Let's Start the Fall Quarterfinals

First let's start with the Game of the Day and the Catch of the Year. One of those panned out.

We've all had Bonny Eagle and Thornton Academy circled on our calendars all year and when they both blitzed through their schedules at 7-0, it seemed like we were in for a great game.

We were not.

With the score tied at 14 after the first quarter, Thornton Academy scored 35 unanswered to remove all doubt as to who's the best team in the state and they did it in style with a Catch of the Year candidate from Logan LeBlanc that made it on SportsCenter.

These two teams will likely meet again in the A South Regional Final, unless someone can pull an upset.

Michael Hoffer was there.

TA erupts to frustrate Bonny Eagle again, take step closer to top seed

SACO—Logan LeBlanc put on a show and he and his Thornton Academy teammates made a powerful statement Saturday afternoon on Kezal Field at Hill Stadium. A statement victory which left rival Bonny Eagle staggered. A victory which made it clear yet again that the road to the Gold Ball

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Elsewhere

Rosco Hampton accounted for 4 TDs in Cape's win over Houlton...Wyatt Hebert threw 2 touchdown passes as York kept their season alive...Stephone Ross rushed for 149 yards and a score as Nokomis upset Wells to keep their season alive...Tyler Pelletier had 12 saves and stopped a penalty kick to seal Biddeford's upset of Westbrook...Ava Bolden's overtime goal gave Westbrook a win over Marshwood...Vivian Hart had a hat trick as Skowhegan coasted by Lawrence.

That'll set the playoff fields for B, D, and 8-Man. Classes A and C still have a week left in their regular season.

This week on the overreactions podcast series, Varsity Maine's Dave Dyer joins me to talk about his expertise on concession stands around the state and, specifically, what goes into a great menu (hint: condiments and fair food).

Then we did the usual tour around the state, overreacting to the week's games. We talk TA/Bonny, the weekly chaos of B South and is maybe Cheverus about to make a run?, the final week of Class C, Winslow and Freeport in D, Belfast's case for making the playoffs, whether or not Stearns and OOB are in a collision course, and more.

Plus, we said just enough about the fire alarm drama to anger someone on Facebook. And if no one gets angry, is it really a successful overreactions podcast?

We kick off the quarterfinals for soccer and field hockey today.

The quarterfinals will play over the next 2 days and you can check out the matchup data on the new and improved brackets page. This is synced with the Scoreboard on the site. As each of these finals get entered into the scoreboard, the brackets will update instantly and generate the matchup data for the next round, because I know you're going to want to see the semifinal data after you win today.

It looks like Cooper's shoulder injury is ok.

Cooper had an insane stat line of 29 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocked shots in a game we didn't know if he'd be active for in the morning.

He's averaging 25 points a game through the first 3 games of the season and he missed like half of one of those games.

Any true hooper knows one of the major reasons to get a job with access and influence is the increased ability to play ball wherever you want. And there aren't many jobs with more access to great courts than the Mayor of New York. This should transcend politics, but nothing transcends politics anymore.

Well Politico has an "expose" about Mamdani showing up at the NYPD Academy to play basketball after hours.

And boy are people upset over very, very little.

On Thursday, according to those two people, academy staff was preparing the gym for a health and wellness event the next morning that meant setting up 1,000 chairs when the mayor’s security team called to say Mamdani and his friends were coming.

Not the chairs!

What's entertaining to me about the article is how many of the sources clearly have an axe to grind and are grasping at anything.

Let the Mayor hoop!

Let's go to B North field hockey where Old Town is hosting Belfast in a 4/5 matchup. It's an interesting region where Nokomis and Leavitt went 13-1, there's a mess of teams with 10 wins and then a big gap before #7 Hermon.

6 10-win teams in a 14 game season is a lot and the Gold Ball Odds reflect that with 2 co-favorites and 4 teams that could play spoiler.

Remember this will get updated as scores go final.

In the middle of that is Belfast and Old Town in the 4/5 game. Belfast started 7-0, including a win over Old Town, but faltered down the stretch, losing 3 of their final 5 (and one of those was a forfeit). As for Old Town, they started 2-2 before finishing 8-2, with both of those losses coming to an undefeated Foxcroft Academy.

The Model thinks Belfast is under-seeded. It has them as the 3rd best team in B North and Old Town as the 5th. They'd be favored on a neutral field, but Old Town is the slight favorite as the host.

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