WINTHROP — How do you deal with disappointment?

What do you do when things do not go the way you expected?

Additional Images

Winthrop cornerback Dakota Carter, left, chases Oak Hill running back Alex Mace during a Western D Campbell Conference game last season. This season, Carter has 39 tackles and two interceptions. Defensively Staff file photo by Joe Phelan

“You just play hard every play,” Dakota Carter, a senior captain on the Winthrop/Monmouth football team, said. “You just continue to push through even if they don’t go your way.”

That is exactly what Carter has done this season for the Ramblers, who have dealt with a litany of different issues en route to a 1-4 record in Western D Campbell Conference.

“We knew those first four (games) were going to be tough,” first-year Winthrop/Monmouth coach Dave St. Hilaire said. “We just made so many mistakes, but we’ve begun to clean those up.”

In addition to dealing with new offensive and defensive schemes that came with St. Hilaire taking over for Joel Stoneton — now the athletic director at Winthrop — the Ramblers also opened the fall with a brutal schedule.

Their first four opponents this season — Lisbon, Old Orchard Beach, Dirigo and Oak Hill — are a combined 15-3. Winthrop/Monmouth also played those games at less than 100 percent, with four of its five captains missing varying amounts of time due to injury.

Jeremy Mihalakis, Mario Meucci and Zack Phinney each missed time for one reason or another and have since returned, while Mitch Deblois was lost for the season in the very first game of the regular season against the Greyhounds.

The one constant for the Ramblers, however, has been Carter.

A player opposing coaches have had to actively game plan against, Carter has led Winthrop/Monmouth on both sides of the ball.

Defensively he has 39 tackles and two interceptions — both on successive defensive plays in a 33-0 win over Telstar last week — and on the offensive side he has caught 16 passes for 320 yards and a touchdown. He has also carried the ball 18 times for 117 yards and three touchdowns.

“He works every day in practice,” St. Hilaire said. “He’s one of our hardest workers and whatever we’ve given him to utilize his skills, he’s done well with.

“He’s been a leader on the field. If he has a few plays where he doesn’t do as well as he thinks he should, he responds and does better the next few plays.”

Carter admits while he has had a strong season individually, it has been somewhat difficult these first few weeks between injuries, opposition and learning a new playbook.

“It’s been a rough season,” Carter said. “We’ve kind of gotten beaten up a little bit but individually I’m just trying to stick through it and keep everybody’s heads up.”

Fortunately for the Ramblers, brighter days seem on the horizon.

Both Carter and St. Hilaire said the team is beginning to feel more comfortable with the Ramblers’ offensive and defensive schemes. They will be off from league play this weekend as they host Lincoln Academy in an exhibition game Friday night, but will finish the regular season with two winnable games.

“It started out pretty slow but I think we’re starting to pick up some speed and we’re getting better at the right time,” Carter said. “…Everybody’s starting to piece together, we’ve got guys back who were injured or sick and we’re starting to figure out what spots everybody is fitting into.”

The Ramblers will host Boothbay (1-3) and travel to Maranacook (1-3) to close the season, and — with a pair of wins and some help — could finish as high as fifth in the standings.

“Everyone’s going to see a much better team from here on out and we played with those teams earlier on for snippets,” St. Hilaire said. “Now we just have to make sure we do everything the right way every play and the next play has to be better than the play before. We’ll surprise some teams.”

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawleyy

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