Stearns garners first win of season Minutemen start slow, but stop Riots

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ORONO – After starting the season with three straight losses – and opening each of those games by giving up a big play in the first quarter – the Stearns football team was determined not to let it happen anymore. And in the process the Minutemen were hoping to earn their first win of the fall.

But the nightmare start happened again during Friday night’s game against Orono. Ben Briggs scampered 68 yards for a touchdown on the Red Riots’ opening drive.

Somehow, this time, the Minutemen didn’t let the big run bother them. Stearns shut down Orono from there, and thanks to big efforts from Ryan Sweeney and quarterback Derek DiFrederico, earned a 13-6 victory at the high school field.

“I think we had a lot more confidence we could win this game,” Stearns coach Chris Preble said. “We saw on film that we could stay with this team. We talked about it, that we had to eliminate those mistakes and play the game down by down.”

The Minutemen are now 1-3. Orono goes to 2-2.

Sweeney racked up 120 yards on 25 carries and scored an insurance touchdown on a 4-yard run in the third quarter. He didn’t seem to have any trouble running up the middle, and credited the offensive line for opening the holes.

“That’s the first game our offensive line has really put together,” Sweeney said. “They did it for me. We were real happy with the line.”

DiFrederico recorded the winning score on a 15-yard run with 1:43 to play in the first half. He set up the touchdown when he pitched the ball to halfback Matt Leino, who chugged 41 yards to Orono’s 36-yard line. Josh Moore caught an 11-yard pass from DiFrederico on the next play, and an Orono facemask penalty on the ensuing play put the ball at the O-15 for DiFrederico.

Sweeney ran for 102 yards in the second half. The Stearns offense controlled the ball for much of the last two quarters, leaving the Orono defense on the field much of the time. The Red Riots, with just 25 players, began to wither.

“We have 11, 12, 13 guys to go all the way and I think they got worn down in the last three quarters,” Orono coach Wally Covell said. “But I was proud of them. I think they played hard.”

Orono had trouble getting past the Stearns’ defensive line and stuck with a sweep, mostly run by running back Jason Mishou. But it didn’t seem to fool the Minutemen.

“They were blitzing the linebacker and we weren’t able to pick him up,” said Covell. “That was the difference. That’s why the sweeps weren’t working.”

Briggs finished with 69 yards on five carries and Mishou racked up 57 yards on 15 carries.

Orono had a chance to tie it with about two minutes left in the game when a wide-open Ryan Levesque dropped a pass from Lance Cowan that would have at least given the Riots a first down in Stearns territory and at best would have been a touchdown.

Orono might have been in even better position on that final drive if not for a penalty (the Riots were plagued by penalties most of the game). A Stearns roughing-the-passer penalty put Orono at the Riots’ 45, but Orono was called for offensive pass interference on the next play.

Preble said the Red Riots played solid defense in the second half despite whatever tiredness they were feeling.

“We tried to get some extra people on [linebacker] Levesque,” Preble said. “He’s a tough, tough player. … They did a good job of taking away some things in the second half. We were able to throw more of the short passes in the first half and they weren’t there in the second half as much.”

MINUTEMEN 13, RED RIOTS 6

Stearns (1-3) 0 7 6 0 ?13

Orono (2-2) 6 0 0 0 ? 6

O ? Briggs 68 run (kick failed)

S ? DiFrederico 15 run (Franck kick)

S ? Sweeney 4 run (kick failed)

Stearns Orono

First downs 14 4

Rushing att.-yards 44-240 21-136

Passing comp.-att. 3-8 2-11

Passing yards 41 21

Total yards 281 157

Punts-avg. 2-32.5 5-39.6

Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-0

Intercepted by 1 1

Penalties-yards 5-60 6-65

Rushing

Stearns: Sweeney 25-120, DiFrederico 7-28, Barnett 9-35, Qualey 1-17, Leino 3-40; Orono: Briggs 5-69, Mishou 15-57, Cowan 1-10

Passing

Stearns: DiFrederico 3-5-41-1, Qualey 0-3-0-0; Orono: Cowan: 2-11-21-1

Receiving

Stearns: Leino 1-17, Sweeney 1-13, Moore 1-11; Orono: Sanborn 1-12, Levesque 1-9

A?300 (est.)