Second-half surge drives Orono past Winslow

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WINSLOW – Things looked downright rosy for the Winslow Black Raiders in the first half of Saturday afternoon’s football showdown with unbeaten Orono.

Winslow handcuffed Orono’s vaunted rushing attack as the Riots managed just 10 yards on 16 carries. The Raiders also penetrated deep inside Red Riots’ territory three times and knocked Riots leading rusher Kyle Bishop out of the game after re-aggravating a left ankle sprain.

Then came the second half.

The Red Riots stepped up their defensive pressure, cranked up their passing game, and proved to be ungracious guests as they overwhelmed the Raiders 28-7 at Gerry Poulin Memorial Field.

The win clinches the LTC Class B regular season title for 8-0 Orono with a week left to play and means the Red Riots will stay at home for both league playoff games. At 6-2, Winslow will finish third.

Senior quarterback Robey Rhoads rallied the Riots, accounting for three touchdowns – two passing and one rushing. Rhoads (seven completions, 146 yards) helped pry open Winslow’s stubborn run defense and allow the patented Riots ground game to get untracked and rack up 134 rushing yards in the second half.

“They were playing a 7-1 or 6-2 defense, making us throw the ball. We tried to get the ground game going but couldn’t, so coach decided to go to the air and it worked. They had to switch back to a 6-3 and it opened up our running game,” said Rhoads, who also ran for 60 yards of his own.

Michael Pare, who moved from tight end to halfback, made the most of his starring offensive role by rushing 21 times for a game-high 83 yards.

Orono’s second-half resurgence wasn’t the only key factor as Winslow committed five turnovers – two of which ended deep drives in the first half. Orono committed just one.

But it was Orono’s withering defensive pressure that caused most of those turnovers. The Riots sacked Ruben Lemelin five times, intercepted him three times, and held the talented option runner to minus 26 yards on 16 carries and 41 total passing yards.

“Ruben had to run for his life a few times,” said Winslow coach Mike Siviski.

“Our defensive line was getting through the gaps, penetrating and just causing havoc in their backfield,” said Rhoads.

One of the chief havoc-wreakers, J.P. Soucy, moved from his customary linebacker spot to defensive end when Bishop went out. The sophomore defender had a sack and made the hit that caused a back-breaking Winslow fumble on a fourth quarter kickoff return.

Both teams battled to a 7-7 halftime score and it looked like more of the same early in the third quarter as each team forced the other to punt on four of the first five possessions.

The fourth changed the momentum as the Riots forced a Winslow punt from Winslow’s 9-yard line. Orono took over at Winslow’s 44 and, three plays later, Rhoads found Jeremy Poulin (five receptions, 99 yards) down the Orono sideline for a 44-yard touchdown pass with 3:53 left in the third.

Orono bottled Winslow up again the next series, the Raiders punted from their own 5, and Poulin made it 21-7 on a 1-yard TD run that capped an eight-play drive.

Ten seconds later, Orono had the ball back. Soucy jarred it loose on the kickoff return and Brad Nadeau fell on it at Winslow’s 39.

Rhoads hit R.J. Myers for a 36-yard completion and it was lights out for Winslow two plays later as Rhoads scored on a 3-yard run with 10:41 left to play.

“A tale of two halves. When they got good field position in the second half, they did something with it. We had good field position in the first and they stopped us,” Siviski said.

Red Riots 28, Black Raiders 7

Orono (8-0) 0 7 7 14 – 28

Winslow (6-2) 0 7 0 0 – 7

W – Fernald 20 pass from Lemelin (Karter kick)

O – Poulin 14 pass from Rhoads (Munn kick)

O – Poulin 44 pass from Rhoads (Munn kick)

O – Poulin 1 run (Munn kick)

O – Rhoads 3 run (Munn kick)

Orono Winslow

First downs 11 11 Rushing att. – yds 40-144 43-101 Passing cmp. – att. 7-19 3-11 Yards passing 146 41 Total yards 290 152 Intercepted by 0 3 Punts – avg. 6-30.0 6-31.8 Fumbles – lost 2-1 4-2 Penalties – yds 4-40 3-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Orono: Mi. Pare 21-83, Rhoads 6-60, Poulin 8-9, Bishop 1-2, Furbish 3-(-2), Ma. Pare 1-(-8); Winslow: Cheeseman 7-45, Loubier 10-45, Boucher 10-37, Lemelin 16-(-26)

PASSING – Orono: Rhoads 7-19-0-146; Winslow: Lemelin 3-11-3-41

RECEIVING – Orono: Poulin 5-99, Myers 1-36, Furbish 1-11; Winslow: Fernald 1-20, Couture 1-11, Cheeseman 1-10

Dexter 26, Rockland 6

At Rockland, Josh Annis carried the ball 13 times for 100 yards, scored two touchdowns, and made seven tackles and an interception on defense to lead Dexter to its first win.

Annis posted TD runs of 28 and 16 yards, while Brock Kimball connected on a 16-yard pass to Nick Thibodeau and scampered 21 yards for another TD.

Derek Breton pitched in with 15 tackles and Jim Hartford added 10 stops for the winners.

Dexter (1-7) 8 0 18 0 – 26 Rockland (0-8) 6 0 0 0 – 6

D – Thibodeau 16 pass from Kimball (Kimball rush)

R – Williams 22 run (pass failed)

D – Annis 28 run (kick failed)

D – Kimball 21 run (kick failed)

D – Annis 16 run (kick failed)