Messalonskee quarterback Tatum Doucette makes a pass before Gardiner’s Kyle Doody, front right, and Ryken King can tackle him during a September 2024 football game in Oakland. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

There’s a big difference in Blair Doucette’s early assessment of his team’s 2025 schedule and the one the Messalonskee football team played a year ago.

Four of the eight teams the Eagles are scheduled to play this fall are teams they didn’t play in 2024. Three of them — Cheverus, Fryeburg Academy and Leavitt — haven’t played Messalonskee in at least 20 years.

“There’s a lot of parity, and it’s going to be tough to prepare for some of these teams we’ve never had a history of playing,” said Doucette, the Eagles’ third-year coach. “I know we’re looking forward to those types of challenges.”

Those kinds of games are in abundance on this fall’s statewide football schedule, which was finalized in full on Wednesday. Yet there are still some of the old classics, making for an intriguing slate that’s sure to produce some enthralling showdowns once September rolls around.

Always taking on a loaded schedule in Class A, Thornton Academy faces a gauntlet of road games. The Trojans head to Portland for a state title game rematch in Week 4 and play at Bonny Eagle in Week 8.

Before that, though, Thornton will head across state lines for a Week 3 showdown with New Hampshire powerhouse Bedford. The Trojans and Bulldogs, who have combined for 10 state titles since 2016, are meeting for the fourth straight year. Bedford won the three previous matchups.

“They’re a phenomenal program, and I think it’s good for us and good for Maine football to be able to play them,” said Thornton coach Kevin Kezal. “Iron playing iron like that is the kind of experience that’s going to help you once you get toward playoff time.”

Elsewhere in Class A, Portland and Deering have a Week 3 showdown at Memorial Stadium in addition to their annual Thanksgiving Day battle. Bangor will host Winnacunnet in another Maine-New Hampshire showdown in Week 8, and Lewiston will host rival Edward Little in the Week 9 regular-season finale.

Portland’s Cordell Jones runs through a hole against Thornton Academy during the 2024 Class A championship game. Jones and the reigning state champion Bulldogs will host the Golden Trojans in the fifth week of the 2025 season. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Press Herald

In Class B, the season starts with a state title game rematch, as reigning champ Falmouth goes on the road to face Kennebunk. That’s one of two appetizing opening-week showdowns in the class, along with a Pine Tree Conference battle between Cony and Messalonskee in Oakland.

“For the league, I see Cony as the team to beat, with Falmouth now in the South,” said Doucette, whose team also played the Rams in last year’s season opener (Cony won, 33-27). “That’s going to be a tough test to start off the year.”

Elsewhere in B North, region newcomer and reigning Class C champ Fryeburg Academy heads to New Hampshire to face Laconia in Week 3, while Cony gets Lawrence in Week 7. In the South, Kennebunk hosts Marshwood in Week 7, and Cheverus travels to face Falmouth in Week 8.

Although Gardiner has moved from Class B to Class C, one of the state’s best rivalries has been preserved, as the Tigers will face Cony in Augusta in Week 8. The two teams met in the preseason the last time they were in different classes in 2021, but the coaches were determined not to let that happen this time.

“I’d be lying if I said (Cony coach B.L. Lippert) and I weren’t on the phone with each other trying to figure out who we needed to talk to to make sure that game happened in Week 8,” said Gardiner coach Pat Munzing. “That was really of importance to us, and we were really fortunate to be able to get that.”

The new statewide Class C will get two potent newcomers in Foxcroft Academy and 2024 Class D state champion Wells, which hosts defending C North champ Hermon in Week 2. Powerhouse Leavitt travels to face Medomak Valley in Week 4, and York hosts New Hampshire foe Monadnock in Week 8.

The Class D schedule has a good opening slate, with Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale hosting Oak Hill and Maranacook hosting Winslow in Week 1. Lisbon, which forfeited its final four games of the 2024 season in the wake of a hazing scandal, will play its first game since last September, at home against Dirigo.

Ben Porter of the Winthrop co-op team tries to get by Poland’s Mason Dulworth after catching a pass last season. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton, whose team is coming off an 8-2 season, is a fan of the schedule. The Week 1 battle against Oak Hill is one between teams that hope to contend, and the Ramblers also have a Week 4 road game at Dirigo and a rare Class D-Class B crossover game in Week 7 against Mt. Blue.

“Opening with Oak Hill is no different for us than opening with Leavitt last year, in terms of how big of a game it is to start,” Stoneton said. “They originally were going to have both C and D statewide, but with D staying North and South, it gives us a good base of teams and some good crossover games.”

In the eight-man Large schools ranks, Camden Hills at Mt. Ararat (Week 2) and Cape Elizabeth-Lake Region (Week 4) are among the top games. In the Small division, reigning champ Old Orchard Beach has a Week 1 battle with fellow power Orono before going 220 miles north for a state title game rematch at Stearns in Week 3.

“We’re very familiar with them and know the tradition they have up there; they take their football really seriously,” said OOB coach Dean Plante. “It will be a heck of a trip for us, but it lends itself to a pretty good football game with some cool storylines coming off of last year’s game.”