What if? Mtn. Valley still believes it can reach state title game

RUMFORD — It might be a case of the power of positive thinking, or maybe the Mountain Valley football team is trying to look at the glass half full instead of completely empty.

After losing to Cape Elizabeth 34-0 at Hannaford Field two weeks ago, the Falcons are headed there again Saturday and are feeling good about their chances in the 12:30 p.m. Western Class B final.

"We have a great mindset right now," said Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward. "We have everything to gain and nothing to lose. I think some of us are actually feeling giddy and thinking we could actually be playing next week."

The Falcons realize that most of the pressure and expectations rest on the padded shoulders of the Capers on Saturday. After reigning as the Western B powerhouse for the last three years, including a regional final win in the rain and slop at Hosmer Field last fall, the Falcons are the underdogs. They've heard all the talk that this is Cape's year, and that the Capers now have the best chance to finally beat Mountain Valley in the final.

"We've got nothing to lose," said senior back Brady Fergola. "We're going to go out and give it our all, and hopefully, come away with another Western Maine championship."

The Falcons have battled injuries all season long. Still, Mountain Valley, down a handful of regulars, has plugged along and knows it has more than a puncher's chance Saturday.

"We know we're going down without some bullets," said Aylward, who lost starters Cam Kaubris and Tyler Mason to injuries this year. "That's fine. The attitude isn't, 'Oh well, we're feeling sorry for ourselves.' We're thinking that if we play good football for 48 minutes and force them to make a couple mistakes, what if ...? "

The scenario is somewhat similar to two years ago when the Falcons lost at Cape in the regular season but won the rematch on the same field weeks later. Mountain Valley may face a stiffer challenge. Cape is a potent club that outgained the Falcons 430 to 109 in the first meeting.

"It was definitely a wake-up call," said senior lineman Ryan Laubauskas. "We were thinking it was going to be an easy season, but everything isn't given to us. We have to work hard at it. We realized that the last two weeks when we lost. Now we're rolling again because we're one and doing good."

After back-to-back losses and being blanked for the first time in 21 years, the Falcons have regrouped and rebounded. The hope is that they can show the Capers a very different team Saturday.

"We just need to play as one unit defensively instead of individuals as we did," said Laubauskas. "On offense, we just had a bad game. We're starting to click back together now. We're  a good team. We just need to show it."

In the first game, quarterback Ezra Wolfington threw three touchdown passes to Finn Melanson. Cape had 210 passing yards while Tom Foden rushed for another 109 yards and scored twice. The Falcons had just seven first downs and 17 passing yards.

"Their pass offense killed us," said Fergola. "For the most part, we shut down the run. We shut down Foden, but Wolfington and Melanson came up big. They made some big plays, and that was the difference in the game."

Aylward said his team needs to tackle better and execute better both offensively and defensively. Mountain Valley can't afford a lackluster effort and likely won't survive a game full of misplays.

"We made a lot of mistakes," said Aylward. "We made mistakes in execution, mistakes in alignment and assignments. We know every play we have to play it perfect and be in the moment and not worry about everything else."

One thing the Falcons have learned since their loss at Cape two weeks ago is what it will take to challenge the Capers. It is a lesson that gives the Falcons some confidence and comfort in knowing that if they play hard and play well, they could turn the tables on the previous loss.

"It's 0-0, and if we play our best football for 48 minutes that we're capable of playing, we're not worried about the outcome," said Aylward. "We know big wins are going to happen, and we know big losses, you survive.

"We're just excited. We have 120 plays between us and a chance to play next week. We want to win more than they do out of those 120 plays."