Spruce Mountain’s first season as a football program concluded the way many of its two predecessors recent autumns did: With a loss early in the playoffs.

Jay and Livermore Falls competed separately in Class C. Together, they moved up to the Class B division of the Campbell Conference and discovered a different world.

Mountain Valley backed up its 42-0 win in Livermore Falls on the third Friday of September with a 48-0 whitewashing in Rumford on the final Friday in October.

“Someday we want to get to where they are,” Spruce Mountain coach Mark Bonnevie.

For now, the Phoenix are typical of the many next-tier teams in a top-heavy league.

Spruce Mountain made the playoffs with hard-fought wins over Greely, Lake Region, Gray-New Gloucester and Fryeburg. Marshwood slipped past Spruce in a tight game, and the Phoenix were beaten soundly by Mountain Valley (twice), Wells and Falmouth.

“It was a learning experience. We’ll take some good things from it,” Bonnevie said of the inaugural campaign. “The seniors should be proud of the way they started this thing.”

Among those playing their final game Friday were star running back Bill Calden, who rolled up nearly 1,100 yards; starting quarterback Zach Bonnevie, the coach’s son; James Barker, one of the team’s leading tacklers; receivers Jake Bessey and Nate Shink; and linemen Tommy Lee and Jake Richards.

The combined resources of the two communities provide a wealth of bodies. Forty of the 56 players on the season-ending roster are slated to return in 2012.

“Eighth grade has 20. The numbers are there. They’ve just got to keep working,” Bonnevie said. “I think they learned during the season. The younger kids will work hard. They’re a good group. Hopefully in the future we’ll keep getting better every year and continue to make the playoffs.”

Run of the Mills

Mountain Valley football players are known for their unselfishness.

Coach Jim Aylward has taken many freshman running backs and transformed them into senior all-conference linemen, in part because of their willingness to be molded.

Izaak Mills never got the skill positions out of his system, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of the most versatile Falcons in a proud history.

Mills has played quarterback, halfback and receiver since moving into the varsity lineup as a sophomore. Now you can add fullback to his list.

Filling for injured Matt Hosie, Mills racked up 20 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Spruce Mountain.

The senior inflicted even more damage as the battering ram for Kyle Duguay, who finished his night after the opening series of the second half with 246 yards and two TDs.

“He’s a great point-of-contact kid. He doesn’t necessarily have the speed of Hosie,” Aylward said. “He’s not going to take one to the house. But as a lead blocker, when you put his big body on other people’s bodies … He’s very valuable to our football team.”

Only a week earlier, it was Mills who threw the halfback option pass for a touchdown that ultimately provided Mountain Valley’s 20-14 margin of victory at Cape Elizabeth.

Hosie and two of the Falcons’ five starting linemen suffered or aggravated injuries in that physical test, making Mills’ willingness to throw around his 185 pounds a week later a blessing to his team.

“We are banged up,” Aylward said. “We just had a lot of kids who played their guts out.”

Cougars keep in line

About the only question mark having to do with Mt. Blue coming into the season that didn’t have to do with its move to Class B was how the Cougars’ talented but untested offensive line would fare at the varsity level.

The Cougars have been chewing up yardage all year, scoring points in bushels, and quarterback Jordan Whitney doesn’t have a visible grass stain on his No. 17 jersey. It’s safe to say that question has been answered.

“Our offensive line is the biggest area of improvement on the team,” Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin said. “That was the greenest place that we started with, and they’re a pretty good unit right now.”

That unit includes four seniors — Chris Cautillo, Caleb Farrington, Sean Moore and Dustin Zamboni, and one junior, Eli Luker. Most of them saw spot duty last year, either on offense or defense, but they hadn’t played together as a unit at the varsity level because the line was already loaded with all-conference caliber linemen . They did, however, play JV together and had success together, losing just one game last year.

In Friday’s 43-7 quarterfinal win over MDI, the line led the way for Whitney, Izaiaha Tracy, Eric Bery, Cam Sennick and others as the Cougars averaged over 10 yards per carry.

Turcotte runs away with it

Over the last two weeks, Jeff Turcotte showed what he thought of theories that a heavy early workload might wear him down by the end of Lewiston’s season.

The senior tailback rushed for 588 yards and 10 touchdowns against Cony and Edward Little in the final two weeks of the season. That output, which came even though his carries actually rose sharply, sewed up the PTC rushing and rushing touchdown titles for Turcotte. He finished the season 1,539 yards and 21 touchdowns.

“It shows a lot of hard work during the offseason and definitely during the season,” Turcotte said. “I want to dedicate it to all the players that played before me and also to my offensive line. I definitely couldn’t do it without them and I’m definitely blessed to have them.”

Turcotte gained 257 yards and scored five times in 30 carries during Lewiston’s wild 62-49 win over Cony on Oct. 21. He followed that with a season-high 331 yards and five TDs on 31 attempts in Saturday’s 35-15 win over rival Edward Little. For context, Turcotte was averaging 18.3 rushes per game heading into the Cony game. He ended the season second only to EL’s Darnnell Hairston in rushing attempts.

“I think what surprises me is that last gear that he has,” Lewiston coach Bill County said. “It looks like people are going to catch him and then, no. That’s impressive for a kid as strong as he is.”