Tiger Town

One of the early stories of the football season has been the consensus that Class C could get a little crazy. Maybe it's the one, state-wide region. Maybe it's the lack of a dominant team and the depth of the table. Maybe it's the addition of Class D powerhouses Wells and Foxcroft Academy. Maybe it's the combination of all those.

What very few people were counting on was Gardiner dropping down from Class B.

It's hard to blame them. The Tigers have gone 4-4 in each of the last 3 years, hardly something that grabs anyone's attention. But through 2 games, Gardiner had only given up 6 points in wins over Oceanside and Old Town, two teams that are a combined 0-6. So a matchup with Wells naturally caught my interest.

We didn't have to wait long. Wells scored on their first possession, a Brady Godin rushing TD, then Gardiner's Brayden Elliott took the kickoff to the house. Godin scored again to push the Wells lead to 12-6 at the half.

Godin added his third touchdown of the game in the 3rd quarter and it was starting to look like Wells might run away with it. In the 4th quarter, Justin Doody gave Gardiner their first points from the line of scrimmage to cut the lead to 20-12.

Then things got interesting.

That's Chase McGrane with the interception.

Then with Gardiner in the red zone, the Line Judge ejected the Chain Gang.

This had been brewing for a while and I know what you're thinking: they were arguing calls or generally misbehaving, but no. They just kept screwing up. There'd be a big play downfield with a flag and they'd move the chains before learning what the penalty was. They'd have the down wrong. It was kind of a mess. So late in the fourth quarter, the Line Judge hit his limit. He sent them home and an announcement went over the PA system looking for volunteers. Gotta say, that's a first for me.

After the delay, McGrane caught a touchdown pass and Gardiner tied the game on the 2-point conversion with about 3:30 to play. Wells had a chance to win it in regulation, but on 4th and 4 from the 20, Elijah Manning broke up the pass and the game went to overtime.

High school overtime is similar to college: teams trade possessions from the 10 yard line. Gardiner struck first with Owen Chadwick high-stepping in from the 6 and they converted the 2-point conversion. Wells answered with a 1 yard run from Mason Miles, but they needed the conversion to match.

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Gardiner moves to 3-0. Mike Mandell has the full story.

Gardiner football surges late, defeats Wells in overtime

The Tigers rally from a two-score deficit for their first 3-0 start since 2012.

Centralmaine.comMike Mandell

Not to be out-done, Greely withstood a Falmouth rally to win the Battle of Route 9 in overtime. Michael Hoffer was there on the cushy new Greely turf.

Greely outlasts Falmouth in OT in renewal of Battle of Route 9

CUMBERLAND—The Battle of Route 9 always delivers. Always. And let’s hope we never have to wait seven years between meetings again. Saturday evening at Glenn A. Hutchins Field, Greely, which won an eight-man state title a year before returning to 11-man play this season, hosted Falmouth, the reigning Class

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Greely is also 3-0, as is Hermon, in that crazy Class C.

On the site, I calculate Heal Points (and Crabtree) for football (and what Crabtree would be for soccer and field hockey).

We're starting to get a little bit of clarity here. Maybe.

And to complicate things further, the Model is still high on Wells. And Falmouth!

We'll dig deeper into the football slate this past weekend on the Overreactions podcast. If you missed last week's Jarod Richmond joined me and a couple of days later it was announced he won a Maine Association of Broadcasters award for his work doing color commentary for the Basketball State Championship game! Congrats!

Rankings are updated for Soccer and Field Hockey. Here's Boys Soccer:

Before you complain about Fort Fairfield at #1 in Boys Soccer, they're having a pretty good year.

Plus they've played 7 games (harvest schedule!) and are only 0.021 ahead of Camden, who has only played 4. They'll very likely fall as other teams catch up in the games played department.

Fall Sports Rankings

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL

Maine Basketball RankingsLucas McNelly

Nolan Ames went off at TAFT.

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Leah Frost broke the women's course record by nearly 18(!) minutes at the notoriously difficult Waldoboro Half Marathon.

The Waldoboro Half Marathon

The Waldoboro Half Marathon is on Saturday September 20, 2025.

The Waldoboro Half Marathon

Kelly Flagg was one of this year's inductees to the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Cooper Flagg and the ‘Flagg 5’ back in Maine for mom’s hall of fame induction

The whole Flagg family was there to celebrate as Kelly Flagg was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Bangor Daily NewsMatt Junker

And finally, spreads are up for all of today's games.

Spreads

But did you beat the spread?

Maine Basketball RankingsLucas McNelly