CAPE ELIZABETH — Spruce Mountain found itself in a hole early, and there was no getting out of it.

Cape Elizabeth got some breaks early, broke through the line early and often, and broke the chances of any Phoenix comeback in a 55-12 Class C South football win at Hannaford Field on Friday night.

It looked like the Phoenix (1-3) had stopped the Capers (3-0) on their first drive before it even got started, but fake-punt pass by Marshall Peterson to Brett McAlister went for 33 yards and gave Cape Elizabeth its initial first down of the game. The opening drive ended five plays later with a Ryan Weare 1-yard touchdown plunge. Peterson made the first of seven consecutive extra-points to make it 7-0.

“We just put (the fake punt) in, and obviously we executed,” Capers coach Aaron Filieo said.

On Spruce Mountain’s second play of the game, Caulin Parker threw a backwards pass to Austin Darling, but the two couldn’t connect. Instead, the Capers recovered the live ball and scored two plays later on a fumble of their own. Peyton Weatherbie lost the ball before he crossed the goal line, but Max Woods came out of the scrum with it for another touchdown.

After a Phoenix three-and-out, Ben Ekedahl returned a Devan Pomeroy punt 46 yards down to the Spruce Mountain 19-yard line. It took four plays for Weare to rumble in from five yards out to make it 21-0 less than eight minutes into the game.

“A big momentum shift was that punt. And the fumble in the end zone we didn’t get,” Phoenix coach Walter Polky said. “Things like that kind of changed momentum. After that it kind of snowballed on us. They’re a very experienced team and they know what to do.”

McAlister scored on a 2-yard run two plays into the second quarter to up the lead to 28-0.

The Phoenix then gained their first first down of the game on the ensuing drive, thanks to a 10-yard run by Darling, then Parker followed with a 44-yard QB keeper for another. But that Spruce Mountain drive fizzled out with a turnover-on-downs at the Cape Elizabeth 19-yard line.

Pomeroy gave the Phoenix their first points by intercepting a Jeb Boeschenstein pass three plays later and taking it 40 yards for a touchdown.

“I thought maybe that could have turned the tide a little bit, becuase it was kind of a close game,” Polky said.

Spruce Mountain had a chance to do just that, stopping another fake-punt pass by Peterson before McAlister could get the first down near the 50-yard line, but Austin White fumbled on the next play and the Capers recovered.

Weatherbie scored from 13 yards out five plays later, then after a Phoenix three-and-out Boeschenstein hit McAlister on consecutive passes, with the second going for an 11-yard touchdown and a 42-6 lead.

Spruce Mountain countered with a touchdown drive that was capped off with a Parker 9-yard touchdown pass to Brett Frey.

“They’re a very well-coached team, and you can’t give them opportunities,” Polky said. “They took advantage of our mistakes, they put us in a hole quick. We couldn’t get out of it. We had spurts where we looked good, but they controlled the pace when they wanted to control the pace. We couldn’t really match up very well with them.”

“I think we always expect a fight from Spruce Mountain,” said Filieo, whose team had a 301-133 advantage in total offense at the half. “But I also know what we’re capable of. I know any given game we can really perform at a high level and execute and do well.”

MJ Convey had a pair of touchdown runs for the Capers in the third quarter to cap off the scoring. Cape Elizabeth accumulated 254 yards on the ground, while its defense held Spruce Mountain to just 99.

“If you win the line of scrimmage, typically you win the day,” Filieo said. “So we challenged those guys and I thought that they responded well.”

“They were much more physical than we were,” Polky said “I thought we played well, for the most part, against the passing game. It’s when they started pounding it on us. We couldn’t rise up to the physicality of the game and the speed of the game.”

The Phoenix were missing senior running back/linebacker Dillon Webster, who Polky said is usually the ones to grind out the tough yards — yards they couldn’t muster early to stay in the game.

Filieo said his team isn’t running on all cylinders yet, but they are in a good place.

Even after a drubbing that dropped the Phoenix to 1-2, Polky said his team isn’t ready to give up.

“Football, it’s a grind, it’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint. The season’s not over,” Polky said. “We have five games left. We just have to stay on track.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link