Hornets not Hamstrung

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Leavitt’s 62-point outburst against Camden Hills Saturday is that the Hornets piled up the points virtually without the services of senior tailback Josh Strickland.

Strickland left the game after two carries (for 25 yards) when he reaggravated a pulled hamstring he suffered in a preseason game against Jay.

“He was full-tilt, I thought, against Hampden (in the season-opener), and then he was full tilt all this week in practice,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “He just said it felt tight and he couldn’t get it loose, so we just figured we could get it done without him and the safest thing to do was to sit him. We don’t think it will be anything that will keep him out (against Belfast), but we’ll need to treat it.”

Jordan Hersom filled in at tailback and ran for 97 yards and three touchdowns on just seven carries. Camden Hills considered Leavitt’s running game enough of a threat that slotback Jon Letourneau and QB Eric Theiss burned the Windjammers’ defense deep to the tune of 136 yards on two touchdowns on five catches.

“We were running trap a lot and they would just bite hard down,” Letourneau said. “We’d run trap, trap and then have a trap pass and the safety would bit and it would be open in the seam every time.”

Diamond in the rough

Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School could showcase its third different starting quarterback of the season Friday night when the Vikings host powerful Lawrence.

But it isn’t as if the winless Vikings are grasping at straws or desperate for a spark after shutout losses to Lewiston and Mt. Blue. The guy moving upward on the depth chart is hardly an unknown quantity.

Matt Verrier has been working out with Oxford Hills and is expected to make his debut tonight. A senior, three-sport athlete, Verrier is best known for his exploits in baseball, where he already has earned a full scholarship at the University of Maine.

Verrier hasn’t played football since his freshman year, electing to concentrate on his primary sport.

Jake Hall began the season as Oxford Hills’ starting QB for the second straight season. Coach Nate Danforth elected to move him to slot receiver in the Vikings’ spread offense after an opening game at Lewiston in which the team completed only one shovel pass.

Respect is earned

Dirigo isn’t sweating its status as the preseason favorite in Western Class C, not even after scoring a total of 108 points in season-opening wins over Freeport and defending Campbell Conference champion Winthrop.

The Cougars don’t need to look any farther for motivation or a reality check than a yellowed Sun Journal clipping from August 2008.

“We don’t worry about that,” said senior quarterback Nic Crutchfield. “We were picked seventh in the preseason last year and ended up second.”

Thought to be a year away from making a playoff and title run last fall, the Cougars went 8-1 for their first winning season since Dirigo revived its program earlier this decade.

This year’s more lofty expectations are well-founded. Dirigo flaunts a veteran line, led by four-year starter Mason Cote. Crutchfield and Alex Miele are the league’s most dangerous combination through the air.

And when teams load up and find an answer for the Cougars’ power running game of Tyler Chiasson and Crutchfield, Dirigo unleashes the shiftier duo of Bryan Blackman and Spencer Ross. It was Ross scoring three quick touchdowns to turn an 8-8 tussle at Winthrop into a 34-8 rout.

“We can go big, and then we can bring the speed right behind it,” Crutchfield said.