GARDINER — Jake Rogers vividly remembers coming here as a player. Of all the road trips, after all, this was one of his favorites.

As a member of the Lawrence football team from 1995-98, Rogers was struck by the tradition of Hoch Field and the passion of the Gardiner fan base. On the field, he gained respect for a Tigers team that was a force, winning back-to-back Class A East titles his junior and senior seasons.

“They love their Tigers in that town,” said Rogers, now the Nokomis head coach. “That team was always tough to play against, and they got the best out of you. It’s a close community, and the names — the Burgesses, the Chadwicks, the Munzings — they just all keep repeating over the years.”

Rogers’ first game at Gardiner as a head coach will be an intriguing one with his smashmouth Nokomis squad set to face a pass-happy Tigers team at 7 p.m. Friday. The clash of styles will see the winner of a key crossover battle sitting pretty in its respective league entering the final three weeks of the regular season.

It was a bit of an enigma as to what was expected of Gardiner entering the 2023 campaign. Sure, the Tigers had a few key pieces returning from a group that was relatively competitive in 2022, but like much of the Pine Tree Conference, they were also facing significant personnel departures.

At 3-1, though, Gardiner has emerged as one of Class B North’s top teams in the early going. Thanks to a strong passing game led by junior quarterback Chase Burgess and receivers Zach Kristan and Cody Dingwell, the Tigers have established one of the top aerial attacks in the conference.

“I know we’re going to have to stop Burgess; if we don’t stop Burgess, it’s going to be a long day,” Rogers said. “He’s a tough kid, and he comes from a football family. We know he can make plays with his arm and with his legs, and we have to be prepared to cover the entire field.”

Gardiner’s passing attack will see an opportunity against a Nokomis secondary that’s dealt with inexperience this year. The Warriors (2-2) gave up 160 passing yards against Maine Central Institute, two long passing touchdowns against Medomak Valley and four scores through the air last week against Oceanside.

Nokomis has its own potential matchup advantage in the trenches. If Gardiner has a weakness, it’s on the lines, and that’s where the Warriors — a “ground-and-pound group,” said Gardiner head coach Pat Munzing — will look for leverage.

“One of the interesting things you see with these crossover games is all the different styles of football across classes,” Munzing said. “We go from a Class A last week team in (Edward Little) that has a spread with an RPO system to a C team like Nokomis that runs it at you and play smashmouth football.”

Nokomis will look to control the line of scrimmage with an offensive line that includes veterans Simon Chadbourne and Linwood Grover. That unit hopes to pave the way for running backs Seth Bowden — not a fast runner, though one who’s extremely difficult to bring down — and Landon Rowell.

Rogers knows nothing will come easy for his offense. Gardiner was stout on defense in wins over Mt. Blue (37-12) and Falmouth (20-0) and made key plays on D down the stretch in the 35-26 win over Edward Little. The 35-0 loss to Messalonskee was still the fewest points the Eagles have scored all year.

“I’ve been really impressed with the way our defense has been able to face adversity and not give up,” Munzing said. “We constantly talk about being able to move on from negative plays that happen in the game, and to see these guys show they can fight their way through that has been a huge step in the right direction.”

A win would not only boost Gardiner’s playoff positioning, but would put it on the verge of its first winning season in 11 years. The team still has remaining matchups with Cheverus, Skowhegan and rival Cony.

As for Nokomis, it’s the last crossover contest before the Warriors face the middle and bottom tiers of Class C North. 

“It’s exactly what we asked for,” Rogers said. “I tried to pick as hard of a schedule as I could with teams we could compete against and that would test us against a bunch of different styles. You have to be prepared for every style in the playoffs, and this lets us see what we’re made of.”

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