Greely's Double Score
The Rangers use a classic Bill Belichick tactic to get by Hermon
With a staggered start down south, I finally found an opportunity to catch Iggy McGrath and the Yarmouth offense in person.
The Yarmouth offense is as good and as potent as advertised. I was prepared for Iggy McGrath. I got a glimpse of his skills last year and the numbers this year are undeniable. What I wasn't prepared for was the shiftiness of running back Stephen Connolly, who can change direction as well as anyone I've seen in the state over the last couple of years. At a couple of points in the quarter and change I was there he stopped on a dime and made a defender (or three) look foolish, like on this play that put Yarmouth up 32-14 in the first minute of the second quarter.
Yeah. That's 46 combined points in twelve and a half minutes. I headed to Greely and Yarmouth kept scoring. They won 78-14. That's 5 games in a row scoring at least 60 points.
From Yarmouth I bounced over to Cumberland to catch the Game of the Day between Greely and Hermon.
Greely struck first, but Hermon was able to score on two short fields, thanks to a pair of interceptions (one of which was tipped at the line of scrimmage).
The second one gave the Hawks a 14-7 lead with a minute left in the first half.
But Greely QB Luke Piper put his early trouble behind him and marched the Rangers down the field to tie the game before halftime. Then marched down seconds into the second half to convert the Belichick double score and take the lead.
From there, the defense took over. Every time Hermon was able to mount something on offense, Greely's defense shut it down, including a pair of sacks by James Tyll on the final drive.
Greely's 28-14 win gave Hermon their first loss of the year and put the Rangers in control of the 2 seed in Class C.
After the game, I spoke to Luke Piper.
Michael Hoffer was there.
Michael Hoffer
But the big news of the night, as it has been all season, was in B South where Biddeford handed Marshwood their first loss of the year in convincing fashion, 37-14. The Hawks led 14-0 before Biddeford rolled off 37 unanswered points, highlighted by 2 long Estevao Lembissa touchdowns.
B South nearly got even wilder when Westbrook put a scare into Kennebunk. Bunk erased a deficit with 14 straight, but the champs had a chance to win with a late drive before the Kennebunk defense locked held their ground on 4th down to seal the win.
Kennebunk and Marshwood are now tied in the Crabtree.
Elsewhere
Colton Jewett scored two touchdowns as Cheverus kept their postseason hopes alive...Gavin Hughes accounted for 4 TDs as Bangor put Edward Little's postseason hopes on life support. They need to win out and hope Bangor loses out...Drew Lindquist tossed 5 TD passes and Anderson Noyes scored twice in his return from a broken fibula...Darryl Sutton scored twice as Fryeburg snuck by Mount Blue...Noble kept their playoff hopes alive with a win over SoPo. They'll need to win 2 more and get some help...Liam Joyce ran for a TD and hauled in a TD pass in GNG's win over Mt. Ararat...Austin Lancaster ran for 5 scores as Skowhegan blew out Messo...Brennan Tabor scored twice as TA rolled against Sanford, setting up next weekend's showdown with Bonny Eagle.
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Drew Bonifant interviewed me for a Varsity Maine story about Heal Points, a thing I've long been in favor of.
It's an interesting survey of coaches around the state and while most of them have the right perspective...
Brunswick girls basketball coach Sam Farrell likes that Heal points can give a team that would otherwise be out of the playoff race something to play for late in the season.
“I like being rewarded for big wins,” he said. “It keeps the kids motivated: ‘Hey, I know what our record is, but this game matters.’ You can shock the world, and now you get to play in the (Augusta) Civic Center.”
People will complain that a team with fewer wins vaulted another team in the standings, simply because they beat a team worth a lot of Heal Points, but that's more of a feature than a bug. Beating a 10-win team should be worth more than beating a 3-win team. That's a better indicator of how good you are.
But a couple of the coaches surveyed maybe don't have the firmest grasp on the situation?
Several soccer coaches said they’d like to see a more straightforward system of awarding three points for wins and one for ties, while Sullivan at Kennebunk said he’d like to see Heals eliminated in favor of an open tournament.
Those are both awful ideas.
The soccer system of 3 points for a win and one for a tie is functionally no different than just a simple W-L-T record. It just has a stronger weight for wins. That's all. It doesn't fix the fundamental issue that you can't have teams play every other team in their region, because of the size of the state. It's just easier to figure out, I guess? But it doesn't work.
An open tournament is an abysmal idea. It's been tried and it didn't work. We did it for COVID and it was bad. We did it prior to that and it was bad. There's no reason to go back to that. Ever.
If someone suggests an open tournament, you can safely ignore their opinion.
Drew BonifantStaff Writer
We've got 2 good Game of the Day options that both involve A North.
First, Portland will head to Paris to take on Oxford Hills for the 1 seed. The math here is pretty simple. Portland essentially locks up the 1 with a win. Oxford Hills takes control with a win, but they'll have more work to do.
In the other option, Windham can strengthen their hold on the 3 seed with a win over Falmouth. The Navigators are probably the 4 seed in B South, but a win over Windham would open up some more options to move up to the 3 seed. I don't think they can fall to 5.
The rest of the Model's picks for today's games are after the jump.