With regional championships to be decided this weekend, there are six undefeated high school football teams left in Maine. Two of them will meet in Old Town on Friday night.
Old Town (9-0) won the top seed in the Class C North playoffs by virtue of a coin flip over Winslow (9-0) immediately following the Black Raiders’ win over Waterville in the regular season finale. The Coyotes host Winslow for the right to play in the Class C state championship game on Nov. 21 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The Winslow-Old Town matchup is the only regional championship game that’s not a rematch of a regular season contest.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Winslow head coach Mike Siviski said. “We’re ready to play, and I’m sure they’re ready to play.”
Also on Friday night, Maine Central Institute (9-0) hosts Mattanawcook Academy (7-2) in the Class D North championship game. MCI is playing for its second straight regional title.
Winslow dominated the Big Ten Conference this season, winning by an average margin of 45 points. Old Town, which hasn’t played in a regional final in 18 years, also rolled through the conference. The Coyotes average margin of victory is 26 points.
The Coyotes are led by quarterback Jake Jarvis, who threw for more than 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns in the regular season. Receiver Andre Miller averages just over 20 yards per catch and had 11 touchdowns in the regular season. Old Town’s running game is led by TJ Crawford, a 1,000-yard rusher.
“Their quarterback (Jarvis) is outstanding. He’s a very accurate passer. They put the ball up on deep fades and things like that, and they score,” Siviski said. “Their tailback, Crawford, is very good, and everybody knows about Andre.”
Siviski noted that the Black Raiders have a secondary with experience in stopping outstanding passing teams. Three of the four starters from last season’s secondary — safety Jake Trask, and corners Trenton Bouchard and Dylan Hutchinson — are back, and they shut down Leavitt’s prolific passing game in the state championship last season, helping to hold the Hornets to 67 yards in the air.
The Black Raiders have posted five consecutive shutouts. Along with the strong secondary, defensive end Luke Fredette and defensive tackle Nat Beckwith lead the Black Raiders up front. Linebackers Alec Clark, Kenny Rickard and Patrick Hopkins have been strong against the run and in coverage.
Winslow set a team record for points in the regular season, with 406. The offense is led by backs Nate St. Amand and Rickard, as well as quarterback Trask. With Bouchard, Hutchinson and Nate Gagnon, the Black Raiders have three quick receivers. One thing the Black Raiders need to be wary of is turnovers. Winslow turned the ball over five times in its semifinal win over Mt. Desert Island, more than it had the entire regular season.
“We had four all year and five in the last game,” Siviski said.
Defensive lineman Jason Emery has 10 sacks for the Coyotes.
While Winslow and Old Town will play each other for the first time, Mattanawcook is looking at the LTC championship game as an important do-over. When the Lynx played at MCI in the regular season, they took a crushing 61-0 loss. Nobody at MCI is expecting the rematch to be as easy.
“They’re a huge rival. Any time we get to play them, we get excited. They have some good athletes. They can really test us,” MCI quarterback Greg Vigue said. “It’s a good game to measure where we’re at, because they’re going to come down (from Lincoln) and they’re going to play hard. They want to win. They’re not coming to lose.”
Added MCI head coach Tom Bertrand: “They’re not in second place for no reason. They are running the football very well. They’ve got a lot of athletes on the field. We knew this the first time around. They want to avenge a loss, and they feel like they belong in that game as much as we believe we do. We’re not expecting them to come down and try and make it a close game. They’re going to try to beat us.”
To pull off the upset, the Lynx have to contend with a high-scoring Huskies offense. MCI scored 62 points in the first half of last week’s 76-27 win over Orono. Tailback Willie Moss ran for 201 yards and five touchdowns, while fullback Alex Bertrand ran for two touchdowns. Vigue led the conference with 15 touchdown passes in the regular season.
Led by guard Curtis McLeod and tackle Mike Steeves — both seniors — the Huskies have a veteran offensive line. Adjusting blocking schemes will be a key, coach Bertrand said.
“We’ve got five seniors up front. We don’t always see (in the game) what we’ve seen on film. Teams try to do something different,” Bertrand said.
Defensively, the Huskies are led by McLeod on the line, Alex Bertrand at linebacker, and Alex Jones at safety. The Lynx offense features quarterback Carter Ward, who will throw or run, and running back Scott Jipson, a 1,000-yard rusher.
“Defensively, we need to shore up our pass defense, really make sure that’s not an Achilles Heel for us. Teams are starting to throw the football on us,” coach Bertrand said.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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