Numbers rarely tell the whole story, yet when it comes to Stacen Doucette’s tenure as head coach of the Oak Hill High School football team they describe it pretty accurately.
In four seasons Doucette’s Raiders have taken the field 45 times and in only five of those instances have they left with a loss. More importantly, only one of those five defeats came in the final game of a season.
Doucette led Oak Hill to its third straight Class D championship and a 20-game winning streak this season, and for his efforts he has been named the 2015 Kennebec Journal Football Coach of the Year. It is the second consecutive season he has received the honor.
“He’s an excellent coach. He’s like a father to everybody,” Oak Hill senior running back/linebacker Levi Buteau said. “He’s the nicest guy in the world when he needs to be and when kids aren’t paying attention he can be the meanest guy. He knows when to do it and how to do it.”
Buteau was a freshman when Doucette took over at Oak Hill, and by the time his senior season arrived he and his classmates had a good idea of what Doucette expected. Players bought into the culture their coach created at the school because they could see palpable examples of its effectiveness each time they took the field.
A lot of that starts with Doucette’s preparation and game planning. Quarterback Dalton Therrien said on a number of occasions this past season that he always felt ready for every game, and that was no different in the Raiders’ 34-21 win over Maine Central Institute for the Class D title.
“We’re never unprepared for a game,” Therrien said. “Coming into (the state championship) game we knew what they were going to do, it was just whether or not we could stop it. He told us basically what play is going to come at what time and he called it.”
Doucette has gained a reputation as one of the better offensive minds in the conference, and heading into this past season he certainly had his work cut out for him. The Raiders had a star player they could lean on in Therrien, but even he was relatively unproven given how much Oak Hill leaned on generational talents Alex Mace and Kyle Flaherty in the 2014 season. The duo graduated having combined for 8,908 yards and 99 touchdowns in their careers.
“We had to be creative to find ways to run the ball because lot of our running backs are undersized,” Doucette said. “We felt the league was up as a whole this year, so we had to find ways to stay in games in the fourth quarter and hope our conditioning and experience would take over.”
When the time comes to get ready for next season Doucette will have to adjust the offense once again with Therrien, Buteau and nine other seniors graduating. Oak Hill will also have to contend with strong programs on the rise in Lisbon and Winthrop/Monmouth, each of whom were championship contenders that lost few players to graduation.
If Doucette and the Raiders have proven anything in the past few seasons, though, it is that they will find a way.
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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