Football and Fútbol

With their playoff chances on life support, Tristan Miniutti rushed for three touchdowns and Noble made short work of Scarborough on the lone Thursday night football game this week.

The win moves Noble's playoff odds from roughly 1-in-4 to 1-in-3.

And then we have to cross the border.

Take it away, Andrew Hart:

If South Portland beats Portland the Red Riots finish in fourth and there is nothing Noble can do. If South Portland loses to Portland and if Noble loses to Scarborough the Red Riots finish in fourth and there is nothing Noble can do. If South Portland loses to Portland and if Noble defeats Scarborough it opens up 5 specific scenarios with 4 of them dictated by how Dover does against Manchester Memorial and how Winnacunnet does against Nashua South.

Ok, so if Noble's parlay is still alive, it comes down to a couple of paths. Of those 5 paths, 3 are good for Noble and 2 are good for SoPo, so the playoff calculator's 58% makes sense.

It's a little insane that New Hampshire games can swing a playoff spot in Maine. I know I always talk about how that's a perk in Heal Points, but when a C North game swings seeding in B South, those are all Maine games with equal weight. But New Hampshire doesn't even count the games about Maine teams. They view us as a scrimmage and we don't.

It's real Don Draper "I don't think about you at all" energy, but New Hampshire is Don Draper and Maine is Ginsberg. There's no scenario where New Hampshire is cooler than us and definitely not that much cooler than us. Worst-case scenario we're Roger Sterling and the martini glasses are full of Allen's.

But why are we giving them that much power over us? It's New Hampshire. Come on.

I've been trying to do Game of the Day graphics this week and I was a little surprised when Scarborough and Cheverus volleyball came out as the choice Wednesday over Gorham/TA and even more surprised when I saw Scarborough had moved up to #1 in the Power Rankings. I knew there'd be an opening with TA's struggles down the stretch, but the 4th seeded Scarborough? That couldn't be right.

Right?

Not only didn't they win, but they dominated the top-seeded Stags (25-21, 25-20, 25-12) to advance to the Class A title game against Gorham.

Scarborough sweeps Cheverus, punches state final ticket

SANFORD—It's taken all season for Scarborough's volleyball team to live up to preseason billing. And now, the Red Storm are one win away from being the last team standing in the postseason. Wednesday afternoon, in a Class A state semifinal at Sanford High School, fourth-ranked Scarborough

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

In soccer, Orono scored one of the fastest goals you'll ever see.

This week in the Thursday podcast, Lawrence coach Pete Curtis joins the show to talk about his unbeaten Bulldogs prior to the start of his first playoffs as the man in charge. Curtis is a Lawrence lifer and talked about taking over a contender, the value of being a line coach prior to a head coach, Lawrence's running game, the play of his defense, and unpredictable B playoffs, and more!

Yikes.

The Midcoast Villager is doing a movie club with none other the Rockport resident (and Usual Suspect) Gabriel Byrne. The first selection is John Ford's The Searchers and in the time it's taken me to put it in the newsletter, it seems to have sold out, which isn't a huge surprise considering the trifecta of the film, host, and venue, but that doesn't mean you can't put it on your radar for future installments.

In honor of the Brewers winning their first ever World Series, here's the trailer for a new documentary about the legendary Bob Uecker.

It's doing a limited theatrical run before it lands on a streamer.

Ueck (2026)

Milwaukee legend, Bob Uecker, the former Major League baseball player, Hall of Fame sportscaster, comedian, and actor has seen it all and made us laugh along the way. Though UECK passed away in January 2025, this documentary from Milwaukee-based filmmakers Michael T. Vollmann and Steve Farr persists as a testament to his legacy, giving audiences intimate access to his life, work, family, and friends, amplifying his humor and heart for future generations.

Letterboxd

RIP to a legend.

There's some really fun Game of the Day choices. There's Leavitt/Foxcroft, where we'll get a better handle on just how good Foxcroft might be. They've put up good numbers, but they've done it against the easiest schedule in Class C, so we just don't know. They lost to Hermon opening night and they've run the table since then, but they haven't played a team in the top 35 over that span, which is hard to do in Class C.

We've got some quarterfinal playoff games in B and D, including the start of the B South tournament where literally anything could happen.

And we've got the Portland/South Portland rivalry game where SoPo is playing for their lives.

But let's go to a boys soccer semifinal, where Thornton Academy is hosting South Portland (busy day for SoPo).

Have you checked out the new brackets yet?

Sure, it's a 1/4 semifinal, but SoPo and TA are the two highest scoring teams in A South, have the 2 best point differentials, and are doing it against two of the hardest schedules in the state. The Riots have played the hardest schedule in all the land and haven't lost in 10 games. TA has only 1 loss on the year (Portland) and beat SoPo back in mid-September.

This should come down to the wire.

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