THORNDIKE — The Mount View High School football team is going someplace it never has before.

November.

Playing in the playoffs for just the second time since becoming a varsity program in 2007, the Mustangs’ 43-6 win over Houlton on Saturday afternoon was a milestone victory, the first playoff win in Mount View football history.

“Speaking for the whole team, this is incredible. Our past seasons with Coach (Haggie Pratt), we haven’t done extremely well, but we’ve always played well. This year, we finished it and had a good season,” Mount View senior quarterback Cole Hannan said.

Mount View also set a team record for wins in a season, seven. No. 3 Mount View (7-2) will face No. 2 Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in the Little Ten Conference semifinals next Friday. No. 6 Houlton, making its first appearance in the playoffs, finishes the season at 4-5.

The Mustangs never trailed, and took the lead just 45 seconds into the game, when Gavin Simpson returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown. Simpson faked a reverse to Devon Davis, then sprinted down the right sideline for the score.

Although Houlton answered Simpson’s touchdown with a 75-yard kickoff return for a score by Austin Brown, the Shiretowners struggled throughout the game to get anything going offensively. Houlton finished with just 124 yards of offense, and quarterback Jared Fox completed only 6 of 20 passes. Defending the pass was a key during Mount View’s week of prep for the game.

“That’s been something we’ve been weak at this season, and the kids have been steadily improving. We worked hard all week, every day, we spent half of practice (on pass coverage),” Pratt said. “I’m just proud of the way they played.”

“We practiced our pass defense all week. That was really it. Maintain your coverage, know your assignment, and no blown coverages.” Mount View senior linebacker Ethan Sewell-Berry said.

Davis, Jack Axsom and Justin Lizotte each intercepted a pass for the Mustangs. Lizotte’s pick came late in the third quarter at the Houlton 28. He returned it to the 20, and a late hit penalty on Houlton gave the Mustangs first and goal at the 10. One play later, Davis ran to the right for a touchdown with 6:59 left in the third quarter, giving Mount View a 43-6 lead.

While Mount View had turnover troubles too, losing three first-half fumbles, the Mustangs offense clicked throughout the game. Mount View gained 369 yards, 346 on the ground, and Hannan threw a pair of touchdown passes. The first, a 10-yard pass to Tyler Ripley, gave the Mustangs a 14-6 lead midway through the first quarter. On the final play of the third quarter, Hannan connected with Davis for a 13-yard touchdown pass.

“We were just back to basics. Our option, our off tackle, that’s what we do, and we ran it really well,” Hannan said.

Ripley ran for 132 yards. His 5-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter gave the Mustangs a 22-6 lead. Ripley’s 20 yard scoring run with 2:49 left in the first half gave Mount View a 29-6 halftime lead. Axsom ran for 101 yards for the Mustangs.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

<URL destination=””>tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

</URL>Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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