Week 7 of the Maine high school football season came and went, and while some Friday games were rescheduled due to the rain, playoff positions were made a little clearer as teams geared up for the postseason.
Here are some local games and what they mean for the playoffs.
Bangor 16, Edward Little 6
As Jack Schuck led two first-half touchdown drives for the Bangor Rams, his composure shined on the field.
Schuck led Bangor (1-6) to the team’s first victory of the season, beating the visiting Edward Little Red Eddies (2-5) 16-6. After the game, Schuck said it was his confidence that has made the difference.
“I just feel comfortable now,” Schuck said. “That’s what everyone feels. At the beginning of the year we all felt the same: Anxious, nervous, uncomfortable, but now we are ready and we’re only going to get better from here. I am so proud.”
Bangor lost many seniors to graduation last year and has had to gel on the fly, with a lot of new players finding their place on the team.
On Friday night, the Rams were able to lock down the Red Eddies’ offense that previously scored 48 points against Bonny Eagle. Edward Little can score with the best of them, but Bangor was able to make stop after stop, only allowing a touchdown on a kickoff return.
“They believed they could win and that was the difference,” Bangor coach Dave Morris said.
Brewer 25, Messalonskee 0
Cam Hughes led the way for Brewer on Saturday night in a big 25-0 win over Messalonskee.
The big running back ran for 164 yards, gained 78 receiving yards and scored four touchdowns on the day.
“He’s the heart of our team,” Brewer coach Scott Flagg said of Hughes. “He’s been battling some injuries and he’s starting to feel 100 percent and we saw that explosiveness return, which was great to see.”
After falling to Falmouth a week prior while getting stopped in the red zone three times, the Witches (2-5) were again stopped inside the 10-yard line three times against the Eagles but found a way to win anyway.
“The group is feeling great,” Flagg said. “I am very impressed that they stuck with it so well through the last few challenging games. We have players coming back and we are healthy and we have one game left we have to win. After that we’re 0-0 and we are feeling like we can play with anyone.”
The Witches sit in eighth place in Class B North, the final playoff spot, and have last-place Brunswick (0-7) to end the regular season.
On defense, Jaxon Gross sacked the quarterback four times for Brewer.
Hermon 37, Winslow 7
Gary Glidden carried the ball for 190 yards and the Hermon Hawks to a Class C North win on Saturday night.
Glidden said that Hermon’s 38-30 loss to the Black Raiders in last year’s C North final was on the minds of him and his teammates.
“Especially playing the team we lost to in the northern Maine game last year, it gave us motivation to go out and win,” Glidden said. “It was everything. Same field, same team and we wanted to get revenge on them and we went out and did that.”
Hermon (5-2) is now just 2.3 Crabtree points behind Medomak Valley (5-2), with a huge showdown coming up this Friday between the two schools to cap off the regular season.
Medomak is on a two-game win streak. Its losses were to Lisbon and Freeport, two Class D teams.
This was just the second win over the Raiders for a Kyle Gallant-led Hermon team, and Gallant said his players up front on both lines were the difference makers.
“We are very good up front,” Gallant said. “They do a really good job. What I loved was the resiliency of our defense. A year ago we would have let Winslow just hammer us and I don’t think we had a three-and-out against them and tonight we had a bunch.”
Dexter 38, Bucksport 30
Bryce Connor totalled 436 yards of offense in Dexter’s 38-30 win over Bucksport on Saturday.
Connor also scored five touchdowns and had an interception and forced two fumbles on defense.
Dexter finishes the eight-player small school season with a perfect 7-0 record and will face Houlton (2-5) in the first round of the postseason as the Tigers look to repeat as state champions.
After the Bucksport game, Connor said that Dexter went to a new formation on offense that no team had on film and the Tigers were able to get to some openings.
