RUMFORD — Mountain Valley football players often can be classified into three groups.

There is the Justin Staires/Matt Laubauskas/Matt Gaudet/Cam Kaubris category. Those Falcons became household names in the community before even arriving at the high school, and they shine throughout their careers.

There is the Chris West category, which basically includes anyone who starts his career as a running back and gets transformed into an all-state lineman.

Then there’s Everyone Else, with subchapters for Pennies from Heaven and Pleasant Surprises.

“This has been a fun group,” said Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward. “One of the things we learned right off was that there was so much up-side. It’s kind of fun in a sense that we tried to assemble the 10 to 15 kids we thought were varsity level kids and all played the same position into a working unit.”

Taylor Bradley and Taylor Carey are a perfect fit for that environment, because it‘s impossible to pigeonhole them.

They probably fall closest to the last group, although that may insult their talent level.

Leave it at this: Aylward had the two players, lost them, and now is thrilled to have them back.

You can bet that the feeling is mutual.

“I love everything about football,” said Carey, a junior defensive tackle. “I started to like it more this year.”

“Our expectations were to be a championship team,“ said Bradley, a senior halfback and cornerback. “I’d say we’re definitely on the right track to where we want to be.”

Aside from their first name, Bradley and Carey have another significant common bond: Both were lettermen for the 2008 Class B champions, then were absent for personal reasons in 2009.

Bradley moved to his mother’s home in Skowhegan, where he was a late addition to the football team before emerging as the Indians’ leading rusher.

He liked the challenge of a Class A program and enjoyed his team there, but there was no question where Bradley wanted to finish his high school football career.

“I was really good friends with the coaches down there, and it was really disappointing to tell them I had to go,” Bradley said. “But I wanted to graduate with all my lifelong friends and have one more year before we all separate and go our own ways.”

Often playing half of each game or less due to the undefeated Falcons’ frequent routs, Bradley is Mountain Valley’s runaway leader in rushing attempts (118), yards (820) and touchdowns (12).

He is the Falcons’ second-leading receiver and its kick and punt return specialist. Bradley also returned to his starting role in the secondary, where he has 39 tackles and one interception with a 55-yard return.

“He’s a pretty good, all-around back. He can throw, he can catch, he can run, he can block. And he’s fun to coach,” Aylward said. “He’s one of our kids. He grew up here his whole life. He’s irritated his high school football coach, and mostly that‘s been me. He is a character. He’s a good kid.”

Carey earned his stripes on special teams as a freshman before his one-year hiatus.

“I had a lot of stuff going on last year,” he said.

Wrestling has been Carey’s primary sport. He was fourth in Class B at 145 pounds as a freshman and was the state runner-up at 152 his sophomore season.

His football playing weight is 168, Carey said. That still draws double takes when opponents and spectators see him line up at defensive tackle, where the number on the scale usually begins with a ‘2’ or even a ‘3.’

“I didn’t expect to be on the line this year. I was an outside linebacker freshman year,” Carey said. “Then I was going after defensive end when Coach talked to me and he wanted me to move to tackle, because he felt my speed would match up good.”

Good call. Carey has 56 tackles — good for third on the team — including four sacks.

Not playing offense has allowed him to conserve energy and take on the bigger bodies across the line of scrimmage.

“We think he’s a big weapon because he’s an athletic kid. He’s a middleweight wrestler. You look at this kid and say, ‘This kid plays down tackle?’ There’s nothing to him,” Aylward said. “He’s lightning fast, and he’s one of the freshest kids on the field. Taylor Carey’s had one of the best years a down tackle’s ever had for us.”

Still sporting his Skowhegan football t-shirt at practice, Bradley doesn’t regret giving up the 30 carries per game he enjoyed as the centerpiece of the Indians’ double-wing and power-I formations.

“I knew I’d be getting plenty of carries,“ he said. “The diversity of our offense is so much bigger. More complicated, harder to understand and to play against. I like that.”

Carey already has gone public with his preference to play defensive end next year.

His stuffing of the middle has been a big factor in six shutouts through nine games, so Carey’s hopes may be a victim of his own success.

“I think we have some of the hardest hitters in the state,” Carey said of his defense. “We’re not the biggest.”

Or the easiest to define.

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