The Class B playoffs open this weekend with four rematches of regular season contests. The teams that came up on the losing end the first time around may be more interested in survival than vengeance in the post-season. Some of those teams have had more than month, some less than a week, to correct the mistakes that cost them the first time.

Here’s a look at the Western and Eastern Maine matchups.

Western Maine

No. 3 Mountain Valley (6-2) at No. 2 Gorham (6-2), Friday night, 7 p.m.

By the time these two take the field, Mountain Valley will have had five days to analyze and dissect what went wrong in last Saturday’s 50-20 blowout. Most of their attention will probably be directed towards figuring out Gorham’s double-wing offense, which the Rams have used to average 39 points per game this season, including three contests of 50 or more points.

“Their offense is really kind of simple. We call it football in a phone booth,” Jim Aylward said. “Their guards take you to the play. There’s really no secret.”

But the Falcons spent too much time last week trying to find the football rather than reading their keys, Aylward said. The result was nearly 300 rushing yards for the Rams, with sophomore Andy Oldenburg (17 carries, 130 yards, one TD) and junior Tyson Nason (15 rushes, 96 yards, two TDs) doing most of the damage.

When the running game wasn’t making the Falcons dizzy, Gorham’s passing game was adding insult to injury with some big plays. Junior QB Rob Tole and sophomore receiver Matt Trask hooked up on all three of Tole’s completions last week for 81 yards and two TDs.

The Falcons hope to improve the consistency in their own offense, particularly the running game. Aaron Arsenault (65 yards) and LePage (50 yards) each ran for a touchdown last Saturday, and Fergola completed eight of 13 pass attempts, but the Rams controlled the line of scrimmage for the most of the game. John McKenzie, Chris Hopper and James Sawyer (two sacks last week) lead the Gorham defense.

The biggest factor in Mountain Valley’s favor is experience. They start five seniors and have several other players who contributed to last year’s run to the Western B final. Gorham starts just one senior, center Jeremy Gagne, and has virtually no varsity playoff experience on the roster.

No. 4 Lake Region (5-3) at No. 1 Wells (8-0), Friday night, 7 p.m.

Wells dominated the regular season meeting between the two teams, 53-0, back on Oct. 10. Luke Sibley (193 yards) and Kirk Jones (143 yards) ran for two touchdowns apiece. Bill Froncko led a defense that posted its third of four shutouts this season.

The Lakers have a dependable running duo of their own in backs Tom Daley and Glynn Ross. Ross is also a viable pass receiver and one of the favorite targets of QB Josh Woodbury, who can be dangerous with his legs as well as his arm.

Eastern Maine

No. 4 Oak Hill (6-2) at No. 1 Winslow (8-0), Saturday, 1 p.m.

This matchup has been a virtual lock for the last month. In fact, Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas was so certain that the two teams would meet again back on Oct. 18 that he held out his top running back, Kyle Harrington, for most of the game in hopes of keeping him healthy for the post-season and so he wouldn’t have played all of his cards before the sequel.

Winslow won that game handily, 49-12, so how much of a difference Harrington would have made against running back Derek Runnells (123 yards rushing) or Winslow’s powerful defense is debatable.

Runnells, the PTC’s second-leading rusher (812 yards, 14 TDs) is only part of Oak Hill’s problem, as Winslow boasts the top rushing offense in the PTC. The Black Raiders are big up front and run the power I and inverted wishbone to perfection. They also have three other backs in Ryan Lindie, Marty McCaslin and Drew Millett who are almost as capable of big plays as Runnells, although Lindie has been nursing a sprained ankle.

“They run the power game. They’re stronger along the line and in the backfield,” Nicholas said. “We’re going to have to tackle, tackle low, and we’re going to hope that they fumble it a little bit. If they pass, I think we’ve got two of the best defensive backs in Kyle and Adam (Labbe), so we’re going to jam them with nine in the box.”

Nicholas hopes the Raiders can clog up the lanes enough to allow his two top tacklers, Tony Poulin and Troy Jannelle to make plays. He feels comfortable putting his defensive backs on an island even though senior QB Josh LaPointe (62.5 completion percentage, 583 yards, five TDs, five INTs) was the leading passer in the PTC this year. LaPointe’s top receiver, Eric Lopez, is ineligible.

While Nicholas hopes to create a scrum in the middle of the field on defense, he would like to see his offense use the whole field.

“We’re going to have to try to go outside and spread the field out,” he said.

That means Winslow will see plenty of the shotgun formation, with Labbe (32.6 percent completions, 496 yards, seven TDs, 10 INTs) looking to get the ball first to Harrington, the Raiders top rusher (585 yards, eight TDs) and receiver (12 catches, 196 yards, four TDs). Ben McPherson and Chris Desrosiers are Winslow’s top run stoppers. Runnells led Winslow with six sacks.

No. 3 Belfast (6-2) at No. 2 Brewer (6-2), Friday night, 7 p.m.

Brewer edged Belfast, 14-12, on Oct. 3 and there’s no reason to believe this game won’t be just as close.

Belfast boasts Eastern B’s top running back in Josh Aldus (1,023 yards, 17 TDs). All-purpose terror Garren Horne makes big plays as a receiver and kick returner (three TDs on kick and punt returns).

Brewer’s running game starts with QB Court Rancourt (385 yards rushing, 252 passing) and a stout defense that surrendered just 76 points all season.

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