The fall colors have fully arrived, and the playoffs are around the corner. Northern Maine football teams played an important slate of games this weekend.
Here is a recap of the action.
Cony beats Bangor at home, 55-20
The Bangor Rams traveled to Augusta for some Ram-on-Ram action on Friday night, and returned home with an unexpected 35-point loss in the books.
The Cony Rams surprised everyone on Friday, considering Bangor’s solid start to its season and its record against mutual opponents. Not only did Bangor have a better record in a tougher class, but it had handled Lawrence 21-6 and Skowhegan 42-0, teams which Cony lost to 40-7 and beat 22-0, respectively.
The shining point for Bangor was the playmaking of quarterback Jack Schuck, running back Kyle Johnson and wide receiver Daemon Maskala, who each juked and pounded their way to touchdowns from 24, 28, and 38 yards out, respectively.
Cony’s offense was even better, though, scoring five touchdowns before halftime. Cony had lost some key players to injuries earlier this season and lost two of its last three games, finally turning the corner against Bangor this weekend.
The sophomore duo of quarterback Parker Morin (26-35 passing for 480 yards and five TDs) and running back Anderson St. Onge (16 carries for 121 yards and four total TDs) went off for Cony as it returned to .500.
“We lost a couple two way starters for the season during the first half of the Messalonskee game, and it’s taken some time to get new kids coached up to replace them,” Cony head coach B.L. Lippert said.
Next up, Cony will play at Falmouth as it fights for its third straight win, while Bangor will look to bounce back against a winless Edward Little team at home.
“We need to play better as players [and] need to coach better as coaches,” Bangor head coach Dave Morris said. “Cony played and coached better. We made too many mistakes [and] Cony made more plays. We will be better prepared.”
Winslow beats Brewer at home, 18-16
The Brewer Witches came extremely close to its first win of the season against Winslow on Saturday afternoon, missing a last-second field goal to cap off a roller coaster of a fourth quarter.
Down a score entering the final frame, Brewer strung together its second touchdown drive to take a 16-12 lead with 7:31 remaining in the game. After six hard-fought minutes, Winslow retaliated with another touchdown of its own, making it 18-16 with less than a minute and a half to go.
The Witches didn’t have much time to retake the lead, but fought hard and drove the ball down past the Winslow 30-yard line. Brewer decided to try a long field goal rather than a hail mary, and the kick ultimately fell short.
“Frustrating, but the kids played very hard the whole game,” Brewer head coach Scott Flagg said. “[It was a] very muddy, slippery field. We had success rushing straight downhill out of our single wing power formation.”
Junior quarterback Ethan Leavitt and senior running back Hunter Merrithew paced the ground game, with Leavitt running for 228 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, and Merrithew running for 78 yards on nine carries.
Brewer has two more chances to get a win this season, against Nokomis at home next Friday, and Lawrence away on Oct. 20.
Stearns/Schenck beats Dexter/Piscataquis at home, 52-20
After losing to Orono and Bucksport in weeks one and two, the Millinocket co-op team has caught fire and now won its last four in a row, by an average margin of 32 points. Its offense has scored 57.5 points per game in that stretch, against Mattanawcook, Houlton, Ellsworth and Dexter.
With this weekend’s win over Dexter, last year’s eight-player small North No. 1 seed, Stearns/Schenck has catapulted itself into third place in the Crabtree standings, and is right on Bucksport’s tail.
With only one week to go in the conference’s regular season, Stearns/Schenck will play winless Madawaska/Fort Kent away, where it’s likely to win its fifth straight. Orono may have locked down the No. 1 seed, but this Millinocket squad is a proven force and is hungry to get vengeance against Orono and Bucksport this postseason. The Red Riots and Golden Bucks should come prepared this October.
