A handful of long streaks came to an end during Week 3 of the high school football season.

Edward Little and Madison each snapped a winless streak that dated back to 2022, while Orono’s loss ended the state’s longest active winning streak.

First, the Bulldogs, who ended their 18-game skid with a 13-0 home victory against Belfast on Friday. Madison (1-2) passed for 218 yards and racked up 248 total yards. The defense forced two turnovers and held the Lions (0-3) to 166 yards of offense.

Madison’s last win prior to Friday was against Hampden Academy on Sept. 2, 2022.

The Red Eddies’ 36-34 victory over Messalonskee on Friday was their first since beating Brewer on Sept. 16, 2022.

Coach Rick Kramer said his Red Eddies (1-2) focused throughout the week on moving forward and not dwelling on miscues or their 17-game losing streak.

“We talked about it right before we came out, you know, that it’s one play at a time,” Kramer said, “and everybody uses that coaching, you know, but the big thing for us is we make mistakes in practice – it’s just one play, move to the next one and, you know, sometimes you get terrified in the middle of the week. We made a lot of mistakes but we kept moving on, and they got better all week.”

The Red Eddies had to bounce back from an unsportsmanlike penalty late in the fourth quarter that allowed the Eagles to take a 34-28 lead with three minutes remaining. Quarterback TJ Kramarz drove Edward Little more than 60 yards before scoring his third touchdown on a 2-yard run, then running in a 2-point conversion with 41 seconds to play.

With the Bulldogs and Edward Little both winning Friday, the state’s longest losing streak now belongs to St. John Valley at 17 games.

Orono had won 12 straight entering Friday’s matchup against Mt. Ararat in Topsham, but the defending 8-man Small School state champion suffered a 56-26 loss.

Red Riots Coach Bob Sinclair said the loss was a bump in the road for a group of players who were banged up heading into the contest.

“In terms of learning anything, I’m proud of our kids sticking together,” Sinclair said. “It was pretty silent down (in the postgame huddle) because they don’t like being on the short end of the scoreboard, of course. You can lose the battle and still win the war, so that’s where we’re at. We’re going to get ready to play Stearns and try to heal up some. Take it one game at a time. Hopefully we’ll be in a little better physical shape by the time we play in October.”

Mt. Ararat Coach Frank True said the Eagles acknowledged leading up to the game that Orono hadn’t lost since 2022, as well as its impressive wins this season over Dexter (54-6) and defending 8-man Large School champion MDI (46-6).

“We were excited to measure ourselves against the defending state champions that had been really handling teams so far this year,” True said Monday in an email. “We did talk about how good they are and have been. I didn’t know what their winning streak was, so we just kept saying they haven’t lost in two years.”

True said the Eagles made defensive changes against Orono’s prolific pass offense they can use for the remainder of the season. They host Waterville on Friday.

“We were able to put in some different coverages, which will help us going against heavy pass teams, and the mental part of playing at a high level for the whole 48 minutes,” True said.
The state’s longest active winning streak now belongs to Kennebunk, which has won seven straight.

BIDDEFORD GETS OVER THE HUMP

Biddeford wasn’t stuck on a lengthy overall losing streak, having won its final game of the 2023 season against Class C York, 30-28.

But the Tigers had not beaten a Class B team since 2022 prior to Friday’s 21-14 win against Gorham. The past eight games against Class B teams had not gone well. Biddeford went 0-7 against league foes in 2023, being outscored 275-70.

This year, after losing to Class C Fryeburg Academy 40-8 in Week 1, the Tigers were beaten 56-7 by Deering in their B South opener.

That trend was halted Friday. The Tigers took a 14-0 lead at home and when they needed a big response after a Gorham score, senior quarterback Travis Edgerton directed a 90-plus yard drive for the clinching touchdown.

“I really believe that they’ve maintained a sound attitude and perseverance through losing the first two games,” said Biddeford Coach Steve Allosso. “A lot of teams would not rebound from that, and they rebounded. And that says a lot.”

Biddeford is a youthful bunch, even among its older players. Edgerton did not play football as a freshman or sophomore and was mostly at running back a year ago. He threw for 205 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions against Gorham while also gaining 87 yards on 10 carries. Kelly O’Guinn, a junior running back, ran for 105 yards on 24 carries and scored twice.

STOUT GARDINER DEFENSEThe only score the Gardiner defense gave up Saturday came after Nokomis returned an interception to the Tigers’ 1-yard line.

The Gardiner defense was all-around dominant, holding Nokomis to only 38 yards total as it powered the Tigers to a 14-8 victory in Week 3.

“We really pulled it out on the defensive side of things,” said Gardiner Coach Pat Munzing. “They were really stoic from the first snap of the game all the way through, just limiting what Nokomis was able to do offensively.”

Gardiner (2-1) took a 7-0 lead into halftime on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Asher Nagy to Henry Gingras in the first quarter. The Warriors went up 8-7 early in the third on a 1-yard run by Seth Bowden after an interception.

The Tigers regained the lead on a 25-yard pass from Nagy to Chase Burgess with 3:11 left in the third quarter, and there was little Nokomis (1-2) could do after that. The Warriors failed to convert a single pass play (0 of 7) or third down (0 of 9) and managed only 2.4 yards per rush.

Gardiner’s defense also was the deciding factor an a 14-7 overtime win over Mt. Blue in Week 2. The Cougars were limited to 63 yards of offense in the first half.

“Our front has been playing really well and we’ve done a good job behind them in eliminating the big play,” Munzing said. “When we let our front guys like Kyle Doody (seven tackles, two tackles for loss against Nokomis) wreak havoc, and have those guys behind them step up, we’re pretty good.”

The Tigers will return to Class B North play Friday against Messalonskee (1-2) in Oakland. The Eagles, who are averaging 32 points per game, will be a challenge for the Gardiner defense.

“That will be a good test,” Munzing said. “It’s a big one, and it will be an important game in our league to see where things settle out.”

ANOTHER WILD KENNEBUNK-MARSHWOOD GAME

Of course Friday’s Marshwood at Kennebunk game was a wild one. It’s what those teams do when they get together.

Kennebunk (3-0) beat Marshwood 37-35 in overtime. The Rams had the first crack in the extra session, and Austin West (17 carries, 89 yards) scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a 10-yard first-down run. Then Marshwood jumped offside as Kennebunk successfully kicked the extra point.

“I felt with the ball now at the 1, we had a better shot to get two points than to try to kick it again. They were really coming off the edge,” said Kennebunk second-year coach Keith Noel.

Brady Stone (23 carries, 167 yards) scored his third 2-point conversion run of the game. He also ran for a touchdown.

The Hawks (1-2) scored a touchdown in their overtime possession but their 2-point attempt was stopped just short.

Last year Marshwood lost 41-40 at Kennebunk when a 2-point try for the win was stopped short of the end zone. Kennebunk had led 41-19.

In 2021, Kennebunk won a regular-season meeting by scoring 21 points in the final 4:55 – after Marshwood scored 28 straight points. The Hawks came back to beat top-seeded Kennebunk in the playoffs before claiming their sixth Class B title in seven seasons.

In 2018 – Noel’s first season on the Kennebunk staff – the teams’ two meetings were decided by a total of two points. Kennebunk won 17-14 on a last-second field goal; Marshwood won in the regional final 14-13, the difference being a blocked extra point.

“What it comes down to is they know what we’re going to do, we know what they’re going to do,” Noel said. “We play them every year, often twice a year. There’s so much familiarity between the programs so you end up having a pretty tight battle.”

PHOENIX ENJOY TRIP NORTH

Spruce Mountain made a 285-mile round-trip to Fort Kent to face St. John Valley in an 8-man Small School game on Saturday, when the Phoenix defeated the Mustangs, 66-6.
Spruce Mountain first-year coach Devin Roberts said the long journey was a positive experience for the players and coaching staff.

“We left Friday about 2.30 p.m., had a couple of pit stops on the way, but made it up there around 8:30 that night,” Roberts said. “Valley was very welcoming. They all kind of waited at the gym for us, and they had pizza waiting for us. We kind of conversed with their players. They were very nice people. They welcomed us with open arms and were excited that we were there.”

Spruce Mountain stayed at Nowland Hall at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Roberts said the Phoenix treated the time Saturday prior to the 3 p.m. kickoff as if they were a college football team.

“Then the next day, we kind of treated it almost like a college game day,” Roberts said. “We did team video … We had a team meeting and we did our pregame. Then we were ready to go to the game. It was a pretty awesome experience for the kids and the staff to do something like that. Not many teams get to travel six hours and play a game and put all that together like we did.”

Spruce Mountain’s Austin Armandi ran the ball three times for 61 yards and a touchdown. He also had a 53-yard kickoff return and a 60-yard interception return. Owen Kelvey caught five passes for 40 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Dylan Jewett completed 10 of 15 passes for 118 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for a score.

Roberts said some of the Spruce Mountain players weren’t excited about the trip when the schedule came out, but their tunes changed the closer it got.

“I don’t think at first they realized how close we were going to be to Canada,” Roberts said. “And then as we left and got up there, I mean, none of them might ever have a chance to get up there ever again in their life. So they were pretty stoked once we got going, once we got up there.”

The Phoenix returned to Jay on Saturday after the game.

Sun Journal reporter Haley Jones and Times Record reporter Cooper Sullivan contributed to this report.

Copy the Story Link