ararat, and the small school game featuring Old Orchard Beach and Stearns, it is almost assured that the Greely vs Mt. Ararat game will play at 11 am and the Old Orchard Beach vs Stearns game will play at 2:30 pm. We will provide information on Monday when the MPA makes their announcement.

- Quote of the week
"I haven’t heard a story like this. Freshman year, we didn’t win a game and from then to now, making it to regionals, it feels great. People didn’t think we’d be here, but here we are."
Tavian Lauture, Deering quarterback

- Streak tracker
There are 5 unbeaten teams in Maine, which is unchanged from last week
3 teams had their winning streaks of 4 or more games snapped: Dirigo (7), Bonny Eagle (5), and Oak Hill (4)
The longest active winning streaks belong to Kennebunk (13), Wells (12), Falmouth (10), Foxcroft Academy (10), and Old Orchard Beach (10)

- With only ten games remaining, we are interested in each and every contest so we are not picking five games of interest.

What are your thoughts on the weekend?