- After the crazy of last week, why not have another week of craziness? The incoming Hurricane Lee cleared the Saturday slate of all but one game and gave us one of the most packed Friday night schedules we have seen in some time.

- Congratulations to Foxcroft Academy’s Danny White and Windham’s Matt Perkins on reaching the century mark in wins. Danny’s win came in his 139th game while Matt reached the mark in his 180th game. They are two of 14 active coaches to have reached the big 100 - Steve Allosso of Biddeford, Kevin Cooper of Bonny Eagle, John Hersom of Lawrence, Mike Hathaway of Leavitt, Tom Bertrand of Maine Central Institute, Alex Rotsko of Marshwood, Brad Bishop of Mattanawcook Academy, Mike Fallon of Sanford, Aaron Filieo of South Portland, Kevin Kezal of Thornton Academy, Tim Roche of Wells, and Jim Hartman of Yarmouth.

- The first game of the weekend was a Thursday night contest between Brunswick and Greely, and it created all sorts of late game drama in the final quarter. Brunswick played dominant in the first half as they held leads of 20-6 and 34-20. Greely then went on an 18-point rally to take a 38-34 lead in the fourth quarter. The Dragons though got the last word in as quarterback Cam Beal tossed a seven-yard pass to Liam Scholl for the go-ahead score. Cam’s successful two-point conversion pass to Scholl was the icing on the cake as Brunswick was victorious 42-38. Beal had a hell of a game as he threw for 351 yards and 6 touchdowns. Receiver Trevor Gerrish was the recipient of 248 of those passing yards and 5 of those touchdowns.

- Several rare midday Friday games were held due to hurricane-related rescheduling. One of those games was a battle of the unbeaten between 8 man large school North opponents Camden Hills and Mount Desert Island. After the Trojans took an early 8-0 lead on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Laurendeau to Cal Hodgdon. Camden Hill’s offense took awhile. They wouldn’t get onto the scoreboard until the 5:27 mark of the second quarter when Owen Reynolds ran in a four-yard touchdown. While they would not get the successful two-point conversion, they did hold long enough at the end of the quarter to stave off another Mount Desert Island scoring attempt. The second period say the Windjammers take over with three touchdowns and a dominating difference in time of possession (17:34 to MDI’s 6:26). William Haslam threw three touchdown passes to Dylan Lowe, Cameron Lawrence, and Owen Reynolds in the second half. Mount Desert Island would score in the fourth quarter, but Haslam’s touchdown toss to Reynolds and a Camden Hills defensive hold to force a Trojan’s turnover on downs ensured the victory. The win gives Camden Hills the program’s first ever 3-0 start, which dates back to 2008.

- Waterville has had Morse’s number for awhile now. Prior to the 2013 four-class move, the two teams were Eastern Class B rivals and played once a year. Since a 32-22 victory on the opening weekend of the 2007 season, Morse lost five games over the next five years. Then the 2013 split moved Waterville to Northern Class C and sent Morse to Southern Class B (and eventually) to Southern Class C. When the state expanded the 8 man ranks to a large and small school class, Morse and Waterville found themselves in the same region once again. And that domination continued. The Purple Panthers won a regular season and playoff game in 2021 and 2022 over Morse. Things were starting to look like that dominance would reach double-digits until Morse went on their last drive at the 2:39 mark of the fourth quarter. The Shipbuilders went the 84 yards downfield, which culminated in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Calin Gould to Braylon Williams which tied the game 14-14. Gould’s quarterback keeper on the two-point conversion gave Morse a 16-14 lead that held through the final minute of the game.

- If any region looks to be an extremely competitive place down the stretch, one has to give honest consideration to the 8 man large school North. Five of the six teams have winning records. Morse edged out Mountain Valley for second plate on the fourth tiebreaker (Heal points), while they are both a little under 5 Crabtree points ahead of fourth place Waterville. Mount Desert Island could just as easily be in first place, as opposed to fifth place, had they beat Camden Hills.

- Deering got a gut-check victory on Friday to keep their season start perfect as they defeated Biddeford 6-0 in Portland. After a scoreless 36:02, it was Deering’s Jordan Dibiase who broke the scoreless deadlock on a one-yard quarterback keeper. Then, with their backs to the wall three and a half minutes later on their own three-yard line, Deering’s linebacker Archie Rubin picked off Biddeford’s Gino Mariello. The Rams would force two Biddeford turnovers on downs. Dibiase came up big on the Rams final drive as he converted on fourth and one, which allowed them to run out the clock and secure the victory. The 3-0 run is Deering’s best start since beginning the 2011 season with a four-game unbeaten run.

- Another Rams team that is off to an unbeaten start is Kennebunk. Although their start was slugging, the Rams overcome a first quarter interception and fumble to eventually take a 21-0 halftime lead and a 35-0 shutout win at the end of the game. Kennebunk’s defense was able to hold Westbrook’s Gavin Tanner to only 28 yards on the ground, while Kennebunk’s Austin West, Maddox Ralls, and Moose Keys combined for 238 rushing yards and almost a ten-yard average per run amongst the three of them. The win gives Kennebunk first place in Southern Class B, edging out Deering.

- Another Rams team in Southern B is close in a way, but they are at the opposite end of the other Rams on the win-loss ledger. Gorham may be 0-3 but they could just as easily be 3-0. In fact, no 0-3 team in the state has lost their games by as close a margin as Gorham has. In week one they lost 14-6 to Kennebunk after being as close as a point down in the fourth quarter until a late Kennebunk touchdown put the game out of reach. Last Saturday Gorham came back from a 21-6 fourth quarter deficit with two touchdowns, but a two-point conversion pass was incomplete and the onside kick-attempt was recovered by Cheverus to hold on for the 21-20 final. And then this week against Marshwood, Gorham’s 27-20 lead slipped in the final half of the fourth quarter on a long Marshwood touchdown run and then a game-winning field goal with 27.5 seconds left. Gorham will be at 1-2 South Portland next weekend.

- For a brief period of time, York made a challenge to Leavitt early 21-0 lead in the second period when Ben Brown caught an eight-yard touchdown pass and then recovered a kickoff return fumble and returned it for a touchdown. The rest of the first half, as well as the game, belonged to the Hornets in a 63-13 win. On the ground the Hornets ran for 237 yards and eight touchdowns from Noah Carpenter (3), Maddox Demers (3), Brandon Bilodeau (1), and Riley Meisner (1). Carpenter also threw a touchdown pass to Aiden Turcotte.

- A quick start helped Sanford weather a back-and-forward rest of the game as they defeated South Portland 31-20 to maintain their undefeated start to the season. The Spartans relied exclusively on a ground game that gained all 417 of their offense yards. Jordan Bissonnette ran for 210 of those yards and scored a touchdown while Rhylen Avery ran for 126 yards and scored three touchdowns. If they had one weakpoint to the game it was their air game as they threw three interceptions. Two of which resulted in South Portland drives for touchdowns. And while South Portland was able to get points on the board after that first quarter, they were unable to hold back Sanford’s ground game.

- Friday night’s game between Bonny Eagle and Thornton Academy turned out to be exactly the sort of close-fought battle that many predicted it would be. Even though Thornton Academy came into the game 0-2 while Bonny Eagle was without several starters and lost another in the game due to injuries, this game was every bit the exciting battle many same that it would be on the lead-up to the week. Both teams kept it close in the first and second quarter with neither side gaining a decisive advantage. After a scoreless third quarter, momentum was even until Bonny Eagle was stopped inches shy of a first down on fourth and three. Then Bonny Eagle mishandled a punt return and turned over the ball at their own 13 yard line that gave Thornton Academy excellent field position. Two plays later Mauricio Sunderland scored on a three-yard touchdown run to give Thornton Academy a 21-14 lead. The TA defense would force a turnover on downs on the subsequent drive, with quarterback Wyatt Benoit scoring on a 42-yard touchdown run on the first play of their drive to up the lead to the final of 28-14.

- With Noble’s 29-23 win over Massabesic, it creates a closely contested race for second through fourth place between them, Bonny Eagle, and Thornton Academy in Southern Class A that is separated by a little under two Crabtree points. Bonny Eagle maintains a slightly one point lead on Thornton Academy for second, with Thornton Academy holding a half-point lead over Noble for third place.

- With Oxford Hills’ 39-0 win at home against Scarborough, Portland’s 47-6 win at Lewiston, and Windham’s 48-0 home victory over Edward Little, it gives Northern Class A three 3-0 teams. The three teams have a combined 343 points scored to 60 points allowed. Windham shares in three-way tie in classes A through D for the fewest points scored with 6. The other two teams are Foxcroft Academy and Poland. Portland’s scored 122 points. That is the most in Class A and the fourth most in classes A through D. Oxford Hills’ 14 points allowed is the sixth fewest in classes A through D.

- With Lawrence’s 34-0 victory over Mt. Blue, it gave the Bulldogs possession of second place in Northern Class B. This happens even though they will be tied with Gardiner on Crabtree points. Lawrence gets the edge on the second tiebreaker (regional record) as they are 2-0 while Gardiner is 2-1.

- On paper, the cross-class match-up between Northern Class C Hermon and Northern Class D Foxcroft Academy looked to be an intriguing match-up. On the field it was nothing short of a rout as Foxcroft Academy dominated Hermon 48-0. This was a game where the Ponies held leads of 21-0 in the second quarter and 35-0 at halftime. While we are unable to get a final Northern Class D ranking until tomorrow night, Foxcroft Academy will likely hold the lead in the region even with a Winslow victory. With their 151 points scored, they are second in classes A through D behind Leavitt’s 153.

- Poland may have given up a first-quarter touchdown to Oak Hill, but they took a lead and held on for a 16-6 victory Friday. As we mentioned earlier, they are tied for the lead amongst teams in classes A through D with only six points allowed. Like Northern Class D, we will not know the final standings for Southern Class D for week three until tomorrow night.

- Since Mt. Ararat made the move to the 8 man ranks, Frank True’s teams have perennially been one of the most dominant teams amongst the large and small school ranks. His teams have gone 24-6 in the three years of being an 8 man team, the most overall wins of any 8 man team or coach. However, injuries have taken a toll on the Eagles this season as they have stumbled out of the gate with an uncharacteristic 0-2 start. The last time Mt. Ararat started out like this was in 2014 when they began 0-3 and finished with a 1-7 record in Western Class B. During Friday’s game and tied 12-12 against Gray-New Gloucester in the third quarter, the Eagles found their way when Wesley Wallace broke the deadlock with two touchdowns to help them to a 22-12 victory. Mt. Ararat will meet third place Greely this upcoming Friday.

- After losses in the last two weeks, Stearns came out firing away on Friday with two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the second quarter and a shutout effort in the second half to defeat Mattanawcook Academy 58-12. 359 of their 531 offensive yards and five of their eight touchdowns were through the air.

- Maranacook did not need too many plays in their 73-0 victory over Traip Academy. They needed just 19 plays total. That’s because three of their scores come on interception returns for pick sixes from Owen Dunn, Robbie Vivenzio, and Tyler Chase. Offensively Kody Goucher threw three touchdowns and ran for another, Dunn had a 55-yard rushing touchdown and a 60-yard touchdown reception to go along with his pick-six, Defensively the Black Bears held the Rangers to 68 total yards of offense, a 0-8 conversion rate on third down, and a 0-2 conversion rate on fourth down. Kaden Neptune and Patrick Cushing each had five tackles and two tackles for losses.

- Old Orchard Beach walked out of Boothbay Harbor with a 68-0 victory in a battle of the sea birds. And it was all Old Orchard Beach in the game. Defensively they held Boothbay to –16 yards for their third shutout of the season. That shutout number is significant because they are the only 8 man team in the state’s relatively short history to have allowed no points after three weeks. That distinction earns them a place alongside the 2006 Mountain Valley, 2006 Foxcroft Academy, 2010 Cape Elizabeth, and 2010 Lisbon teams as the only teams to have allowed no zero points after three weeks. And there was the offensive effort of the highest scoring team in the state. Brady Plante threw for 195 yards and three touchdowns, Wesley Gallant ran for 121 yards on six carries and scored two touchdowns, and Riley Provencher had 126 receiving yards and two touchdowns (he also had an interception on defense).

- Next week we could see another coach reach the century mark in wins as Old Orchard Beach’s Dean Plante is within one win of that distinction. His Seagulls will play Telstar in Bethel on Saturday.

- While we will not have final standings for the 8 Man Small School South until tomorrow night, we do know that Old Orchard Beach will continue to hold first place over Maranacook. This is because Old Orchard Beach have a slight edge in the fourth tiebreaker (Heal Points) over Maranacook. This will still be the case even if Mount View defeats Telstar. Maranacook played Mount View earlier this season and would benefit from a Mount View win for Heal Points reasons.

- Dirigo showed no lingering effects of last week’s loss to Old Orchard Beach with a 42-14 victory over undefeated Sacopee Valley on Friday. Dirigo was the dominant side in the first half as they took a 39-0 lead into halftime. Colin Waugh kicked a 23-yard second half field goal for the last of Dirigo's points before Sacopee Valley scored two fourth quarter touchdowns: one a Tyler Easterbrooks touchdown run and the other a 49-yard pass from Easterbrooks to Brady Metcalf. Hudson Lufkin had quite the all-around night for the Cougars as he threw for 102 yards with two touchdowns, he ran seven times for 74 yards and a touchdown, and he had eight tackles on defense. With the win it moves Dirigo into 2-1 and into third place over Sacopee Valley by virtue of the first tiebreaker (head-to-head record).

- There was one game held on Saturday, with was a night game at Hoch Field in Gardiner where Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale served as the host against Wells. After a scoreless first quarter, it was all Wells as they took a 27-0 halftime lead en route to a 41-0 victory. While the Warriors offense was fairly balanced (166 passing yards to 149 rushing yards), four of their six touchdowns were through the air from quarterback Brooks Fox to Riley Murphy (2), Connor Whitten (1), and Eli Potter (1). Ten players combined for 34 carries with Potter and Kevin Bolduc scoring the touchdowns. Defensively Wells held the Ramblers to 106 yards of offense and a 5-for-15 conversion rate on third down. Both sides had two turnovers each. A glaring item on the stat sheet was the 17 combined penalties (9 for Wells, 8 for the Ramblers) for a combined 182 yards.

- There are three games remaining on the schedule for week three. Two will have 3 pm kickoff times. Nokomis will host Winslow and Telstar hosts Mount View. The third game has a 7 pm kickoff with Pottle Field in Hermon hosting the home team John Bapst against Freeport.

- Our plan is to update the Crabtree rankings for the rest of the state tomorrow. We will send out scores and standings on Tuesday morning.

- There are three, potentially four, battles of the unbeaten next week. They are Kennebunk against Deering, Orono against Bucksport, and Leavitt against Oxford Hills. A potential fourth game will be determined tomorrow. If Freeport defeats John Bapst, that will set up a fourth battle of the unbeaten between Freeport and Poland.

- While Old Orchard Beach’s 186 points is the most that an 8 man team has scored at this point of any season, you might be shocked to know that it is not the most scored by any team. Here are the highest recorded points scored since 2004 from the first week through the eighth week.
Week 1 – 81, 2014 Maine Central Institute (D)
Week 2 – 132, 2018 Kennebunk (B)
Week 3 – 198, 2012 Foxcroft Academy (C)
Week 4 – 246, 2015 Maine Central Institute (D)
Week 5 – 284, 2014 Thornton Academy (A)
Week 6 – 330, 2014 Marshwood (B)
Week 7 – 390, 2014 Marshwood (B)
Week 8 – 431, 2014 Marshwood (B)

- New Hampshire tracker
Bedford defeated Keene 35-0 on Friday. The 3-0 Bulldogs will travel to 1-2 Goffstown next Friday.
Bishop Guertin lost to Nashua North 21-17 on Saturday. The 1-2 Cardinals will host 1-2 Merrimack next Saturday.
Dover lost to Portsmouth-Oyster River 24-22 on Friday. The 1-1 Green Wave will host 0-3 Spaulding next Friday.
Merrimack defeated Goffstown 28-8 on Saturday. The 1-2 Tomahawks will travel to 1-2 Bishop Guertin next Saturday.
Portsmouth-Oyster River defeated Dover 24-22 on Friday. The 3-0 ClipperCats will travel to 1-2 Manchester Memorial next Friday.
Spaulding lost 31-6 to Exeter on Thursday. The 0-3 Red Raiders will host 1-1 Dover next Friday.
Winnacunnet lost 32-11 to Manchester Memorial on Friday. The 0-3 Warriors will travel to 3-0 Exeter next Saturday.

- Quote of the week
"We played with a sense of urgency for the whole game. We’ve done that in phases in the first two games. No one’s played a tougher three-game stretch than we have, and I’m really proud of our kids to come over here, chips down, everyone’s talking about the demise of Thornton Academy football. Can put that on hold for a little while."
Kevin Kezal, Thornton Academy head coach

- Streak tracker
There are 19 unbeaten teams in Maine (possibly 21 after tomorrow), down from last week’s 25
The longest active winning streaks belongs to Leavitt (14), Oxford Hills (14), Foxcroft Academy (11), Old Orchard Beach (10), and Yarmouth (6)
1 team will end their losing streak of 4 or more games on Monday; either Mount View (7) or Telstar (5)
The longest active losing streaks belongs to Traip Academy (21), Madison (11), Valley (10), and Edward Little (9)

- First place teams after week three
Class A North – Oxford Hills (no change)
Class A South – Sanford (no change)
Class B North – Messalonskee (no change)
Class B South – Kennebunk (no change)
Class C North – TBD Monday
Class C South – Leavitt (no change)
Class D North – TBD Monday
Class D South – TBD Monday
8 Man Large School North – Camden Hills (no change)
8 Man Large School South – Yarmouth (no change)
8 Man Small School North – Orono (change from last week)
8 Man Small School South – Old Orchard Beach (change from last week)

- Five games of interest to us in week four
Freeport vs Poland
Kennebunk vs Deering
Mountain Valley vs Camden Hills
Orono vs Bucksport
Leavitt vs Oxford Hills

What are your thoughts on the weekend?