It’s tempting to write our annual column on how the kicking game is underrated in high school football – last week’s Lisbon-Livermore Falls game being example #745. But I’m tired of beating my sloping forehead against a wall. Coaches who know a lot more about football than I will continue to neglect 1/3 of the game no matter how much us know-it-all columnists wail.

Let’s talk about some other underappreciated people, places and things in Maine high school football, what fans should be talking about when they gather around the concession stand, besides the usual hot topics.

We’ll start with Winthrop’s defense. Everyone went into this season drooling over the Ramblers’ dynamic offense, and since that discussion involved the return of Jake Steele to an already loaded backfield, Jordan Conant and a bevy of talented receivers, it’s easy to understand why. And they trail only Mountain Valley and Thornton Academy in points scored, so they’ve lived up to the hype.

But defense wins championships and the Rambler crew has been playing at a championship level lately, having posted four straight shutouts (Jay, Madison, Boothbay, Old Orchard Beach). In last week’s 33-0 blanking of OOB, the Seagulls crossed midfield just three times – once due in large part to a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on the Ramblers, a second time on 55-yard run by Zach Chase (one of only two runs of more than eight yards on the night) and the third time after a Winthrop punt landed at the Ramblers’ 49. The Winthrop offense had a short field to work with all night.

This is Winthrop’s best defense since it dominated Western Maine at the turn of the millenium. The Lee St. Hilaire-led offense grabbed all the headlines then, too, but the 2000 defense, which gave up three touchdowns all year, was what set the Boola-Boola kids apart. That may be the story this year, too.

Funny timing, though, because Saturday the Ramblers will face perhaps the most underrated running back in their conference Dirigo’s Josh Palmer doesn’t put up eye-popping numbers every week. He doesn’t dazzle opponents with his size or speed or shiftiness. He just gets the job done, whether it’s fighting for three or four extra yards at the end of a run or turning a three-yard swing pass out of the backfield into a 15-yard gain.

Palmer’s leadership has been just as critical to the Cougars’ emergence in the Campbell Conference this year. He and his fellow seniors have turned the culture of selfishness that hurt last year’s squad around and kept themselves and their teammates focused each week, which isn’t easy with any program experiencing newfound success.

The electricity in the Dixfield air when Winthrop and Dirigo meet Saturday probably won’t be matched at any of the other venues around the region this weekend. But then, some places probably couldn’t match that electricity if lightning bolts struck each goal post simultaneously.

My journeys to Livermore Falls and Old Orchard Beach reminded me how easy to tell that some towns are football towns and some are not. Livermore Falls’ Griffin Field had the perfect atmosphere for Friday night’s game against Lisbon from the moment the Andies march down from the school to the field with their school marching band. The crowd turnout wasn’t close to the throng that will be there for their rivalry game with Jay in two weeks, but it was big enough to more than half-fill the bleachers on both sides and ring the field. There aren’t many high school fields left where the fans in the end zone could take one step in and pick off a pass to the back corner. And I’m sure the Greyhounds felt like they were closing in when the Andies were in the midst of their near-comeback in the fourth quarter. It was the quintessential Friday night football experience.

Contrast that to 24 hours later when Winthrop played OOB about a Steve Farr fastball from the old home of the Maine Guides. It was perhaps the Seagulls’ biggest game of the year, yet if it weren’t for the vocal efforts of the Winthrop supporters (and a somewhat obnoxious PA guy who promised, but never delivered, Red Sox updates), it might as well have been a tennis match. Yeah, it was a Saturday night and the Red Sox were playing. But the Seagulls are in a fight for their playoff lives right now, and the best the locals could do was roust themselves for a between-quarters sign-along of Sweet Caroline. Ugh.

Maybe I’m just biased because I think Saturday night high school football games should be banned, especially when it’s perfectly reasonable to play the game six hours earlier.

What has become of the Saturday afternoon game? Obviously, I’m not going to knock the schools that have abandoned Saturday afternoons for Friday nights. There are sound logistical and financial reasons behind that. But Saturday afternoon games are completely underrated, especially this time of year. It doesn’t get much better than spending a crisp, clear fall day watching football surrounded by the best foliage in the world.

Besides, it’s a convenient excuse to get out of raking the yard, right? Friday night games can’t do that for you.