A Short Tour of Class C

The story of the football season thus far has been Class C.

With the move to a state-wide, region-free class and the addition of several quality programs, Class C is deep and loaded with good teams. So this weekend (kind of by accident), I hit 3 games with playoff implications.

First up: Wells at Greely. These are two new programs to the region and both defending champions. Greely won the 8-man Large School title and Wells won D. They entered the game 6th and 7th in the Power Rankings, making it the Game of the Week.

Greely controlled things early, but Wells got a couple of breaks. First, a circus catch to keep a drive alive, then an interception on Greely's 8 yard line and Wells had a lead. Then at the end of the half, Greely's Ben Kyles fought through a DPI for an incredible catch to tie the game. You can see it at the end of this short summary of his day.

From there, it was all Greely. QB Luke Piper took over, throwing for 3 touchdowns, running for 2 more, and coming up with a clutch interception to shut the door on a late Wells drive.

Greely scored 27 unanswered to defeat Wells 35-14 and move to 6-0. After the game, I spoke to Greely coach Caleb King.

If you haven't yet, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. I'm trying to do more video (podcasts, clips, etc.) and if I can get to 1,000 subscribers, I can unlock YouTube monetization and that makes it a lot easier to justify going to, say, Cumberland on a Friday night.

Plus, it's free and it takes money away from one of the big tech companies that are ruining everything.

Saturday, I made the short trip to Medomak Valley to watch a rematch of the B South Regional Final between two 20-0 teams in Medomak and York.

Football season hasn't gone as well for these teams. York didn't score until week 3, but had shown signs of life against Foxcroft and finally broke through last week with a win over Brewer. Medomak had struggled in the last two weeks against Leavitt and Gardiner, failing to score more than 10 points in either game and had fallen to 11th in the Crabtree (10 get in).

The story of this one was Jaydiin Ruiz. The sophomore running back missed the first 3 games of the season with a hand injury that required stitches and this was the first game he's looked like his old self. He had 5 touchdowns on the ground and Medomak rolled to a 40-14 win to move to 3-3.

Speaking of Gardiner and Leavitt, I went directly to Turner for that matchup.

You know, sometimes a game starts badly and it's a fluke.

Sometimes it's an indicator that today isn't your day.

Leavitt came out hot and Gardiner couldn't get anything going early. Down 12-0, they needed the energy to shift.

Instead they got this.

I think the people who thought this was a fumble in real time was a very short list, they just all happened to have whistles. I assumed the play was over and almost stopped recording.

According to Mike Mandell, there were 19 penalties in this game and I would have taken the over.

Also, can I just say: BIG fan of the play clocks at Leavitt. I know there's a couple of other schools that have them and I love 'em.

Leavitt football dominates, hands Gardiner 1st loss

The Hornets outgain the Tigers 392-147 to earn a key win in the Class C race.

Centralmaine.comMike Mandell

Dominates is the right word. Leavitt was faster and stronger. If you didn't know otherwise, you'd think they were the unbeaten team.

We got JV minutes, which I was not expecting.

Sadly, Rob Kennedy's dream of Cony and Gardiner both being 7-0 when they play is no more. Pour one out.

This Class C tournament is going to be very, very interesting.

After the game, I spoke with Michael Hathaway.

Elsewhere

Colton Jewett's 96 yard TD set the stage for Cheverus' win over Biddeford...Cole Tanner's 2 rushing TDs helped Westbrook knock off Kennebunk...Colin Morn threw 3 touchdown passes and broke a 70-yarder for his 4th as Bonny Eagle blew out Portland...Andrew Thomas accounted for 4 TDs and Freeport shut out Maranacook...Garrett Leclerc had 3 rushing TDs as Lawrence surprised Fryeburg...Tatum Doucette ran for 2 scores and thew another in Messo's win over Mt. Blue...Cam Pulkkinen returned the opening kick for 85 yards and Oxford Hills never looked back against Lewiston...SoPo got a safety on a bad snap in the end zone to open scoring in a 16-7 win over Deering...Connor Ayoob rushed for 4 TDs as Thornton Academy handled Massabesic.

There's a bonus episode of the podcast (presented by Vertical Raise). I spoke to Dexter Athletic Director Adam Gudroe.

If you're reading this newsletter, you already know about Dexter's campaign to win $1M from T-Mobile, but I wanted to get a sense of what's happening behind the scenes, how they got in this position, what other schools can do to put themselves in their position next year, and just how far a million dollars can go. And obviously I want to help spread the word however I can.

Vote for Dexter. Watch the podcast, log into another gmail account and vote again. Then give the podcast 5 stars, log into your burner gmail account and vote again. Then vote from your work email. Then create another email account and vote again.

But definitely watch the podcast.

Or listen to it on Spotify.

Bonny Eagle increased their lead in the football power rankings. I'm going to guess the Thornton Academy at Bonny Eagle matchup on the 24 is Game of the Day.

You can see where your team is ranked (too low, I'm sure) at the link.

You can also see how much disrespect your soccer and field hockey teams are getting.

Sister Jean went to meet the great Coach in the sky.

Sister Jean, beloved Loyola-Chicago chaplain, dies

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the longtime chaplain of the Loyola-Chicago men’s basketball team, died Thursday at the age of 106. ”[She] was an invaluable source of wisdom and grace for generations of students, faculty, and staff,” the school said.

ESPNDavid Purdum

We have a new American record in the marathon, courtesy of the guy who just won Beach to Beacon this summer in course record time.

A Beach to Beacon course record and the American marathon record in the same year? That's incredible.

Speaking of Beach to Beacon, our own Joan Benoit Samuelson remains the greatest to ever do it.

The Model's picks for today's games are after the jump.