Week 2!
Another great slate of games on the schedule
Week 1 is always full of surprises, so much so that it's become a cliche.
Usually it comes in the form of a big upset or a blowout in what was supposed to be a close game--and we had our share of those. Kennebunk beat Falmouth. Cony blew out Messo behind a big game from Parker Morin. Bonny Eagle blew out SoPo. Winslow had to insert a freshman Michael Loubier in the starting lineup and he ran all over Maranacook to the tune of 4 TDs.
And sometimes you show up at the game and the star running back is in street clothes because he hurt his hand the night before. That's what happened on Saturday when I got to Medomak Valley and saw Jaydiin Ruiz with a large bandage on his hand (he'll reportedly be back in a couple weeks). Old Town QB Ethan Closson then proceeded to take the first play of the game to the house and it looked like an upset might be brewing. And then Shamus Pease took over. He rushed for 3 TDs and 217 yards and had a long TD run called back because of a penalty and Medomak Valley held off an Old Town rally to move to 1-0
Next man up.
The podcast is back this week with "Week 1 Overreactions". I did this last year and it was a lot of fun. The premise is simple: each week I invite a media person from around the state to wildly overreact to the events of the weekend. Feelings will be hurt. Quotes will go up on locker room walls. But it's all in good fun.
For week 1, Mike Mandell of CentralMaine.com and Varsity Maine joined me to talk about Morin's big game for Cony, the boys basketball team he expects to have one of their best seasons in years, Leavitt's return to contender status, a wide-open Class C, and a whole lot more.
Make sure you subscribe for more interviews like this. I'm trying to grow the YouTube channel and get it to 1,000 subscribers and monetization, so subscribe and help me get some of Google's money. You should also subscribe to as many school channels as possible for the very same reason and so they'll be encouraged to stream more games.
Looking forward to Week 2, Mike has a great preview of this weekend's action.
Mike Mandell
And Matt Junker of the BDN has a look at some of the better matchups further north.
Matt Junker
Got a game you're really hyped about? Put it in the comments.
Some big coaching news this week as Greely's Travis Seaver has stepped down after 13 seasons and 3 Gold Balls.
Steve Craig
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Kawhi and Dennis
If you thought the Kawhi Leonard cap circumvention story couldn't get any crazier, you were wrong.
Yesterday, Pablo Torre dropped an update on his eponymous podcast "Pablo Torre Finds Out" that all but gave the NBA the smoking gun they're looking for. It's worth listening to the entire thing, but in short, Kawhi Leonard's payment was late and Aspiration was unable to even pay their employees when the Clippers' minority owner (and Steve Ballmer's college roommate) invested just enough to cover the late payment.
Problem solved!
In 2022 Kawhi Leonard played in 26% of games due to “right knee stiffness” before the reported $1.75M delayed payment was made by Aspiration
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) September 11, 2025
The day after it was deposited, Leonard went on to play 82% of the Clippers total games to close out the season
(Via @APH00PS) pic.twitter.com/2ENcnLrPyr
Game of the Week
The consensus around the state is that the Game of the Weekend is Greely/Leavitt. Varsity Maine has it, as does Michael Hoffer.
Michael Hoffer
But the Model likes something else.
Last year, Camden rallied down 24 points to beat Mt. Ararat in the regular season. But Mt. Ararat got their revenge in the playoffs, dominating the Windjammers to earn a trip to the State Game, where they lost to Greely. But Greely has gone back to 11-man, leaving a void at the top.
Could this be a preview of the state championship? The Model thinks this could be a good one.
Mt. Ararat +2.5
New this year I've moved all the spreads to their own page, mostly so they're all in one place when I inevitably start looking for them in the middle of the second quarter. But it also solves the problem of the Fall Sports newsletter only publishing 1-2 times a week.
Lucas McNelly
The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.