Week 11 Thoughts on the Weekend

- It dawned on me as I walked around the Edward Little High School Sports Complex on Saturday morning, that this season is nearing its completion. Yeah yeah I have been talking about it and trying to wax poetically about the finality and this and that. The end of the season hits every stakeholder in a different way. I may not feel the impending end the way players and parents feel it. It doesn’t do to me what it likely does to coaches across all corners of the state. And administrators and broadcasters and officials are shifting gears from the fall season to the winter season, I am left behind both of my own choosing and by the single-focused nature of the page. For me this is the slow culmination that went back to the announcements of the Fitzpatrick Trophy and the Maine Gatorade Player of the Year and the Gaziano Linemen Awards, the schedule unveiling, the Lobster Bowl rosters, learning dates and times, the Lobster Bowl, and then everything else in the lead up to 2025. And I’ll be ready to do it again for 2026!

- Portland fought back from two deficits to defeat Bangor 30-20 in the Northern Class A regional final and earn a trip to their fourth consecutive state championship game. That Portland had to rally is a slight surprise considering they held a 10-0 lead at halftime. Bangor’s Kyle Johnson threw third-quarter touchdown passes to Will Houghton and Gavin Glanville-True to give the Rams a 14-10 lead. On the Portland side of the ball Cordell Jones showcased one of his best games of the season. That is saying something considering the season he’s had thus far. His 34-yard touchdown pass to Alex Martin gave Portland their halftime lead. In the third quarter his 43-yard touchdown run put Portland on top 23-22. In the last half of the fourth quarter he picked off a Johnson pass in the Rams half of the field and capped off the short drive with a 22-yard touchdown run that gave Portland the final lead.

- Portland goes into the state championship with a 37-8 record in the last four games. This includes a 36-6 record in regional play in Southern Class B (2022) and Northern Class A (2023-2025). Bangor meanwhile will go back to the drawing board. Since the Rams last trip to state in 2010, they are now 0-3 in the Northern Class A regional finals. They are also winless in their last nine games against Portland. Their last win was a 28-27 overtime victory during the fourth week of the 2014 season.

- The Cony Rams continued to add to their already impressive 2025 campaign with a near flawless Northern Class B regional finals performance by defeating Fryeburg Academy 40-7. Parker Morin added to his Fitzpatrick Trophy-worthy season by completing 15 of 20 passes for 263 yards and five touchdowns – three passing and two rushing – on the offensive side of the ball. Ethan Demmons had big impacts on both sides of the ball during the first quarter as he caught one of Morin’s touchdown passes, then on defense he picked off a Ty Boone pass which led several played later to Morin’s second touchdown pass of the night that went to Anderson Noyes. These scores, plus a Morin quarterback keeper early in the game, gave Cony a 21-0 halftime advantage. Noyes would run in a touchdown in the third quarter, while Morin threw and ran for a touchdown to round out his five scores. Fryeburg’s lone touchdown came from a pass by Benny Arnason to Robbie Hazlewood. That was part of the rare success Cony allowed Fryeburg to have as they held the rushing game to just 49 yards and had two interceptions of Arnason.

- After falling short in 2023, Cony will be going to their first state championship since the 2013 Class B title game. That year they went on a final-game drive led by Ben Lucas to defeat Kennebunk 30-23. They are also on track to record what could be the first undefeated season and 11-win season in the long history of Cony football. While falling a game short of the state championship is always a bitter pill, it has been by and large a successful season for a Fryeburg Academy that was shifted away from the familiar surrounding of Southern Class C and put into Northern Class B. Since the 2018 season when the Raiders went to the Class C state championship, they are a combined 47-24 in those past seven seasons.

- The season to remember in Westbrook lives on for one more week as the Blue Blazes held off a late Kennebunk rally to win 34-27 in the Southern Class B regional final. The win will put Westbrook into their first football state championship in school history. This finish was in stark contrast to the 20-0 Westbrook shutout in week six. That win was the game that seemed to change people’s minds and signify that Westbrook was for real. Friday night’s win was the game that showed they belong. They accomplished this win by going toe-to-toe, blow-for-flow with a Rams team that is no stranger to these types of games. Where Westbrook shined was in their ability to limit turnovers while capitalizing on those of Kennebunk’s. Westbrook’s initial score came about when Andre Hicks III, who scored that touchdown, recovered a fumble by Austin West that ended Kennebunk’s initial drive. West would atone for the turnover by tying the game on Kennebunk’s next drive. Staples would put Westbrook in the lead 14-7 to end the first half. Kennebunk responded at the start of the second half when Sam Matthews completed a touchdown pass to Jaiden Homa. Westbrook made it a two-score game with touchdowns by Cole Tanner and Dimitri Lubin. At the start of the fourth quarter West scored to bring Kennebunk to within 7 points at 27-20. Midway through the fourth quarter saw one of the crazier sequences of the weekend when Tanner fumbled the ball, only for Homa to recover the ball and then have it knocked loose by a Westbrook player moments later. 8:48 after drive initially began, Giovanni Staples ran in the ball on a quarterback keeper to give Westbrook a 34-20 lead with 2:22 remaining. Kennebunk narrow that deficit to seven points when Matthews completed a touchdown pass to Homa. However, the on-side kick was recovered by Tanner which allowed Westbrook to take a final kneel down and close out the game.

- Westbrook continues its march into uncharted territory as they move on to Fitzpatrick Stadium for the Class B state championship. The future seeds for those day may have been planted in 2012 when Westbrook had their then-best ever season when they went 6-2 and finished second in Western Class B. It was their second season in Class B after being below the 2011 enrollment cutoff for Class A. Westbrook defeated Fryeburg Academy in the regional quarterfinals before falling the next week to York. It’s been a long road as of late for Cony, filled with many disappointing ends, since they defeated Kennebunk in the 2013 Class B state championship at the University of Maine. They have gone 54-25 in the regular season from 2014 through 2024, only to go 5-10 in the playoffs over that same span. After alternating regional semifinal and quarterfinal defeats from 2014 through 2021, they have made the semifinals the past five seasons.

- The Greely Rangers jumped out to 35 and 42 point leads on their way to defeating Wells 48-22 in the first half of the Class C state semifinals. Noah Allen accounted for three of the Rangers seven first-half touchdowns. Luke Piper completed touchdown passes to Ben Kyles (2) and Jackson Justice (1). Dominic Martone ran in another Greely score. Wells would find the scoreboard before halftime as Noah McDonough completed a touchdown pass to Darion Lamont. Dominic Carbonneau ran in two touchdowns that brought the game out of running time. However, McDonough was picked off twice, turnovers that ended Wells drives when they were attempting get back into a game that was rapidly getting out of hand.

- Greely enters their third consecutive state championship. The first two were in the 8 man large school class games. In the 2023 championship, their second season as a re-formed varsity program after spending the previous two seasons cooping with Falmouth, they fell 28-0 to Mount Desert Island in Bangor. In the 2024 championship the second-ranked Rangers defeated Mt. Ararat 58-20 in Kennebunk. Now they will play in Lewiston in the 2025 championship. For Wells, the loss denies them an opportunity to appear in their third straight state championship. That being said, it is the farthest they have advanced as a fifth place team since going to the 2012 Western Class B regional semifinals.

- After falling in their previous two regional finals, the Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale co-operative dominated the second half with a 27-point run to defeat Morse 39-8 in the Southern Class D regional final. The score was close in the first half as Morse responded with a Dylan Root touchdown pass to Caden Wells that followed two Winthrop touchdowns. The first was a Jacob Feith touchdown to Ben Porter, followed by a Ross Fichthorn touchdown run. Things were much different in the second half as the Ramblers chewed up large amounts of time before getting rushing touchdowns from Fichthorn, Feith, Carter Rand, and Tristyan Ortiz. Porter helped account for two of the three Morse turnovers, both of his being interceptions of passes by Root. With limited opportunities to get back into the game, Morse was just not able to mount a comeback against a Ramblers team that kept putting the game further and further out of reach.

- Winthrop is still on its quest for its first state championship victory since 2000. The Ramblers have certainly had the success to get close to the game, having made it to within a game of the state championships in the last six seasons. The last time they went to state was in 2008. That year the Ramblers went 11-0 in Western Class C. At Fitzpatrick Stadium they met a John Bapst team that was riding a 10-game unbeaten streak and was appearing in their first football state championship title game in school history. The Ramblers lost by the narrow score of 21-14. For Morse, their magical run came to a crushing conclusion. Still, advancing to the regional finals as a number six-seeded team is a heck of an accomplishment given few picked them to advance out of the regional quarterfinals. They are the lowest ranked team to make it to a regional final since seventh-ranked Oak Hill made it to the 2018 Southern Class D regional final.

- Thornton Academy dominated the second half to defeat Bonny Eagle 40-28 in the Southern Class A regional final and advance to their seventh consecutive state championship. That final score was far from anybodies minds going into halftime as Bonny Eagle held a 15-13 lead. Colin Moran’s two short-yard touchdown runs gave Bonny Eagle a 15-7 lead following Connor Ayoob’s opening drive score. Thornton Academy would narrow things up to end the first half as he completed a pass to Chase Paquette that put them two points down. They would get a touchdown each from Ayoob and Dominic Hussey to take a 26-15 lead. A Moran to Drew Gervais touchdown pass brought Bonny Eagle to within a touchdown. Hussey and Morin would exchange touchdowns that gave the game a 33-28 score. With about a minute to go, Hussey would recover Bonny Eagle’s on-side kick attempt. Ayoob would ice the game with his third touchdown when he ran in the ball for a 26-yard score.

- Thornton Academy has now beaten Bonny Eagle in seven consecutive games and 17 of the last 21 games going back to 2011. Connor Ayoob ran for 569 yards and averaged almost 7.6 yards per carry in two games against Bonny Eagle. Thornton Academy and Portland will now do something that has not been done in the history of class A football – they will meet in a title game for the third consecutive year. After reviewing our coaching records sheet, we found that Saturday was Kevin Kezal’s 199th career victory as a head coach. That is 99 wins he has accumulated since reaching the big 1-0-0 on September 26th, 2014. With a win next Saturday he would be only the second current head coach to reach 200 wins (Marshwood’s Alex Rotsko being the other) and would put him in the company of others in the 200 win club like Aylward, “Pete” Cooper, Mynahan, Rafferty, Siviski, Wotton, and Wolfgram (and likely a few others whose names did not appear in our most recent research). For Bonny Eagle, they are 35-18 overall with a 4-5 playoff record in the last five seasons. The only thing missing are trips to states. After visits in 2013, 2016, and 2019, it has now been six years since their last appearance.

- Unlike the regular season, Leavitt put together what we would expect from them in the playoffs with an impressive 47-14 victory over Hermon in the Class C semifinal at Lewiston. Leavitt immediately started things off with a Nathan Karkos touchdown run that gave them an early lead. That lead increased to 18-0 following Landon Marquis touchdown passes to Brody Poland and Mason Henderson. Those two touchdowns would not have happened were it for a Poland interception and a blocked Hermon punt. Hermon’s Ethan Curtis and Justin Largay would get the Hawks on the scoreboard late in the first half with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Leavitt expanded their lead with two more Henderson rushing touchdowns to take a 33-8 lead early into the fourth quarter. Ethan Curtis touchdown pass to Sam Hopkins gave the Hawks a 33-14 deficit. However, Henderson’s fourth touchdown of the game and a Jason Brooks rushing touchdown put the game out of reach as the game came to a close.

- Leavitt is now 4-3 in their last seven regional finals/state semifinal games. Their wins have been against four different opponents – York (2019), Cape Elizabeth (2022), Fryeburg Academy (2023), and now Hermon (2025). They will be playing in their ninth state championship game in the 21st century. That ties them with Portland and behind Winslow (10), Thornton Academy (10), and Foxcroft Academy (13). Despite a disappointing end to a very promising season, Hermon had a great season by all measures. They finished with the second most wins in their program’s history. Their seven-game winning streak is the longest in their program’s history too. They played in a regional final/state semifinal for the fifth time in eight years.

- After about 20 minutes of back-and-forth football, Winslow did what they do best by seizing opportunities which is what helped led them to a 42-14 Northern Class D regional final victory over John Bapst. Unlike the regular season game that John Bapst won 27-14, Winslow did not allow the Crusaders to take a decisive lead by making mistakes. Unlike the week four kickoff that John Bapst recovered and eventually got a 20-7 lead, Winslow played nearly mistake free. The two teams exchanged two touchdowns each leading into the final few minutes of the first half. Few would have envisioned that Broddik Bimpson’s goal line touchdown run would be the deciding score. At the time it was only a 21-14 Winslow lead. Hassan Hobbi would score twice in the third quarter. With the Black Raiders defense preventing the John Bapst offense from getting downfield into dangerous positions, their offense could instead focus on using a ground game that amassed 330 rushing yards to eat up large chunks off the clock. Bimpson’s second touchdown would be the final score of the game.

- Winslow will be going to their 17th state championship game, second only to Foxcroft Academy’s 18 in most football appearances. The Black Raiders are 8-8 going back to the first Class B state title game in 1979. However, this is only the second state championship game for Winslow in the last ten years. Their last trip was in 2021, losing 53-8 to Cape Elizabeth. For John Bapst, the loss is going to sting for a while considering the highs the program reached. First undefeated season in 49 years. A first place finish. The only thing missing was their first state game since 2008.

- Camden Hills got key contributions throughout the entire game that helped lead them to their first ever football state championship with a 52-26 victory over Spruce Mountain in Auburn at Saturday. Camden Hills would get onto the board with when Hollis Schwalm completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Justin Batty. A two-point conversion would put them up 8-0. This would not be the last time you’d hear the name Schwalm. Midway through the second quarter Spruce Mountain would get onto the board with a three-yard touchdown run by Austin Armandi. An unsuccessful Spruce Mountain two-point conversion kept Camden Hills ahead 8-6. The two teams would exchange a touchdown in a 39 second span – a 67-yard touchdown run for Schwalm and a 12-yard scoring run for Dylan Jewett – but Camden Hills would hold a 16-12 lead as their two-point conversion was successful while Spruce Mountain’s was not. They’d further add to that lead in the next minute and a half with two Schwalm touchdown runs, sandwiching a tipped Jewett pass that was intercepted by Batty. At the half Camden Hills held a 30-12 lead. An Ethan Dingle touchdown run for Camden Hills was followed up by an 82-yard kickoff return by Owen Kelvey. The Phoenix wouldn’t score another touchdown until there was 30 seconds left in the game when Kelvey came down with a terrific touchdown catch from Jewett in the back of the end zone. Prior to that it was all Camden Hills. The Windjammers picked up touchdowns run from Braden Beveridge, Schwalm, and Ben Hoffman. These touchdowns were separated Camden Hills interceptions by Beveridge (2) and Kiran Farley (1). The final buzzer sounded shortly after the Kelvey touchdown catch with a lot of celebrating on the Camden Hills sideline.

- The title is Camden Hills’ first since entering the varsity ranks in 2008. Hollis Schwalm accounted for 303 yards of offense (132 passing and 171 rushing) for Camden Hills. Braden Beveridge had a touchdown run and two second half interceptions. There have now been five different 8 man large school champions since the classification was created in 2021 – Cheverus in 2021, Yarmouth in 2022, Mount Desert Island (2023), Greely (2024), and Camden Hills (2025). The 52 points scored by Camden Hills is the fifth most in an 8 man championship game. The 26 points allowed is tied for the second most points scored by the losing team in an 8 man championship game.

- The emotions of Saturday afternoon’s 8 man small school championship game swung wildly after two turnovers that left one side in tears on the sidelines and the other side in joy on the other sides. After the final kneel down it was the challengers from Stearns that were the ones celebrating a 20-18 victory over Old Orchard Beach in Auburn. The game started out with the two sides exchanging possessions on a turnover on downs by OOB and a fumble by Stearns. The fumble was one of four turnovers by Stearns. OOB’s Trot Moody would convert that turnover into points as he launched a 48-yard touchdown to Wesley Gallant, who got behind the Stearns defenders. 3:07 later in the first quarter, Lucas Pelkey would score on a 27-yard touchdown run that tied the game 6-6. Near the end of the first quarter OOB retook a 12-6 lead with a goal line touchdown run by Wesley Gallant. The two teams would exchange interceptions during a 38-second span in the second quarter as Daniel Cashman for OOB and Pelkey of Stearns caught the other teams’ pass. The Minutemen would take their first lead of the game when Emerson Michaud found a streak Trevor VanDine over the middle for a 29-yard touchdown pass. The success two-point run gave Stearns a 14-12 lead going into the half. They would receive the opening possession of the second half and would add to their lead when Cohen Raymond ran in one-yard touchdown run that put Stearns up 20-12. After an OOB turnover on downs, Stearns would go on a clock-killing 5:26 drive that ended in an incomplete pass on fourth down at the OOB 12. OOB would go on an 82-yard drive of their own, killing off 7:33 off the clock in the fourth quarter, with Gallant scoring the 1-yard touchdown run. Down two points, the first attempt on the two-point conversion was blown dead due to an OOB neutral zone infraction. Starting at their 8-yard line, the second attempt was started several yards shy. That meant Stearns was ahead 20-18 with 3:27 remaining in the game. Three plays and 30 seconds later, Moody would pick off Michaud and return the ball to the Stearns 19. Moody would gain 15 yards, which was wiped out by a holding penalty. A second holding penalty would happen on the ensuing play to put OOB into a 2nd and 28 at the Stearns 36 yard line. The next play – the defining play of the game – saw Jaxson Savage grab hold of Moody. As Moody tried to wrestle free the ball flew out of his hands and onto the turf. Lincoln Daisey would pounce upon the loose ball for the Stearns recovery At that point all Stearns needed to do was take three kneel days to run out the clock.

- The title was Stearns’ first in 27 years. When they last won a title they in the midst of a spectacular run that saw them in six championship games – with fourth Class C titles – in eight years. Since then they experienced quite a drought. In those 27 years they went to championship games in 2010 and 2024, only to fall short to their Southern Maine opponents. For Old Orchard Beach, one could very well have invoked the Howard Cosell call of “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!” The loss snapped their state-leading 20-game winning streak. It also gives them a 2-2 record in the last four state championship games. Nothing to be made fun of as there are teams that would be fortunate to appear in one state championship game.

- As we look towards the state championships next Saturday, we know that the Class A and Class B games will be in Portland and the Class C and Class D games will be in Lewiston. As is tradition, the Class A game is at 11 am so the Class B game is likely at 2:30 pm. And since the team that has to travel the farther is normally given the afternoon game, that would mean that the Class C game is at 11 am and the Class D game is at 2:30 pm. We have been told by multiple participants in next weeks games that this is going to be the case. However, it isn’t official until it is MPA official – or so the saying we just created this very moment goes.

- Here is a state championship rundown for each of the eight participants.

Class A North - Portland Bulldogs
Total titles: 1952 (A), 1982 (A), 2002 (A), 2024 (A)
State championship record: 3-6

Class A South - Thornton Academy Golden Trojans
Total titles: 1954 (A), 1955 (A), 1962 (A), 1986 (A), 1988 (A), 2012 (A), 2014 (A), 2015 (A), 2018 (A), 2021 (A), 2023 (A)
State championship record: 8-4

Class B North - Cony Rams
Total titles: 2013 (B)
State championship record: 1-0

Class B South - Westbrook Blue Blazes
Total titles: none
State championship record: 0-0

Class C - Greely Rangers
Total titles: 2024 (8 man large)
State championship record: 1-1

Class C - Leavitt Hornets
Total titles: 1966 (D), 1978 (C), 1995 (B), 1998 (B), 2009 (B), 2013 (C), 2019 (C), 2022 (C), 2023 (C)
State championship record: 7-4

Class D North - Winslow Black Raiders
Total titles: 1958 (B), 1960 (B), 1976 (B), 1982 (B), 1986 (B), 1992 (B), 1993 (B), 2000 (B), 2001 (B), 2014 (C), 2015 (C)
State championship record: 8-8

Class D South - Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale Ramblers
Total titles: 1957 (C), 1959 (C), 1968 (C), 1970 (C), 1975 (C), 2000 (C)
State championship record: 1-4

- Out of state tracker
Bedford defeated Winnacunnet 44-13 on Friday. The Bulldogs will host Nashua South in the Division I semifinals this upcoming Friday.
Monadnock lost to Gilford 26-13 on Friday in the Division III semifinals.
Laconia defeated Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough 28-7 on Saturday. They Sachems will host Gilford in the Division III championship on Saturday

"We talked about how it’s going to be a slugfest, like a boxing match. They’ll win a round, we’ll win a round. We just want to win more rounds than them,"
Sam Johnson, Westbrook head coach

- Streak tracker
There are 3 unbeaten teams in Maine, down from 5 last week
3 teams ended their winning streak of 4 or more games: Old Orchard Beach (20), John Bapst (9), and Spruce Mountain (6) 
The longest active winning streaks belong to Greely (19), Cony (10), Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale (10), Westbrook (8), and Thornton Academy (8)

What are your thoughts on the weekend?

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