By Kalle Oakes

Staff Writer

Who says you never get a second chance to make a first impression?

One of the many magical elements of the high school football playoffs is that they offer an immediate and permanent opportunity at redemption.

November games are almost never forgettable, but the confrontations that leave the sharpest memories are those in which a humbled, even overmatched opponent exacts a little payback when the stakes are highest.

That’s why this Friday’s slate of regional semifinal games is perhaps the most delectable menu fate could have drawn up for us in the third-to-last week of the season.

My only regret is that somebody won’t step up and make one of these schools move its game to Wednesday, require another to play on Saturday afternoon, and so on. Alas, that “Friday Night Lights” obsession strikes again and forces us to make an impossible decision.

At least it’s a can’t-miss choice. Whether your preference is Lewiston at Bangor, Fryeburg at Mountain Valley, Jay at Boothbay or Old Orchard Beach at Winthrop this weekend, you’re in a position to see something special.

Second chances are nothing new to Lewiston. This will be the Blue Devils’ fourth look at Bangor since Labor Day Weekend of 2006. For you glass-is-half-full types, logic dictates that if Lewiston continues knocking on the door, it’ll wear a Wesley Myers-sized hole in the wood, eventually.

If we must give the pessimists equal time, well, c’mon, the third time should have been the charm. Lewiston owned a 21-0 lead, the comforts of home and every ounce of momentum back on Oct. 5, only to watch the Rams rally for a mind-boggling overtime victory.

Myers was stopped inches shy of the goal line on a potential game-winning two-point conversion, much in the same way the Rams knocked Jared Turcotte senseless to (allegedly) deny him the tying touchdown on the final play of last year’s regular-season encounter. Bangor won the playoff rematch by a thread, too.

It’s no exaggeration to argue that both teams are a notch better this season. Myers benefits from the older, bigger, stronger offensive line that Turcotte never had. That defense is suspect, however, and Ian Edwards, Kyle Vanidestine and the Rams left no weak link unexploited in that second-half comeback at Don Roux Field.

Bangor loses a playoff game at Cameron Stadium about once a decade, and I’m afraid the Rams already met that quota against Brunswick during the Ralph Mims and Phil Warren era. Give them a paper-thin edge at home.

Jay was only two plays away from being 8-1 this season, but the Tigers were nowhere near going undefeated thanks to a one-sided home loss against Boothbay. In fairness to Jay, they were victimized by a flock of ticked-off Seahawks who took it on the beak from Winthrop six days earlier and weren’t in the mood for mirth and merriment.

Normally there would be no reason to think the result will be any different after the interminable bus ride is reversed, but Jay owns the X-factor and his name is Nick Bourassa. The John Taglienti Award won’t have to leave town this season, because Bourassa is far and away the most complete and dangerous player in the Class C division of the Campbell Conference.

Bourassa could roll up five touchdowns and still have time to shill 50-50 tickets during timeouts. Of course, that merely means Jay’s defense will have to devise a way to stop Boothbay’s double wing offense from scoring six. Revenge is a dish that probably won’t be served here, either.

Winthrop, on the other hand, has a marvelous chance to get even in the Enigma Bowl against OOB.

Are the real Ramblers the team that bashed Boothbay, Dirigo and Livermore Falls, or the green gang that couldn’t get out of its own way in the first half against Madison and Lisbon? Not to mention coughing up a shot at an undefeated regular season the first time they stood toe-to-toe with the Seagulls.

Not that the ‘Gulls are any easier to handicap, having stunned Winthrop and beaten Jay without the benefit of a legitimate first down but losing to (yikes) Traip. OOB heads into the postseason on a two-game losing skid, and the Ramblers simply flaunt too much talent to let Beach right the ship in this spot.

In addition to wielding All-Name Team captains Sequoyah Reynoso and Orion Winkler, Fryeburg has its best squad since the 1960s. Too bad for the Raiders that their reward is a trip to Rumford for an audience with the angry Falcons.

Fryeburg led 14-7 at halftime of a deceptive 35-14 regular-season loss. If you think the Falcons will let that happen again, you’re out of your mind.

But that’s the joy of November football. It gives good teams a chance to defy logic and rewrite the past.

Let the revisionist history begin.