LTC Playoffs

WINSLOW – The majority of Winslow’s football players wore tired and somewhat somber expressions as they trudged off Poulin Field here Saturday afternoon.

Their mood did not seem to reflect that of a team which had just won a playoff game. The top-seeded Black Raiders had been taken to the limit, and held on.

The Winslow defense broke up a conversion pass in overtime, ending a thrilling comeback attempt by Foxcroft Academy and preserving a nail-biting 21-20 victory.

Coach Mike Siviski’s Raiders take an unblemished 10-0 record into Saturday’s LTC “B” title game against Orono in Winslow.

The resilient Ponies of Coach Paul Withee finished up at 6-4.

The Raiders knew they were fortunate to come out with a win.

“It went right down to the wire,” said Winslow’s Brad Vigue. “I don’t know if we were lucky or what. It was fun, though.”

The fun reached its peak in overtime, during which each team gets four plays to score from the 10-yard line and play continues until one team leads after the alternating possessions.

The Ponies won the toss and elected to play defense first. It took Winslow four plays to score, with Vigue slamming in from a yard out. Ian Poulin kicked the third of three PATs to make it 21-14.

Foxcroft scored on its second play in overtime when fullback Mike Smith, surrounded by defenders Brian Gilbert and Chris Gilbert, made a superb, leaping catch in the end zone on a pass from tailback Mike Hardy.

The Ponies, down 21-20, went for the win. Foxcroft faked confusion out of the kicking set as holder Aaron DeWitt ran toward the sideline yelling that he didn’t have the tee.

Meanwhile, the ball was snapped to Smith, the kicker, whose pass to DeWitt was broken up by Chris Gilbert and Nathan Poulin on a bang-bang play at the 2-yard line.

“No doubt about it, I wanted to go for it,” Withee said.

“I’m just glad we stuck in and won it,” said Winslow’s Doug Peters. “The season was on the line and nobody wanted to lose.”

Foxcroft made a valiant second-half charge, wiping out a 14-0 deficit in a span of 9 1/2 minutes.

The Ponies caught a break with 1:21 left in the third quarter when Mike Hardy recovered Dan Ferrigan’s muffed punt return at the W-47. Deron Smith completed a clutch, 39-yard pass to Hardy on third down to help set up his 10-yard scoring toss to Mike Smith with 11:17 to play.

Mike Smith’s PAT kick fell short. Winslow led 14-6.

Foxcroft forced Winslow to punt, then mounted another scoring march. On the sixth play of the drive, Deron Smith hit Hardy behind the Raiders secondary for a 51-yard TD pass.

Hardy tied it at 14-14 with 6:34 left when his determined lunge on the conversion rush got the ball across the goal line just inside the orange corner marker.

Foxcroft sent the game into overtime with a brilliant goal-line stand. Winslow drove from its own 26 inside the FA 1-yard line. On fourth-and-goal, Mike Smith and Co. stuffed Raiders quarterback Marc Hachey on a QB sneak.

“I’m real proud of the kids,” Withee said. “They were reathere. They listened to the game plan and just executed the things that we wanted to do.”

Winslow had taken a 7-0 lead at 8:41 of the second quarter after Peters blocked a Jamie Bray punt, giving the Raiders the ball at the FA-10. Vigue scored from six yards out two plays later.

The Raiders scored again late in the third, going 32 yards on six plays after an FA punt. Hachey’s 41-yard pass to Peters highlighted the drive.

Vigue scored two plays later on a 2-yard dive Poulin’s kick made it 14-0 with 4:06 left in the third.

Brian Gilbert’s 14 tackles paced Winslow, while Peters made 12 and Nathan Poulin 10. Mike Smith had 18 tackles for the Ponies, Bryan Grant and John Rand 10 each.

Foxcroft’s Hardy rushed for 67 yards, going over 1,000 for the season. He also made two interceptions and recovered a fumble.

Raiders 21, Ponies 20 (OT)

Winslow 0 7 7 0 7 -21

Foxcroft Acad. 0 0 6 8 6 -20

WIN – Vigue 6 run (I. Poulin kick)

WIN – Vigue 2 run (I. Poulin kick)

FA – M. Smith 10 pass from D. Smith (kick failed)

FA – Hardy 51 pass from D. Smith (Hardy rush)

WIN – Vigue 1 run (I. Poulin kick)

FA – M. Smith 10 pass from Hardy (pass failed)

Winslow Foxcroft Acad. First downs 11 13 Rushing: att. – yards 43-160 41-133 Passing: att. – comp. 10-5 18-7 Yards passing 118 152 Total yards 278 285 Intercepted by 0 2 Punts – average 3-35.7 6-23.3 Fumbles – lost 3-1 2-0 Penalties – yards 7-55 10-113

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Winslow: Vigue 21-97, Wentworth 6-28, Houston 5-28, Hachey 6-18, Haskell 1-4, Bourget 3-(-2), Ferrigan 1-(-13); Foxcroft: M. Smith 16-83, Hardy 19-67, Bray 1-1, D. Smith 5-(-18)

PASSING – Winslow: Hachey 5-9-2-118, Houston 0-1-0-0; Foxcroft: D. Smith 6-17-0-152; Bray 1-1-0-29

RECEIVING – Winslow: D. Peters 3-98, A. Peters 1-15, N. Poulin 1-5; Foxcroft: Hardy 5-131, M. Smith 2-21