CAPE ELIZABETH – At 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, Mountain Valley’s Travis Fergola may not look like much of a tight-rope walker, but he looked every bit the part in the second half of Saturday’s matinee against Cape Elizabeth.
Fergola intercepted a Mike Kertes pass with eight minutes to play in the third quarter and barreled 30 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown, at times carrying two Cape Elizabeth players with him. That score put the Falcons ahead 20-9 and turned the tide in a close game, leading Mountain Valley to a 36-23 win in the regular-season finale.
“Coach wanted me to QB spy,” said Fergola. “I saw him roll out that way, and I just followed him, and luckily he threw it right to me. I was inches away from going out of bounds.”
“It was a huge motivator,” senior tailback Aaron Arsenault said of Fergola’s pick. “It got the team going. It got the wheels rolling.”
Arsenault finished Saturday with 153 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries, most of which came in the second half.
“We were hurting in the first half for sure,” said Arsenault. “We put the ball on the ground a couple times, and we were totally unprepared when we came out. It was good that we played a good team this week to get us ready for next week.”
Cape Elizabeth, meanwhile, finished its first season in Class B at 5-4.
“We really feel like we’re a playoff team,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Aaron Filieo. “We really feel that way, but the system doesn’t favor us. We didn’t want it to end today.”
The Capers held a 9-8 lead after the first half, thanks to a safety when Mountain Valley snapped the ball out of the end zone and a Vinnie Moulton 31-yard scoring run. The Falcons’ lone touchdown came in the first quarter on a 25-yard Arsenault scamper on first down.
“I thought Cape played a great game,” said Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward. “Their down tackles handled our offensive line in the first half, and we just had to get down and dirty and play some nasty football like Cape was, which was you get off the ball, and you cut people at the line of scrimmage.”
In the second half, Mountain Valley righted the ship. Quarterback Andy Shorey snuck in from a yard out two minutes in to cap a seven-play, 73-yard drive that put the Falcons ahead for good, and Fergola followed with his interception.
Cape responded quickly behind Kertes, who launched an 80-yard pass to Ben Weimont down the right sideline. Later, after another Mountain Valley score, Kertes set up another Cape touchdown with a 17-yard run to the 1-yard line.
“I tell you what,” said Aylward. “That quarterback for Cape, he’s a great player. One time, when he took off for his run (in the fourth quarter to set up Cape’s final touchdown), our coach upstairs in the booth asked where the outside linebacker was, and I said coach, this Kertes kid’s just faster. He outran us. Sometimes, you have to admit that, too.”
Kertes finished 8-for-17 for 152 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.
The win was the Falcons’ ninth of the season and 20th consecutive victory since dropping their season-opener last year to York.
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