With its bye week complete, the Winslow High School football team is ready to take on Mt. Desert Island in the Class C North semifinals on Saturday.

“We did a lot of review. (The bye) helps with the minor bumps and bruises everybody has at this time of year,” Winslow coach Mike Siviski said of the Black Raiders bye week. “We had a nice regular season. We didn’t flip the coin very well, but it’s a whole new season now.”

Winslow’s Dylan Hutchinson (14) hauls in a two-point conversion pass during the regular season finale with Waterville last month. The Raiders return to action this Saturday against MDI in a Big Ten Conference semifinal. Staff photo by Michael G. Seamans

Morning Sentinel weekly honor roll

• Mount View’s Devan Davis scored a pair of touchdowns and had an interception in the Mustangs’ 43-6 win over Houlton in the Class D North quarterfinals.

• Nate Pratt-Holt of Mt. Blue scored a pair of touchdowns, including the game winner in the final minute on a 10-yard pass from Ryan Pratt, in the Cougars’ 35-34 comeback win over Cony. Pratt-Holt also blocked a field goal.

• Tyler Ripley scored three touchdowns for Mount View in the win over Houlton.

• Mt. Blue quarterback Ryan Pratt threw a pair of touchdown passes in the Cougars win over Cony.

 

 

Siviski referred to the Black Raiders losing a coin toss to Old Town for the top seed in the playoffs. Both teams went 8-0 in the regular season, and since they didn’t play each other, the tiebreaker for the number one seed came down to a coin flip following Winslow’s win at Waterville in the regular season finale.

In MDI, Winslow faces a tough semifinal opponent. The Trojans gave Winslow their toughest game of the regular season. Winslow prevailed 35-20 when the teams met Sept. 18 in Bar Harbor. That MDI scored 20 points in the game is even more impressive when you remember the Black Raiders allowed just 27 points the entire regular season.

“It was 14-14 at halftime,” Siviski said of the first MDI game. “They took it to us in the first half.”

The Trojans run most of their offense out of a T formation and prefer to keep the ball on the ground and chew up the clock.

“We have to avoid them holding the ball forever. It’s a ball control offense and you have to pay attention to it. This will be a defensive challenge for us,” Siviski said.

• • •

Mt. Blue senior Alex Gilbert is doing well following a scary injury in the third quarter of Friday’s 35-34 comeback win over Cony. With 7:48 remaining in the third quarter, Gilbert was tackled by Cony linebacker Max Storey. Gilbert remained on the field before he was stabilized and transported to Franklin Memorial Hospital via ambulance.

“He’s good,” Mt. Blue coach Jim Aylward said. “He has a concussion and a sore neck, but all things considered, he’s good.”

In the fourth quarter of Friday’s win, Mt. Blue executed the hook and ladder play. Ryan Pratt completed a pass to Nate Pratt-Holt, who made the pitch to Christian Whitney. The play went for a 23 yard gain, and helped set up the Cougars next play, a 35 yard touchdown run by Pratt-Holt on a wide receiver reverse.

Because the play has to be so precise to work, it’s rare to see teams attempt the hook and ladder, also known as the hitch and pitch. It was the second time in as many weeks that Mt. Blue tried to run the play. On a third down and nine play midway through the fourth quarter of a 26-20 loss at Skowhegan on Oct. 23, Pratt completed a six-yard pass to Pratt-Holt, who was tackled before he could attempt a pitch.

Aylward said the play isn’t one that had to be dusted off and taken out of the back of the Cougars’ playbook.

“It’s actually about the fourth time we’ve tried it,” Aylward said. “We work at it every day. It’s a great play to have. (Pratt-Holt) is a smart player, and he knows to hold on to the ball if (the pitch) isn’t there. It’s good to have a play like that to kind of break up the monotony.”

We’ll have to wait until Friday night to see if Mt. Blue tries another trick play in its Class B North semifinal against Brunswick.

• • •

Maine Central Institute coach Tom Bertrand didn’t just take a few of his assistant coaches to Orono on Friday night to scout the Dexter-Orono game (won by Orono, who will face MCI this week). Bertrand brought the whole team.

The Huskies went to Orono as a group. They had a team dinner at Pat’s Pizza, a tradition that started when many team members attended football camp at the University of Maine. They also took a few minutes to go to UMaine and walk on the Alfond Stadium turf, where the Class D state championship game will be played on Nov. 20.

“Hopefully, that will give us some motivation to get back there in a couple of weeks,” Bertrand said.

As the top seed in the Little Ten Conference playoffs, the Huskies (8-0) had a bye last week. It was the third straight season MCI has had a bye to the conference semifinals.

“The guys who were a little banged up or tired, we gave some rest, and we worked with some of the other guys,” Bertrand said of last week’s practices. “This week, we’re picking it right back up, and I don’t think we’ve missed a beat.”

• • •

Around the state: Four lower seeds won in the regional quarterfinals. Three of them — Bangor (A North), Westbrook (B South) and Foxcroft Academy (C North) — were five seeds. In B South, No. 7 Greely beat No. 2 Leavitt to claim the lowest remaining seed title… Every one of the 16 regional semifinal games coming up this weekend is a rematch of a regular season contest. Only five of those games, however, was decided by 10 or fewer points. The closest regular season game with a rematch this weekend was Cheverus vs Windham, in Class A North. Windham beat Cheverus on Oct. 23, 19-15. The most lopsided regular season game that gets a rematch in the semis is in Class D North, where Orono plays at MCI. Top-seeded MCI won at Orono on Sept. 11, 67-0… Fryeburg is in the regional semifinals for the first time since 2007. That year, Fryeburg reached the Class B West semis.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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