WINTHROP — Over the last two weeks Winthrop/Monmouth has held a lead for about half of one quarter. Fortunately for the Ramblers, those leads have come when they mattered most — at the end.

After edging Dirigo 12-7 on a 1-yard touchdown run from Matt Ingram with six seconds remaining, Winthrop/Monmouth (3-1) did it again Friday night with go-ahead score with 12 seconds to play on a 28-yard pass from Ingram to Ben Ames in a 17-14 win over Maranacook.

“I don’t know how many teams this year have won in the last few seconds but the Dirigo game was something because it was going to come right down to the end,” Winthrop/Monmouth coach Dave St. Hilaire said. “Two weeks ago we found a way to win but this week felt like we found a way not to lose with the turnovers, the blocked punt and the blocked PAT. Give the kids credit for hanging in there and sticking it out. There’s ice in their veins.”

Even more impressive is the fact that the Ramblers have received contributions from a number of different players in each one of their game-winning drives. They had six different players gain positive yards in the final drive against Dirigo, while five different players helped Winthrop/Monmouth get down the field in the win last Friday night.

In each of the drives the Ramblers converted a key fourth down. Andrew Pazdziorko made a 17-yard grab on a fourth-and-10 in the final possession against Dirigo, while Alec Brown had a key first down pickup on a fourth-and-9 against the Black Bears.

Ben Ames has just five catches on the season but two of them have been crucial. He had a catch at the 1-yard line with 10 seconds to play to set up the go-ahead score against the Cougars and caught the winning touchdown in the victory over Maranacook.

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“Getting a win against a good team like Dirigo really brought them the confidence to win,” St. Hilaire said. “That carried over to this week.”

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With a distinct advantage in skill and depth, Oak Hill took the opportunity to try out different players in new spots in its 34-0 win over Telstar Saturday,

“We did it a little differently,” Raiders coach Stacen Doucette said. “We mixed a lot of guys right in the beginning.

“We wanted to see how kids reacted in certain situations and that’s what we did.”

Jonah Martin is one of the team’s top receivers, but on Saturday he saw extended minutes at running back and finished with three touchdowns. Doucette also said Matthew Strout had a solid day at quarterback when he came in for starter Dalton Therrien.

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At 4-0, the Raiders are alone in first in Campbell Conference Class D, but Doucette said his team still has work to do to get to where it wants to be.

“We’re doing OK. We have a lot of room to grow,” Doucette said. “We’re finding our identity as a team. Each week we find spots where we have to work a little harder. We’re finding more and more depth each week. We’re just trying to grow as a team.”

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When Cony (2-2) makes its trip up to Brewer (3-1) for Friday night’s game it will do so without some of its major firepower.

The Rams will be without starting running back/linebacker Reid Shostak after the senior was ejected late in the third quarter in Friday night’s 25-9 win over Lawrence. Equally costly, Cony will be without emerging wide receiver Jordan Roddy for potentially the remainder of the season.

Roddy, a sophomore, broke his pinky in the first half of a Sept. 18 game against Brunswick. He had surgery on the injured digit last Thursday and is expected to be out for four to six weeks.

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“That’s two big pieces offensively we’re going to be without,” Cony coach B.L. Lippert said. “We’ve got some depth at the skill positions and we feel confident with the guys we have back in the lineup.”

The absences in the lineup will likely lead to an increased workload for running back Joel Bennett, while younger players like sophomores Chad Bickford and Logan Leadbetter will likely see more touches as well. Bickford had four catches for 33 yards and a touchdown in the win over Lawrence, while Leadbetter got a carry in the fourth quarter, his first game action since injuring his knee in a preseason game against Nokomis.

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley


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