WINTHROP — The Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale football team spread the ball around, and was rewarded with a superb all-around effort Friday night.
Four different Ramblers found the end zone in a 35-7 win over Winslow in an interclass matchup before a lively homecoming crowd at Maxwell Field. The Class D Ramblers improved to 3-1 after their third straight win; the Class C North Black Raiders fell to 3-2.
Rambler sophomore Carter Rivers carried the ball only four times, but found the end zone on two of them, a 16-yard second-quarter run in which he stiff-armed his way to paydirt, and a 29-yard jaunt in the fourth that capped his team’s scoring for the night.
Quarterback Owen Harding ran for one TD and threw for another, a beautiful 43-yard third-quarter seam route over the middle to freshman Ben Porter, who glided through several Winslow defenders to boost the Ramblers’ lead to 24-0.
“We have a lot of weapons, and a couple of them haven’t had a lot of touches, but things were working for the plays that they had,” Winthrop coach Dave St. Hilaire said. “We like to change it up every now and then, and Carter’s been playing well all year. He hits the hole hard and we really don’t lose a lot with speed and running (when he’s in there.)”
Nick Keezer added a 15-yard TD run in the third quarter on one of his only two carries of the game. On defense, the senior deflected a pair of passes from Winslow QB Jared Newgard and on special teams his punt returns gave the Ramblers great field position all night, as all five of their first-half possessions began in enemy territory.
“I think it was just a team effort,” said Keezer. “Everyone did what their job was supposed to be and our playmakers made the plays.
“I enjoy those (punt returns) a lot. I try to make the most of and use my speed to get around the edges, and of course, my blockers are out there making good blocks.”
One Rambler who didn’t find the end zone? Dominic Trott, he of seven TDs going into Friday. But he made his presence felt beyond his seven-carry 39-yard effort: On defense the linebacker made 10 tackles and picked off Newgard on the Raiders’ final offensive play.
Winslow, coming off a 28-18 win over Mt. Blue last week, is still dealing with the loss of star running back Matt Quirion to injury. Pedro Garcia ran for 42 yards on nine carries and Newgard, who took his share of hits all night, added 39 yards on six carries, including the Raiders’ only TD, a 2-yard run late in the fourth followed by Michael McCullough’s extra point.
“We knew we’d have a tough time coming in here, so kudos to those guys,” Winslow coach Wes Littlefield said. “They work their kids hard and so did we. They got the better of us tonight. Jared’s not going to give up out there; he’s going to continue to play and all of our kids are going to continue to play. You’ve just got to get better.”
The Ramblers struck first on their opening drive when Harding scored on a 14-yard bootleg to the left following several runs from Trott and Robby Feeney (85 yards on nine carries). Isaac Oliveira’s 2-point conversion pass to Porter gave the Ramblers an 8-0 lead. A 12-yard run by Gavin Gregor set up Rivers’ first TD in the second that made it 15-0 after Oliveira’s extra point.
Trott and Feeney pulled off several long runs to set up Keezer’s score in the third, and Harding’s TD pass to Porter came on the Ramblers’ next drive to boost the lead to 28-0.
A fourth-quarter penalty against Winslow, combined with a long return by Trott, gave the Ramblers the ball at the Winslow 29, and Rivers ran untouched into the end zone on their first play from scrimmage to cap the scoring after Oliveira’s third extra point.
The Ramblers’ Avry Jones and Winslow’s Donald Gurney each had a sack.
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