The Maine Central Institute football team is the last unbeaten team in Class C North’s Big 11 Conference. Since trailing Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale 13-6 at halftime of the season opener, the Huskies have outscored opponents 121-20, and are playing well in all phases of the game.
“We’ve got a lot of kids stepping up,” MCI coach Tom Bertrand said. “We’re starting to find our way offensively. Defensively, we’ve found that edge we’ve needed for that aggressive style of defense we like.”
While newcomers — particularly upperclassmen who in previous seasons had limited playing time — are contributing, veterans are playing well, too. Junior quarterback Ryan Friend, in his third season starting under center, has improved what was already good play.
“Ryan’s clearly at a different level playing quarterback for us,” Bertrand said. “We’re asking a whole lot more out of him this year. We planned the season around that.”
Bertrand also credited the offensive and defensive lines for getting things started with strong efforts at the line of scrimmage.
The schedule is going to get tougher for the Huskies. Including Saturday’s game at Waterville, MCI’s first four opponents are a combined 3-9. The final four teams on MCI’s schedule — Wells, Winslow, Medomak Valley and Hermon — are a combined 9-3. First up though is Waterville, a team Bertrand said cannot be judged by its record.
“They do a lot of things well. They’re well-coached and it’s only a matter of time before they pull it together. We need to make sure we’re not looking past them to our second half (of the season),” Bertrand said.
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Mt. Blue High School athletic director Chad Brackett said fundraisers held in conjunction with the school’s sporting events this weekend raised more than $1,600 for the United Way LEAP Explosion Fund. The fund supports the firefighters, LEAP maintenance employee Larry Lord, who was severely injured after helping many people to safety just before the explosion last week, and people displaced by the explosion.
The Mt. Blue All-Sports Boosters donated their portion of the 50/50 raffle at Friday’s home football game against Brewer to the fund. The anonymous winner of the 50/50 raffle donated their portion back to the fund, bringing the total raised from the raffle to close to $950, Brackett said.
The Bangor High field hockey team presented Mt. Blue with $360 for the fund when the teams played at Kents Hill School on Saturday. An additional $330 was raised as the portion of a 50/50 raffle held Saturday when the Mt. Blue boys soccer team played at Leavitt.
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Waterville is hosting a reunion Saturday. Coach Matt Gilley said all former players are invited to attend the game against MCI and a postgame barbecue at Drummond Field.
Mike Hamel, who won the 1993 Fitzpatrick Trophy as a senior at Waterville, will donate his Fitzpatrick Trophy to the school and will be honored before the game.
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AROUND THE STATE: The inaugural 8-man state championship game will be played Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The game will feature the winner of the 8-man small school division against the winner of the 8-man large school division. The four state championship games in 11-man classes will be held the following weekend, with Class C at the University of Maine on Nov. 22 and Classes A, B, and D at Fitzpatrick Stadium on Nov. 23… There are 14 teams still undefeated in the state, 13 in the four 11-man classes and Maranacook in the 8-man division. That number will decrease by at least two in week four, with a pair of games featuring undefeated opponents. In the Pine Tree Conference Class B division, Brunswick travels to Lawrence. In Class C South, York plays at Leavitt. Thirteen of the state’s 14 undefeated teams are 3-0. Freeport, which has a bye in week two, is 2-0… Wells extended its win streak 31 games with a 39-0 win over Morse Friday. Next up for the Warriors is Cape Elizabeth. Coincidentally, Cape Elizabeth is the last team to defeat Wells, in the 2016 regular season finale.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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