It’s rare that a Lawrence High School football team loses at home at Keyes Field. When Cony beat the Bulldogs in Fairfield on Sept. 26, 30-13, it was just Lawrence’s second regular season home loss since the 2005 season.
Lawrence has a chance at evening the score with defending Class B state champion Cony, when the teams play in the Pine Tree Conference Class B semifinals at Cony’s Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon. That’s just one of many playoff football games featuring central Maine teams this weekend.
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In the first meeting, Cony quarterback Mitchell Caron was outstanding, completing 23 of 28 passes for 339 yards and two touchdowns. The Rams had 10 pass plays of 10 yards or more in the game.
“We’ve got to limit their big plays. That’s one of the things we recognize from the last game. We’re taking a little different defensive approach. We’ll see if it helps us a little bit,” Lawrence coach John Hersom said. “(Caron), he doesn’t require much of a window to put those balls there. So we’ve got to really close those windows as quickly as we can.”
The win at Lawrence kick starteed the five-game win streak Cony currently enjoys. That also was the first game in which the Rams used a new-look defense, with Benaiah Wilhoite at defense end.
“Defensive end has been huge for us. That was the first game that Benaiah (Wilhoite) played for us and he’s a tremendous athlete and he showed it that night as well,” Cony coach Robby Vachon said. “He’s a tremendous athlete and he showed it that night as well. He was really physical with (Seth) Powers and I thought he did a nice job on contain. We also changed the linebacker spot a little bit, Max Storey started to get some reps at linebacker for us and he’s been pretty critical for us also.”
With Mitchell Cushing out with an injury, Lawrence has mixed and matched in the offensive backfield, with Cole Robinson and Walker Thomas seeing most of the carries. In last week’s win over Brewer, the Bulldogs went to the air, with Cody Martin throwing for 307 yards and four touchdowns.
“One way to limit our urgency on defense is to execute on offense and keep the ball from them. We need to establish a pretty solid running attack,” Hersom said.
In the last game, Lawrence turned the ball over three times, while Cony had no turnovers. Both teams know ball control will be a key again.
“The more chances they get offensively, they’re extremely dangerous. Their skill kids are very athletic. Defensively they rally to the ball so I think we’ve got to protect the football and just do what we do,” Vachon said.
Here’s a look at other playoff games this weekend:
Messalonskee at Brunswick. The Dragons are the top seed in the PTC B, but over the last two seasons, Messalonskee has had Brunswick’s number. The Eagles are the only team in the conference to beat Brunswick in the regular season since the start of the 2013 season. A few weeks ago in Oakland, Messalonskee handed the Dragons their only loss, 20-7.
Possible wet weather shouldn’t change either team’s offensive game plan too much. Both love to run the ball, and play similair offenses. For Messalonskee, Jack Bernatchez is the workhorse. The junior ran for 293 yards and five touchdowns in last week’s win over Mt. Blue. Caleb Chavarie and Colby Dexter also will see carries for the Eagles.
Brunswick’s offense goes through big fullback Alex Bandouveres and halfback Will Bessey.
Belfast at Winslow: The undefeated Black Raiders are the top seed in the Eastern Class C playoffs, and host a Belfast team they beat 62-6 a month ago.
This game features two of the top running backs in the conference. For Winslow, Dylan Hapworth has run for more than 1,200 yards, while for Belfast, Steven Davis is the lead runner. Davis gained 346 yards and scored three touchdowns in last week’s win over Madison.
Winslow quarterback Bobby Chenard has big targets in Justin Martin and Jacob Trask.
Foxcroft Academy at Waterville: Waterville beat the Ponies 36-14 in the season opener, but since then, Foxcroft’s offense has improved with the move of Hunter Smith from wide receiver to quarterback. Smith and running back Peter Boyer give Foxcroft a dangerous running tandem, and in recent games, coach Danny White has allowed Smith to throw more, adding another dimension to the Ponies offense.
Waterville had been the league’s top running team all season. With senior captains Ben Cox, Corey Huerfano and Alex Danner leading a strong offensive line, the Purple Panthers backs have had plenty of holes. Cam Thomas and captain Danny Pooler are Waterville’s top runners.
Mattanawcook at MCI: This is a rematch of a 2013 semifinal game. Last season, Mattanawcook beat an injury-depleted MCI team. This season, the Huskies are getting players back from injury for the playoffs, including running back Jonathan Santiago and fullback/defensive lineman Eric Hathaway.
With running back Scott Jipson battling injuries, Garrett Sutherland stepped in and scored four touchdowns for the Lynx last week. Quarterback Carter Ward and receiver Gunner Maxwell are also top offensive weapons for the Lynx.
The Huskies are the deepest team in the Little Ten Conference. Mitchell Hallee, Austin Tolman, Jimmy Hall and Alex Bertrand are among MCI’s top two-way players.
Mattanawcook and MCI will play on the artificial turf at Colby’s Seaverns Field.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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