Editor’s note: The following exchange of e-mails between Randy Whitehouse and Kalle Oakes took place on Wednesday, Aug. 29. The fact that two grown men would stay inside to discuss high school on one of the last days of a fading summer should may give our readers pause, but these are the men making our football picks this year. So we think it only fair to our readers to give everyone a snap-shot of their twisted psyches, and thus we have decided to publish it.

RW: My wife just bought me a new clipboard so that must mean it’s high school football season again. She giggled while she did it, too, which, I mean, I don’t see what’s so funny about a clipboard. So anyway, Kal, step back from the oval and the college beat for a minute and get back to your roots my friend. Starting tonight.

KO: I’m a roots-y kinda guy. Actually, I’m literally going back to my roots tonight when I drive past the family ghosts up theyah in Chestuhville on my way to the Mt. Blue-Lawrence game. Can the Cougars knock off the defending champions? Hey, bigger question: Can the Pine Tree Conference stand prosperity and make it two straight Class A titles in November?

RW: Nope. They’re just keeping the title belt warm in Fairfield. Gorham was this close last year, and the Rams have 12 starters back and maybe the best running back in the state, Justin Villacci. Weren’t the Villacci brothers the guys in that Happy Days demolition derby episode that ganged-up on Fonzie? So who’s gonna be the PTC’s Fonzie caught in the Villacci Crunch?

KO: Can’t recall. I was too busy wishing that being 8 made me old enough to marry Suzi Quatro. Um, well I hear Bangor’s running the Wing-T, Mt. Blue is going all double-wing on us, and Lewiston lost the best player in the state and might be better, anyway. Bizaaaah. But think of this as blackjack, and Skowhegan has 21. Seniors, that is. I’m betting on a banner year for the Native Americans.

RW: Ugh, an all-double-wing final. Colonel Sanders and Jack Tourtillotte will be in heaven. Lewiston looks like the Indy Colts compared to those two offenses. The only question I have is whether they’ll get past Bangor. Mark it down right here. It was the game of the year last year and it will be again this year. I think the Blue Devils finally get over the hump.

There are a couple of teams in Class B that couldn’t quite get over certain humps last year that are going only have to worry about a few speed bumps this year. This class is the easiest call of the three. Cape Elizabeth and Gardiner might as well just start their caravans to Fitzpatrick Stadium today. Get a little early tailgating in.

Oh, it was the Mallachi Crunch, by the way. And Pinky Tuscadero made Leather look like an Indigo Girl.

KO: Give me Olivia Newton-John and you can have both Tuscaderos. And where’s the love for Mountain Valley? The Falcons are this year’s Lisbon: Getting absolutely no respect because they lost a busload of seniors, while everyone blissfully ignores that they have a truckload of good players coming back. Not to mention one great one, in Justin Staires. I’ll grant you a victory for Kyle Stilphen and Gardiner in the Class B final, but to follow the road to that game, you’ll have to follow your nose through Rumfico.

RW: There’s only room for one Lisbon in this state, and last I checked, Baldacci hasn’t ordered Lisbon and Mountain Valley to merge yet. How can a team going for a third straight title fool so many people into thinking they’re rebuilding? I mean, Foxcroft Academy will eventually bring their Three-peat hopes to a halt, but the `Hounds have won 21 in a row. You’d be a fool to pick against them.

KO: I’ve been a fool for the Greyhounds before, so count me in again. I’ll go back to my roots once more and picture sitting with my dad in his seventh-grade science lab in Livermore Falls, overlooking a Jay-Livermore Falls game for the old Mountain Valley Conference title back in 1980. They filmed a couple of sequels in 1991 and 2004, also, you might recall. When the orange and gold spray paint settles, I’m anticipating another border war for regional supremacy. Maybe the last one before consolidation, come to think of it. Jay in overtime. But you’re right, I’ll play the Ponies in the state game.

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