The first time the Skowhegan Area High School football team played Brewer, the Indians slowed down the Witches’ strong running game.
Now, in the Pine Tree Conference Class B semifinals, Skowhegan has to stop the Witches again.
“They have been playing extremely well in all three facets right now,” Skowhegan coach Matt Friedman said of the Witches. “They are extremely confident, having beaten Brunswick and handling Lawrence last week.”
The winner of the game between No. 3 Brewer (8-1) and No. 2 Skowhegan (7-1) will face the winner of No. 4 Mt. Blue (6-3) vs. No. 1 Brunswick (7-1) next week for the PTC B championship.
In other playoff contests featuring central Maine teams this weekend, No. 2 Winslow (8-0) hosts No. 3 Mt. Desert Island (7-2) in the Big Ten Conference semifinals. In the Little Ten Conference, No. 4 Orono (5-4) plays at No. 1 Maine Central Institute, while No. 3 Mount View (7-2) plays at Mattanawcook Academy (6-2) of Lincoln.
Skowhegan’s defense will be challenged by the Brewer backfield of tailback Dylan Severance, fullback Ray Wood and quarterback Logan Rogerson. The trio combined for 1,899 yards and 27 touchdowns in the regular season, and Severance ran for 188 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s 35-8 quarterfinal win over Lawrence.
“Severance, Wood and Rogerson are all very tough to contain. Add in their play action passing game and it is a very tough offense to slow down,” Friedman said. “We will have to execute on offense and cut down on the penalties that kill drives. Defensively, we must slow down their power run game and contain Rogerson.”
For Brewer, the challenge is slowing down Skowhegan’s strong passing attack. Garrett McSweeney threw three touchdown passes in the Indians’ 21-14 win over the Witches on Sept. 25. On the season McSweeney has 22 touchdowns to just one interception. Brewer’s Austin Lufkin leads the league with 10 sacks.
Mt. Blue and Brunswick played just three weeks ago, with the Dragons taking a 27-16 win.
“They’re good. There’s no doubt about it. They’re good up front. They have a good back, they have a good quarterback. They’re a very complete team, offensively and defensively,” Mt. Blue coach Jim Aylward said of Brunswick. “Their offense puts up an awful lot of points, and people kind of overlook how good they are defensively.”
Brunswick’s offense starts with running back Will Bessey, who ran for 1,301 yards and 15 touchdowns in the regular season — including 213 yards and a score against the Cougars. Quarterback Thomas Hanson’s improvement gives the Dragons a passing element they didn’t have last season. Hanson has nine touchdown passes.
Mt. Blue advanced with a 35-34 come-from-behind win over Cony last week. Nate Pratt-Holt caught the game-winning touchdown pass from Ryan Pratt in the final minute, and also ran for a score. Christian Whitney leads Mt. Blue’s running game with 793 yards rushing. The key for the Cougars, Aylward said, is eliminating the mistakes made in the first meeting.
“No. 1, we have to get off blocks. No. 2, we have to make sure that we’re in sound fundamental alignments, defensively. A couple times they formationed us. Offensively, we can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Aylward said. “We threw an interception that they returned down to the goal line. We had untimely penalties. We have to play real good football offensively to trade blows with them. We think we can do it. We’ve watched film, and Brunswick’s terrific, but we think we have as good a chance as anyone in beating them.”
A win over Mt. Desert Island puts Winslow in the conference championship game for the fourth consecutive season. The Black Raiders rolled through the regular season, with their closest game coming against MDI, a 35-20 win. When these teams played in Bar Harbor in September they were tied 14-14 at the half.
In the regular season, the Black Raiders led the state — regardless of class — in points scored (406) and points allowed (27). In MDI, Winslow faces a team that has the potential to run long, time-consuming drives and keep the score low by keeping the Black Raiders’ offense off the field. Tanner Bickford leads the Trojans with 1,042 rushing yards, while Croix Albee has 613. Mt. Desert Island cruised to a 48-14 win over Oceanside in the quarterfinals last week.
“Bickford is a real good one. Albee is a real power back. They’re formidable. We hope that we’re hungry,” Winslow coach Mike Siviski said.
The Black Raiders deep offense is led by quarterback Jake Trask, running backs Nate St. Amand, Kenny Rickard and Trenton Bouchard and receiver Dylan Hutchinson. Defensively, the Black Raiders are led up front by Nate Beckwith and linebackers Alec Clark and Patrick Hopkins.
MCI beat Orono 67-0 in week two of the season, but coach Tom Bertrand cautioned against taking the Red Riots lightly. Fullback Keenan Collette leads Orono’s ground game, while quarterback Jackson Coutts is a threat too.
“Collette is a good back and Coutts can beat you with his feet or in the air,” Bertrand said. “We have to be physical with them, for sure.”
The Huskies have a number of offensive weapons, including running backs Alex Bertrand and Willie Moss, quarterback Greg Vigue and receivers Braden Monteyro and Brandon McKenna. Defensively, the Huskies are led up the middle by Curtis McLeod at nose guard, Bertrand at linebacker and Alex Jones at safety.
Mount View won at Mattanawcook three weeks ago, but due to the Lynx slightly better strength of schedule the rematch is in Lincoln. Mount View earned the first playoff win in school history last week by beating Houlton. The Mustangs are paced by Tyler Ripley, who is among the Little Ten Conference rushing leaders with 1,345 yards and 23 touchdowns. Defensively, Ethan Sewell-Berry has 109 tackles and three fumble recoveries for the Mustangs.
Quarterback Carter Ward has 13 touchdown passes for Mattanawcook. Scott Jipson leads the Lynx with 1,078 yards rushing.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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