Week 3 Thoughts on the Weekend

- It is that time of the season, the early stages of fall where we can still enjoy that late-summer feeling with the warmth of the afternoon sun and also the somewhat brisk feeling of the autumn night. It is that feeling we wish could last the season of the year. Then again that wouldn’t be the Maine way. Maybe we will re-read this in early November and remember a time of 70s during the day.

- Three milestones were reached this weekend. Windham’s Matt Perkins coached his 200th game on Friday. He is the 12th active football coach in Maine to reach the 200-game mark. Elsewhere, Medomak Valley’s Ryan Snell and Morse’s Jason Darling recorded their 50th coach victory on Friday. For the Panthers, who have been coached by Ryan since they began playing varsity football under the MPA ranks in 2015, this was also the program's 50th overall victory.

- Shining brightly under the Olmstead Field lights on Thursday was Westbrook’s Giovanni Staples. Behind the Blue Blazes 55-21 effort over Biddeford, Staples accounted for five of those touchdowns. He threw scoring strikes to Dimitri Lubin (3) and Andre Hicks (1), while also running in a touchdown of his own. The victory put Westbrook back into the top half of the Southern Class B standings; they finished between fellow 2-1 teams Marshwood and Cheverus.

- All-time records are something of a bigfoot in Maine – we would like to think it exists somewhere but we just cannot find them. Unlike the fictional woodland tall-tale though, Maine records are difficult to pin down simply because most schools lack the comprehensive archiving to document such achievements. Fortunately some schools keep these records. Portland happens to be one of them. They dug back into the archives to find that senior quarterback Cordell Jones was going to surpass two school football records this season. The time for the accomplishment happened quite fittingly against their cross-town rival Deering on Friday. It was 1977 PHS graduate Ed Bogdanovich who held the school record for most career touchdowns with 48 and career points with 308. On Friday, Cordell erased both of those 49 year-old records with a three touchdown and 153 yard ground effort to help lead the Bulldogs to a 34-0 win over the Rams. With at least six more games to go, Cordell will have plenty of time to extend those school records.

- For 25 minutes, Thornton Academy was in a good position during their intra-state match-up at Bulldog Stadium against Bedford of New Hampshire. The Golden Trojans took a 7-0 lead into the half and then added to it on the opening drive of the second half for a 14-0 lead. The lead, the largest they have held in the four-year history of contests between the two teams, was eventually surpassed. The Bulldogs, showing why and how they are one of New Hampshire’s best football teams, put together a 26-point unanswered run with Brody Helton scoring three of their four touchdowns to secure a 26-14 home win. For Thornton Academy, they have now lost all four games against Bedford.

- For the longest time, Bangor and Lawrence were rivals of the old Eastern Class A Pine Tree Conference. After the move to four classes in 2013, that rivalry went by the wayside save for several pre-season games over the next nine years. The rivalry was rekindled in 2022 as the teams have since met every year in the regular season. The Rams won their third consecutive game against Lawrence by the score of 42-0 on Friday. Quarterback Kyle Johnson helped score two of Bangor’s four first half touchdowns with two long catch-and-run scores to Will Houghton and Trey Tennett. Bangor then increased their lead in the second half with two more touchdown passes from Johnson to Tennett and Hayden Summerlin. The win bumps Bangor into third place in Northern Class A.

- Helped in large part by four Edward Little fumbles, the Oxford Hills Vikings wasted little time taking and expanding their lead during their 43-0 victory on Friday. Quarterback Dylan Truman went 6 for 8 for 90 yards, most of which came in the first half, as he completed touchdowns to Cameron Pulkkinen, Wyatt Grover, and Cameron Roy. These, combined with 9-yard fumble recovery and touchdown by Riley Perry and a 21-yard touchdown run by Keegan Ridley, gave the Vikings an overwhelming 35-0 halftime advantage. With JV players inserted into the lineup through the second half, the only touchdown through running time was Malaki Sparks' third quarter 9-yard touchdown run. The Vikings defense, one of the stingiest in Class A at this point in the season, allowed just 82 yards, 37 of which was on the ground by Edward Little senior Dawson Bretton.

- Three Southern Class A teams recorded shutouts on Friday. South Portland beat Sanford 41-0 and Scarborough defeated Lewiston 20-0; they both picked up their first victories of the season. Bonny Eagle’s 43-0 win over Windham, combined with Thornton Academy’s loss, moved the Scots into first place in the region. Their 12 points allowed remaihs the fewest in the state.

- The field goal game was an important part of Noble’s 17-14 win over Massabesic on Friday. It was Tyler Gray’s two field goals that helped Noble climb out to an early 6-0 lead. That, along with a touchdown and a two-point conversion, gave the Knights a 14-0 lead at the half. In the fourth quarter, Gray’s third field goal gave Noble a 17-7 edge and put Massabesic into what would be a two score deficit. While the Mustangs scored a touchdown with three minutes left in the game, Noble held on for the win thanks in no small part to the foot of their kicker.

- Marshwood overcame a 21-7 halftime deficit with 28 unanswered points in the second half to celebrate a 35-21 home win over Gorham. The Hawks’ clawed themselves back into the game with a touchdown run by Cole Goodwin and a touchdown pass from Michael Sbrizza to Brady Isabella to tie it 21-21. Then they seized the lead and put the game out of reach with a touchdown pass from Sbrizza to Sam Therrien followed by the insuring touchdown run from Gregory Castoras. The win is the second in a row for Marshwood, following their season-opening loss to Westbrook. In an interesting quirk, Marshwood sits in second in Southern Class B ahead of Westbrook by a little over four Crabtree points.

- Fryeburg Academy’s first foray into the intra-state football match-ups was a successful one as they rallied from an early deficit, then held off a late rally to defeat Division III Laconia 21-13. Ty Boone’s touchdown catch in the third quarter helped the Raiders tie the Sachems 7-7. They would score two more touchdowns on the ground from Mika Stantze and Boone to take a 21-7 fourth quarter lead. Laconia came within a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders held on the rest of the way for the win to preserve their 3-0 start.

- The Cony Rams explosive beginning to 2025 continued Friday with their 52-12 win over Mt. Blue. The Rams are averaging over 51 points scored a game, tying them for the second most points scored by a team in the state. The victory over Mt. Blue is their fifth consecutive victory during their head-to-head meetings, with the Rams outscoring the Cougars 217 to 78.

- Gardiner may have fallen behind early, but the team wasted little time coming back to force overtime, saving the best moments for last in their 28-26 overtime victory against Wells. Going into the fourth quarter, Wells held a 20-6 lead courtesy of three Brady Godin touchdowns. Midway through the fourth quarter, the Tigers struck back within a four and a half minute rally that started out on a Justin Doody goal-line score. The next two strikes came from Chase McGrane as he picked off a Wells pass, then ended the drive he started with a fourth down touchdown run from three yards out. The Tigers continued to make their own breaks as they scored on the two-point conversion attempt to tie the game 20-20. Wells was unable to break the deadlock, taking the game to overtime and causing many folk throughout the state, included us, to take notice on what was going on at Hoch Field. In overtime Gardiner would get the opening possession. Owen Chadwick scored the touchdown and then scored on the two-point attempt, giving Gardiner a 28-20 lead that forced Wells to replicate the effort. Mason Miles’ touchdown brought Wells to within two. However, on the two-point convert attempt the Gardiner defense surged at the line to stop Miles in his tracks, ending the play and giving Gardiner the 28-26 overtime win and their first 3-0 start in 13 years.

- There are times when the game of football is the last thing on people’s minds. It becomes irrelevant to the big picture of what is going on. Late in the fourth quarter on Friday between Oceanside and Hermon, an Oceanside player on the sidelines needed immediate medical attention from on-site EMTs and was eventually transported to a local hospital. The emotions of the moment for players, coaches, officials, and fans led Oceanside head coach Sam Weiss and Hermon head coach Kyle Gallant to mutually agree to end the game with several minutes remaining. Despite the extremely worrying nature of what took place, we have been told that the player, whose name has not been released by Oceanside High School, was discharged from the hospital the following day.

- It was a game to remember for Madison and their sophomore quarterback Devin Giroux, as he helped lead the Bulldogs to a 60-22 win over Maine Central Institute on Friday. The Bulldogs 60 points was the most they have scored in a football game since a 68-8 win over Hermon at the end of the 2016 regular season, and their largest margin of victory since beating Waterville 47-7 in 2018. During the game Giroux re-wrote the school record book for most passing yards in a game by completing 14 of 21 passes for 360 yards, breaking the record he set the previous year of 346 yards. He also threw four touchdowns on the day. The win is the second in a row for the Bulldogs, keeping them in third place in Northern Class D.

- After three quarters of play where Yarmouth trailed Spruce Mountain, the Clippers kicked in the afterburners in the third quarter as they outscored the Phoenix 22-6 for a 52-38 victory. The game was a showcase of two of the top 8 man quarterbacks this season in Yarmouth’s Ignatius McGrath and Spruce Mountain’s Dylan Jewett. McGrath dazzled through the air during the game, completing 28 of 36 passes for 267 yards with touchdowns to Adam Pelotte (3) and Nick Mantle (1). Jewett meanwhile completed 8 of 13 for 122 yards with a touchdown to Owen Kelvey while running 16 times for 117 yards and three touchdowns. On the season McGrath has completed 67.6% of his passes and thrown for 1,049 yards and 14 touchdowns. Jewitt has 750 total yards of offense (344 passing and 403 rushing) to go along with 12 touchdowns (3 passing and 9 rushing).

- Lake Regions’ 46-26 win over Cape Elizabeth moved the Lakers into first place in the 8 man large school south rankings. Their lead happens to be in the state’s most competitive region at the moment. With Yarmouth’s win, Spruce Mountain’s loss, and mixed with Mt. Ararat’s 40-12 win over Gray-New Gloucester, there is a massive logjam in the region as these four teams are all 2-1 behind 3-0 Lake Region. In no other region in Maine is there such a closely contested placement of teams’ ranked second through fifth. Eight and a third Crabtree points separate Gray-New Gloucester in second and Yarmouth in fifth. In fact, if there was a single table in this class and the playoffs were to begin today, all six South schools would make the playoffs and only two teams from the North would get. Of course there is still five more weeks in the season so this is just mere fan speculating.

- One week removed from their highly anticipated showdown against Orono, Old Orchard Beach was on the road for yet another big match-up, this time against the leading team in the 8 man small school class north in Stearns. While Stearns fought tooth-and-nail to take a slim 20-18 lead into the half, it was another shutout second half of football by Old Orchard Beach's defense, as the Seagulls beat the home-standing Minutemen 32-20 on Friday. That Seagulls defense has yet to allow a single point in the second half this season.

- It was not an easy finish for Orono on Friday, but it was a winning finish none the less with their 50-44 victory over Houlton. It isn’t that often a person will write about such a close finish when the game started off 30-0. The Red Riots benefitted off of several early Houlton turnovers to jump out to that early lead. However, in the third quarter the Shiretowners had outscored Orono 28-6. With just three minutes remaining and two more Houlton touchdowns, Orono found themselves staring down a 44-42 deficit. It was an unfortunate spot for Orono to be in considering they saw leads disappear in their previous games against Old Orchard Beach and Stearns. The players and coaches had to be wondering if it was déjà vu all over again. However, Orono recovered a Houlton fumbled and quickly raced the length of the field for a touchdown to reclaim their lead. Their defense held firm in the last minute, bringing down the Houlton quarterback on the last play of the game to preserve the win.

- If the excitement of Gardiner’s overtime win against Wells wasn’t enough for you, there were two more overtime finishes on Saturday for you to feast upon. The first was in Portland between Kennebunk and Cheverus. After taking an early 7-0 lead, Kennebunk needed a third quarter touchdown to tie the game 14-14. In overtime, Cheverus scored on their possession to take a 21-14 lead. Kennebunk, on their possession, would answer the touchdown with a touchdown of their own. After a timeout was called, the Rams marched out their kicking team. After another timeout was called, they instead opted to go for the two-point conversion instead. After showing pass initially, the Rams would run off the right side of the line for the end zone and the 22-21 victory. The win helped bump Kennebunk into sole possession of first place in Southern Class B.

- When Dan Patrick served as an on-air broadcast for ESPN’s SportsCenter, he had a well-known catch phrase that went “you can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him”. Given the way that Winslow has been playing to start 2025, what more can you do when you can't even contain them any more. Freeport, who came in as the first place counterparts from Southern Class D, was unable to stop or even keep up in the Black Raiders 47-7 win. Winslow out gained Freeport 349 yards to 90 on the ground while scoring on all but one of their offensive possessions. Hassan Hobbi played a big part in the Winslow ground game as he ran for 163 yards and scored three touchdowns. With another dominating victory, Winslow continues to lead the state in points scored with 164. Since 2013, only one Class D team has scored more points at this point of the season – the 2015 Maine Central Institute Huskies scored 165 points after three weeks.

- Unlike the tightly congested 8 man large school South, the Northern region remains vastly different except in one regard – Camden Hills is in first place with an undefeated record. The Windjammers picked up their third victory of the season by defeating Ellsworth 58-20 on Saturday. The game did not start off in Camden Hills’ favor though as Ellsworth’s Ripley Strout returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and then later in the quarter he caught a Wyl Renwick pass for the second Eagles touchdown. After that the Windjammers dusted themselves off and went to work. By the halftime whistle they had scored 50 unanswered points and gained 396 of their 449 total yards. Hollis Schwalm and Brayden Beveridge finished the afternoon with four touchdowns each – Schwalm threw three touchdowns and ran for another while Beveridge ran for two touchdowns and caught two of Schwalm’s scoring passes.

- It was a tale of two vastly different halves in the night game between Greely and Falmouth. It was the Rangers who thoroughly dominated the first half, racing out to a 14-0 lead. The momentum carried over into the start of the second half as they recovered an onside kick and then scored a 50-yard touchdown run the following play to increase their lead to 21-0. Falmouth, who struggled to both move the ball and hold onto it, seemingly needed a miracle of sorts to get back into the game. It might not be fair to say that what happened in the fourth quarter was a miracle, but it did not seem like a routine run of play that led the Navigators to score three unanswered touchdowns to tie the game and force overtime. In the extra session Greely had the opening possession and proceeded to score. With the PAT kick, they took a 28-21 lead. On the ensuing possession, Falmouth was able to bring the ball to the two yard line with a fourth down staring them in the face. If you haven’t seen the next play, we’ll try to remember to put the video of it into the comments. The simplest way to put it is that the receiver Tres Walker, who was the quarterback on the play, lost his footing as the pass was coming to him. Pandemonium erupts on the Greely sideline as the ball skips through the end zone. The Rangers win 28-21 in overtime. Like we said, we’ll put the video up and you tell us your thoughts.

- Of the 17 teams that are a3-0, only six of them started off 2024 with a 3-0 record: Camden Hills, Fryeburg Academy, Kennebunk, Noble, Old Orchard Beach, and Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale.

- There are four battles of unbeaten teams this upcoming week. On Thursday Old Orchard Beach will host Telstar. On Friday Bonny Eagle will host Noble and Dirigo will host Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale. Then on Saturday John Bapst will host Winslow.

- Last week we mentioned the travels  of the Aroostook Huskies of the Maine Independent Football League. This time around their trip took them to Northern New Hamphire and the Berlin Gladiators. The trip, which clocked in at a much closer 322 miles, saw a far favorable outcome for the Huskies as they won 72-6. Foremost of the efforts of the day was Damien Kennedy scoring four touchdowns and Dakota Trombley with a touchdown and an interception on defense.

- Out of state tracker
Bedford defeated Thornton Academy 26-14 on Friday. The 3-0 Bulldogs will travel to 0-3 Goffstown on Friday.
Exeter defeated Londonderry 23-21 on Friday. The 3-0 Blue Hawks will host 3-0 Winnacunnet on Saturday.
Keene lost to Bishop Guertin 48-7 on Friday. The 1-2 Blackbirds will travel to 1-2 Windham, NH on Friday.
Laconia lost to Fryeburg Academy 21-13 on Friday. The 1-2 Sachems will travel to 0-3 Kearsarge on Saturday.
Monadnock defeated Newport 30-12 on Saturday. The 3-0 Huskies will travel to 0-3 Sanborn on Saturday.
Winnacunnet defeated Dover 21-14 on Friday. The 3-0 Warriors will travel to 3-0 Exeter on Saturday.

- Quote of the week
"We challenged them this week that we were kind of being downplayed a little bit because our first two wins might not have been against stronger teams, and like we said to them, you’re not going to find a stronger team than Wells. We’re just trying to stack the wins as they come, and it’s a great start."
Pat Munzing, Gardiner head coach

- Streak tracker
There are 17 unbeaten teams in Maine, down from 24 last week
The longest active winning streaks belong to Old Orchard Beach (14), Greely (12), Fryeburg Academy (7), Portland (7), and Dexter (4)
3 teams ended their losing streaks of 4 or more games: Morse (4), Scarborough (4), and South Portland (4)
The longest active losing streaks belong to Mount View (23), Belfast (13), Waterville (12), Mt. Blue (10), Brunswick (8), and Washington Academy (8)

- First place teams after week three
Class A North – Portland (same from last week)
Class A South – Bonny Eagle (changed from last week)
Class B North – Cony (same from last week)
Class B South – Kennebunk (changed from last week)
Class C – Gardiner (same from last week)
Class D North – Winslow (same from last week eek)
Class D South – Dirigo (changed from last week)
8 Man Large School North – Camden Hills (same from last week)
8 Man Large School South – Lake Region (changed from last week)
8 Man Small School North – Dexter (changed from last week)
8 Man Small School South – Old Orchard Beach (same from last week)

- Five games of interest to us in week four
Telstar at Old Orchard Beach
Bangor at Portland
Noble at Bonny Eagle
Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale at Dirigo
Winslow at John Bapst

What are your thoughts on the weekend?