H.S. football: Lewiston and Leavitt linemen showcase their skills in 7-on-7 game

TURNER — Playing quarterback wasn’t completely unfamiliar to Leavitt sophomore Beau Mayo, who said he manned the position a little when he was younger.

However, wearing his No. 50 Hornets uniform and taking shotgun snaps Tuesday night between the hashmarks of Libby Field made Mayo seem out of position.

In reality, every player on the field in Tuesday’s game against Lewiston was out of position. The 7-on-7 contest, normally reserved for skill-position players, instead featured the linemen from both teams running routes or dropping into coverage rather than getting down and dirty in the trenches.

“You got a lot of guys that are going to be requesting position changes soon, I’m sure,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “As the game went on, you could see guys were jabbing, little shimmy on the route, stuff like that. But overall I just thought lots of fun on both sides. So it was good.”

Jacob Wilcox of Leavitt Area High School returns an interception during Tuesday's game against Lewiston in Turner. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

The game ended in a 14-14 tie, with Mayo throwing his second touchdown of the game and completing a two-point pass to rally the Hornets in the second half.

Tight spirals and a cannon arm helped make Mayo look the part of a quarterback, as did his connection with Tommy Casey, who made a leaping catch and ran the rest of the way for a 26-yard score. A deflection off a defender caught by Leavitt’s Landen Arsenault on the ensuing two-point conversion tied the game and served as a reminder that no pass Tuesday could be taken for granted.

“I played a little QB when I was younger, but nothing like that, underneath the lights,” Mayo said.

The closest thing the linemen have likely had to Tuesday night was casual games of toss before practices.

“We like to throw the ball around before practice,” Lewiston lineman-turned-quarterback Matthew Dube said. “We think we’re skill guys, but we’re not, because we got bellies.”

Dube put the Blue Devils ahead 8-6 midway through the first half when he connected with Jacob Dubois in the back of the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown and then hit Reid Caron for the two-point conversion.

“It was good. I mean, there’s nothing really to say about (throwing a touchdown). I did my job, they did their job,” Dube said humbly.

Dube was the most efficient passer in the game, completing 13 of 24 throws for 142 yards. He was also part of an active pass defense for the Blue Devils, who picked off three Leavitt passes, as well as a two-point conversion attempt.

Jayden Maynard took his interception 87 yards the other way to stretch Lewiston’s lead to 14-6 late in the first half.

Joey Thibodeau split time with Dube at quarterback and completed five passes for 53 yards. He had the pick on one of the Hornets’ two-point tries, and nearly made the play on Arsenault’s game-tying conversion.

Caron had the two other Lewiston interceptions. He also was the focal point of one of the more lighthearted moments of the game when he tried blocking (which is not allowed) on a Thibodeau pass to Maynard, and then said, “I didn’t know I couldn’t block,” while jogging back to the huddle.”

Mayo threw for a game-high 210 yards on nine completions, including a 23-yard touchdown to Arsenault to open the scoring. The Hornets tried for deeper throws while the Blue Devils found more success on shallower tosses. Leavitt’s Jacob Wilcox threw for 77 yards on four completions (and had an interception on defense), and Arsenault added 43 passing yards on three completions in his one series of quarterback duty at the end of the first half.

“Really, just Monday was the only day we had to really figure out the positions and stuff,” Mayo said.

“We got out in practice yesterday, a couple of quarterbacks there, Mayo and Wilcox, they threw pretty well,” Hathaway said. “And some guys that are linebackers for us, we knew they would run pretty well and run some routes well. I thought Tommy made a nice catch at tight end. (Jace Negley), who’s our JV tight end, he had a couple nice catches. So it’s good to see some athleticism out of those guys, and some ball skills that could come back to help you some time.”

Dube said the game was memorable, in part because he got to play against his cousin, Leavitt’s Trevor Poirier. He only had a brief moment for a photo with Poirier after the game before he had to run to the visitor’s bus, where Lewiston coach Darren Hartley was trying to corral his team for the ride home.

Hartley told his players after the game that they looked like they had fun, but also cautioned that they might be sore Wednesday. The Blue Devils have only a couple of days to rest before Friday’s 7-on-7 home game against rival Edward Little. The lineman are expected to get some action in that game, too.

Mayo said he’s going to remember the linemen-only game for a lifetime.

“It’s definitely something us linemen don’t get to do normally, but it’s definitely fun,” he added.

“Those guys have been working hard,” Hathaway said. “They’ve been able to do a lot of drill work, and a lot of conditioning. And they’ve been doing that since July 13. I mean, they do it, but it’s not like it’s a ton of fun, so for them to get out and have something like this I thought was awesome.”