Where have all the Tyler Frosts gone?
Players like the recent Dirigo graduate — as well as Oak Hill’s former standout duo Alex Mace and Kyle Flaherty, Lisbon’s Joe Philbrook and Old Orchard Beach’s Bryan Roberts — each moved on from high school this past spring. Those players — along with a few others — were dominant forces in Campbell Conference Class D a season ago and while there are still standouts in the conference, this fall a balanced offensive attack has been employed by many of the division’s top teams.
“There is a lot of balance this year. We have a lot of good players out on the field everywhere and that’s what a lot of other teams have. There are a lot of solid football players everywhere you look,” Oak Hill senior quarterback Dalton Therrien said. “You don’t have that Tyler Frost or that one guy you have to key on. You have to key on three or four of them now and I think it’s harder this year than it was last year.
“Each team is doing the same things we’re doing knowing that each guy is going to do their own job so that way the team is successful.”
Heading into this weekend’s slate of games, Oak Hill (6-0), Maranacook (4-1) and Winthrop/Monmouth (3-2) are the top three teams in the Class D South Crabtree points, respectively, yet no team has run its balanced attack as well as the Raiders.
“We don’t have a standout on the team this year,” Therrien said. “We all just do our job and when our number is called from coach or I call a play they know it’s their time to shine for that play.”
Therrien has been almost flawless in running the Raiders’ offense this fall. Through six games he has completed 40-of-70 passes for 729 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions. He has also carried the ball 48 times for 465 yards, eight touchdowns and one fumble.
While the senior quarterback has stood out, Oak Hill has effectively spread the ball around. Jonah Martin is the team’s leading receiver with 18 catches for 229 yards and three touchdowns, while Colby Spencer has caught six passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns. Darryn Bailey has seven catches for 130 yards and one touchdown, and Connor Nilsson has seven catches for 105 yards and three touchdowns.
“Each guy knows they’ve got to play big and when the situation comes they’ve got to make that play,” Therrien said. “When they try to shut one guy down, I just go to the next kid.”
The same can be said for Oak Hill’s running game. Levi Buteau has 59 carries for 415 yards and five touchdowns, while Cruz Poirier has 69 carries for 304 yards and a touchdown. The Raiders also have a very capable runner in Steven Gilbert, who was limited earlier in the year after suffering an injury in preseason.
“The teamwork and not being selfish is what makes Oak Hill football work,” Therrien said. “We don’t care who has a good game, who has a bad game as long as the team works together and we come out on top. That’s what matters.”
It’s also true for Winthrop/Monmouth. While the Ramblers run a different set offense than the Raiders, both teams like to spread it around on the ground and through the air.
“Lately, especially we’ve really been spreading the ball around. We have a bunch of different attack strategies, I guess,” Winthrop/Monmouth junior quarterback Matt Ingram said. “We’ve been doing quite a bit of passing.”
On the season Ingram has completed 35-of-77 passes for 519 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions, with Bennett Brooks his primary target with 15 grabs for 298 yards and a pair of scores. Ben Ames (six catches for 72 yards), Nate Scott (six catches for 60 yards) and Andrew Pazdziorko (five catches for 64 yards) have also proven dangerous.
As for the Ramblers’ rushing attack, the team has 206 rushing attempts for 914 yards on the season with Alec Brown leading the way with 74 carries for 395 yards and three touchdowns. Dustin Tripp has 39 carries for 199 yards and a score, while Scott has 37 rushes for 211 yards and two touchdowns. Ingram has also carried the ball 37 times, but for just 28 yards and three touchdowns.
“It’s opened a lot of opportunities, for sure,” Ingram said. “When teams start focusing on one of our players we can just turn it around and give it to another.”
Maranacook has been one-sided in its approach, but not in whom it elects to run the ball. The Black Bears have employed a balanced attack behind Kyle Morand, Zach Lacasse, Drew Davis, Jake Gibson, Ty Smith and Brandyn Michaud.
“We have a lot of good backs and no matter who we give it to we have a good enough line, so they can get some holes and get going where they need to go,” said Morand, a senior quarterback. “We have 11 seniors and a lot of juniors and we worked hard in the offseason. We have a group that’s kind of been together since the beginning and it’s been coming for a while.”
Lacasse leads the Black Bears in rushing this season with 76 carries for 638 yards and seven touchdowns, while Morand has 48 carries for 311 yards and five touchdowns.
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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