Father-son combinations give lift to FA, Lions

As the Foxcroft Academy Ponies began enjoying their newly won state Class C football championship Saturday, Josh Withee first sought out a brief, more personal celebration – with his dad, the coach.

Later, there was the obligatory group picture taken on the artificial surface of Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium: Josh Withee, Foxcroft coach Paul Withee, and the Gold Ball.

“That’s the biggest moment of my life so far,” said Josh Withee, a senior quarterback and defensive back. “That was awesome. There’s just one word to describe it, awesome.”

Withee, a semifinalist for this year’s Fitzpatrick Trophy, passed only five times in the 26-20 victory over Lisbon, completing two for 59 yards. On defense, he was in on 14 tackles, intercepted two passes, and forced a fumble.

“It’s something you dream about as a coach,” said Paul Withee, who has 103 victories and two state titles in 14 years as the Ponies’ head coach. “You want your son to play football. He’s been with me since the age of 5, standing on my sidelines and always being involved in the sport and the team and knowing the offense and knowing the defense. He’s as intense a competitor as there is on our team.

“For him to end his high school football career like this is really just satisfying and rewarding. I’m very, very happy for him and his classmates because its something they’ve worked really hard for and really, really deserve.”

All in the family

Winning a state championship is special enough, but doing so as a head coach when your son is a key two-way starter? Well, it’s a bit tougher to put that into words.

“I don’t think you can get a better situation. I’m not saying I went into football to coach my son because my first son only played football one year,” said Belfast co-coach Butch Arthers, whose son Nick helped lead the Lions to a Class B state football championship and second straight Eastern Maine B title.

Nick starts at quarterback and linebacker for the Lions. It’s almost a mirror image of Foxcroft Academy, where head coach Paul Withee’s son was the starting quarterback and defensive back for the Class C state champion Ponies.

“It’s kind of special that Josh Withee and Nick were playing pass at the Lobster Bowl a few years ago and here they are on the same field at quarterback and winning state championships Saturday,” said Butch Arthers, who coached with Withee on the Lobster Bowl East team staff.

Of course, playing for your father or coaching your son isn’t all fun and games.

For instance, Arthers let his son have it with both barrels Saturday after Nick had to come out of the game for three plays late in the third quarter of a 16-8 game due to a loose chin strap on his helmet.

“Whenever my dad gets on me like that, it’s just because he’s trying to make me better, so I take it to heart and try to go out there and do better for him … And I guess I did,” Arthers said.

After weathering his dad’s verbal onslaught on the sidelines, Nick fixed his strap, went back into the game, intercepted a fourth-down pass, and returned it 54 yards.

“We had just gotten done reaming Nick out and then he went in and intercepted the ball and ran it back to the 40. That was a big turnaround,” coach Arthers said. “We’re hard on him. We’re hard on him because he’s a good athlete and like a lot of young athletes, they can give into pain and believing they can’t do stuff.”

“What upsets me with him sometimes is he’s heard it so much, I just expect it not to happen to him, but he’s a kid, too,” Arthers said. “And as hard as I’ve been on him, at times, with just general things about life … to see him come through was special to me.”

Defense earns a passing grade

Lisbon entered Saturday’s state Class C football final known mostly for its ability to run the football.

But when Foxcroft Academy took a two-touchdown lead into the second half, Lisbon turned to Plan B, the passing game.

The Greyhounds threw 23 passes overall, 20 after intermission. Junior quarterback Chris Kates completed 11 of 21 for 147 yards, but Foxcroft had three interceptions, two by Josh Withee and one returned for a touchdown by Matt Earnest, and the Ponies allowed only one completion of more than 20 yards.

Lisbon passed for 162 yards on the day, and rushed for only 137.

“We expected them to give the ball to [Tony] Walker [18 carries, 68 yards] and run a lot of fullback dive,” said senior Mike Larrabee, a defensive leader for the Ponies along the line of scrimmage.

“We weren’t expecting them to pass as much as they did so we tried to play them a little tight. But they started throwing the ball and had some success, so we sent the defensive backs back a bit and they picked it up, and the front four got a lot of pressure on the quarterback so he had to toss it a little quicker than I think he wanted to. We got it done, we got it done.”