January 09, 2025
HIGH SCHOOL REPORT

Tigers prove they can throw if defenses try to stop the run

The Rockland football team placed a heavy emphasis on its rushing attack in recent years, and with standout tailbacks like Mike Curtis and Trevor Davis going through the system, it made perfect sense.

So what to make of last Friday night’s passing exhibition against Stearns of Millinocket, when quarterbacks Andrew Weiss and John Coppola combined to throw for nearly 300 yards in the Tigers’ season-opening 48-8 win?

“They were playing us for the run, so we passed,” said fourth-year Rockland coach Darryle Weiss. “When teams play us for the pass, we’ll run the ball.

“We’ll always be a run-oriented team, we just didn’t do it out of the shotgun before.”

Indeed, the Tigers are running their offense out of the shotgun formation this season. Andrew Weiss, a freshman, earned the opening-night start at quarterback, but injured his knee slightly during the second half and was replaced by Coppola – the Tigers’ starting QB each of the last two years.

The duo combined to complete 14 of 28 passes for 291 yards, with eight completions for 149 yards going to Wade Oliver – four for touchdowns.

“Wade’s probably our most elusive guy once he’s got the ball,” said coach Weiss, Andrew Weiss’ uncle. “But the reason he got the ball more was because of the coverages.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys who can catch the ball and run after they make the catch.”

Such depth epitomizes the growth of the program from near-extinction several years ago.

Since Weiss arrived in 2001, steady improvement has been the norm, from 1-8 to 3-6 to 5-4 last year – the Tigers’ first winning season since 1988.

“I think it helped more in the off-season in the weight room,” said Weiss of the impact of that improvement. “The kids seeing that you may have something going makes them want to come and be part of something.”

Rockland currently is a Class B school playing a Class C schedule, making the Tigers ineligible for postseason play.

“The kids don’t concern themselves with that,” said Weiss, whose team faces a major test Friday at home against Bucksport. “They just want to go out and beat the nine teams on their schedule.”

Riots learn on the run

Adapting to a new head coach with a new system can take considerable amount of time, or it can come quickly.

For the Orono Red Riots, first impressions of a new offensive scheme introduced by new coach Bob Sinclair were highly positive, not to mention victorious.

Orono rushed for 266 yards in a 19-13 Class C win at John Bapst of Bangor on Saturday night, with three backs – Mo Nazmy, Mardy Simon and Dustin Thomas – each gaining more than 80 yards.

“We use three different running backs and we’ve got a couple of fullbacks and our depth was tested because Joe Fullwood was out with an injury,” said Sinclair, whose coaching resume includes stops at John Bapst and Hampden Academy. “But we’re deep enough and the kids have enough confidence in themselves so we can interchange the parts.”

Most of that rushing success, out of a three-back set called the Oklahoma split-T, came after intermission. The Red Riots rushed for 81 yards on 20 first-half carries before some blocking adjustments made during the break enabled the ground game to get fully untracked.

“My hat’s off to Bapst, they did a nice job defensively against us and gave us some problems trying to take away the dive,” said Sinclair. “We made some adjustments at halftime and changed our blocking schemes just slightly and we were able to have some success.”

Senior Mo Nazmy broke the first play from scrimmage of the second half 69 yards for a game-tying touchdown, and Orono used its ground game to have the best of the play the rest of the way.

“We just modified our blocking schemes,” Sinclair said, “and we knew we could run dive weak side away from 89 [John Bapst defensive end Tyler Yeo] and we were able to do that.”

The backs ran behind a line that included seniors Ryan Prue and Micah Mishio and juniors Rob Chauvette, Colby Caruso and Brad Russell.

“At first it looked like they might not be holding up their end, but when we came in at halftime we talked about it,” Thomas said. “We talked about switching it up a little and about what we were doing right and what we could do better, and it just worked from there.”

Orono faces a tough test in its home opener Friday night against a Foxcroft Academy team that owns a 22-game regular-season win streak.

For now, the new system has engendered new confidence in the Red Riots based on their opening-night success.

“We learned a lot, especially playing for a new coach,” Thomas said. “We learned to listen to him, basically. He knows his stuff, he knows what he’s talking about, so if we listen to him we’ll be all set.”

Williams adds Central AD duties

When he’s not involved with his duties as cooperative education coordinator at Central High in Corinth, Harold Williams might be preparing a game plan for the Red Devils’ girls soccer team, which he coaches.

Or he might be thinking ahead to winter, when he becomes the school’s new boys varsity basketball coach.

Or perhaps he’s dealing with his new duties, as the school’s athletic director.

Williams was named Central’s AD at the SAD 64 board of directors’ most recent meetings. He replaces Dick Sjogren, who is now a full-time math teacher at the school.

It’s a busy schedule, to be sure, for Williams, who has been at Central for five years.

“My job as cooperative education coordinator has a flexible schedule that allowed me to assume the athletic director’s responsibilities,” said Williams, a veteran basketball coach in the region with stops including Sumner of East Sullivan and the Husson College women’s team.

This marks Williams’ first foray as an athletic director.

“I’ve been interested in going in this direction, but I just hope people will be patient, because this is a learning experience for me,” he said.

Williams does have several AD veterans to learn from, including Sjogren and school principal Garry Spencer, formerly the athletic director at Old Town High School.


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