Kick-off times for the state championship football games Saturday at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium are set.

The day will begin with the Class A championship between Portland (10-0) and defending champion Thornton Academy (9-1) at 11 a.m. At 2:30 p.m., defending state champion Winslow (10-0) will face Yarmouth (11-0) in the Class C game. In the 6 p.m. nightcap, Brunswick (9-1) will face defending state champion Marshwood (9-2) for the Class B crown.

On Friday night at the University of Maine in Orono, defending champion Oak Hill (10-0) will take on Maine Central Institute (10-0) in the Class D championship game. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Two of the games, Class B and Class D, are rematches of last season’s state title contests. These are the first state championship rematches since Lisbon and Foxcroft Academy played for the Class C title in 2005 and 2006.

This is the first time that all the defending state champions reached the state finals the following year.

• • •

Advertisement

Although Winslow gave up 27 points in Friday’s Class C North championship win over Old Town — as many points as the Black Raiders allowed the entire season up to that point — the second half of the game was the best Winslow’s defense looked all season.

For the first quarter and a half, the Black Raiders struggled against Old Town’s spread offense. Not even two minutes into the second quarter, the Coyotes held a 21-7 lead, and standout receiver Andre Miller had six catches for 141 yards.

Things began to improve for the Winslow defense midway through the second quarter after the Black Raiders scored to cut Old Town’s lead to 21-14. Winslow began to double team Miller all over the field, with safety Jake Trask rolling to whichever side of the field Miller lined up. There were two plays that served as turning points for the Winslow defense, one late in the second quarter and the other early in the third.

Facing fourth down and 10 at the Winslow 32-yard line, Old Town tried the hook-and-ladder play. After receiver Pascal Cyr made the catch, he tossed the ball to TJ Crawford, who was stopped a yard short of the first down, turning the ball back over to the Black Raiders.

On the first play of the third quarter, Winslow lost a fumble on its own 29, setting the Coyotes up with excellent field position and the chance to push their lead to two touchdowns. On third down and 1 at the Winslow 20, Patrick Hopkins recovered an Old Town fumble. On the next play, Nate St. Amand ran 70 yards, setting up a Winslow touchdown run by Kenny Rickard four plays later.

After giving up 262 yards in the first half, the Black Raiders held Old Town to 57 yards in the second half. Old Town made eight first downs in the first half, and just five in the second half, with three of those coming on its final scoring drive at the end of the game. The key for Winslow was taking Miller out of the game. Miller had just three catches for 48 yards in the second half.

Advertisement

• • •

Yarmouth head coach Jason Veilleux may have insight into Winslow’s offense that few opposing coaches can muster. A 1992 graduate of Winslow High School, Veilleux played quarterback for the Black Raiders and coach Mike Siviski.

“It was great. (Siviski) was a quarterbacks coach,” Veilleux, now in his second season as Yarmouth’s head coach, said. “He and Jim Poulin (Winslow’s former defensive coordinator) are two coaches who influenced me a lot.”

While Winslow’s offense has changed in the 20-plus years since Veilleux was under center for the Black Raiders, he recognized some things when watching Winslow film.

“It’s changed a little bit. (Sunday) night, we were watching game film as a coaching staff, and I was like ‘That looks familiar.'” Veilleux said.

Veilleux quarterbacked the Black Raiders in 1991, the team’s first season in Class B. Winslow went 7-3 that year and reached the regional semifinals.

Advertisement

• • •

MCI running back Willie Moss had an impressive run through the Little Ten Conference playoffs. In two games, Moss ran for 365 yards and eight touchdowns in the Huskies’ wins over Orono and Mattanawcook Academy. Moss ran for 201 yards and five touchdowns against Orono, all in the first half, and added 164 yards and three scores in just over a half of play against the Lynx in the conference championship game.

The two impressive games give Moss 1,206 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns this season.

On the season, MCI has a state-high 484 points scored, not including 40 points scored in an exhibition win over Hyde. The Huskies one game scoring low was 35 points in the regular-season finale, a 35-13 win over Bucksport. MCI has scored 50 or more points five times.

• • •

Oak Hill quarterback Dalton Therrien had exactly the response one would expect from a senior at the end of his second year as a starter after throwing his first interception of the season in Saturday’s 21-20 win over Lisbon in the Class D South championship.

Advertisement

“Nobody’s perfect, right? Things happen in the game of football,” Therrien said after the game. “I kicked myself in the butt for it but you can’t get down.”

The turnover was only Therrien’s second of the season — he lost a fumble earlier in the season — which is pretty remarkable considering how often he has his number called in the Raiders’ offense.

Therrien has thrown for 1,299 yards and 17 touchdowns while rushing for 870 yards and 14 scores thus far, and in the playoffs Oak Hill has leaned on the senior considerably more.

This season the Raiders have run 539 offensive plays, of which 224 — or 42 percent — have been either a run or pass by Therrien. In Oak Hill’s 13-10 win over Winthrop/Monmouth in the semifinals, the Raiders called Therrien’s number 67 percent (46-of-69) of the time and that number jumped to 82 percent (18-of-22) in the second half.

The numbers were once again comparable in the win over Lisbon, as 33 of Oak Hill’s 57 plays (58 percent) were either a run or pass by Therrien. That percentage jumped to 71 percent (15-of-21) in the second half, including nine straight runs by Therrien to end the game.

“He’s just trying to make plays,” Oak Hill head coach Stacen Doucette said.

Advertisement

• • •

Around the state: This is Portland’s first appearance in the state championship game since 2002. The Bulldogs won the title by beating Edward Little of Auburn that year… Yarmouth is in the state championship game for the first time since 2011. The Clippers won back-to-back Class C state titles in 2010 and 2011… Marshwood is in the Class B state championship game for the third time in four years. The Hawks won the title last season, and lost to Mt. Blue in 2012.

Staff Writer Evan Crawley contributed to this report.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.