PTC teams facing SMAA foes; Bucks square off with Rockland

Week 2 of the high school football season is known in the Class A ranks as East meets West, with the 14 Eastern A schools in the Pine Tree Conference squaring off against the 14 Western A schools from the Southern Maine Activities Association.

The West won eight of the 14 interconference games played last September, then won the ultimate prize two months later when Deering of Portland defeated Brunswick in the Class A state final.

“Some people don’t like it, but I enjoy it, it’s kind of fun,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett of the PTC-SMAA weekend. “You don’t have common opponents, so you don’t know the teams quite as well. You have to do your homework.”

Cheverus Stags (0-1) vs. Bangor Rams (1-0), 7 p.m. Friday, Cameron Stadium, Bangor: Bangor plays its home opener looking to avenge its only 2003 regular-season loss, a 6-0 decision to Cheverus on a hot Saturday afternoon in Portland last Sept. 13.

“I don’t remember us ever being shut out,” said Hackett, “but they shut us out last year. They’re not going to sneak up on us this year.”

This is not nearly the same Cheverus team that upended Bangor a year ago. Just two starters returned from the 5-3 team that qualified for the Western A playoffs a year ago, and that inexperience showed in the Stags’ season opener, a 34-0 loss to Bonny Eagle of Buxton.

Bangor, meanwhile, ground out a 29-6 opening-night victory against Edward Little at Auburn, getting 127 rushing yards and two TDs from senior tailback Aaron Gallant and 55 yards and two more scores from junior Nick Payson. Senior Brian Hackett, making his first varsity start, completed 9 of 11 passes.

Bangor also got strong play along the line of scrimmage. Offensively the Rams benefited from some positional changes along its front, with Jeremy Tyler switching to left tackle and Kyle Oliver moving to right guard. On defense, Bangor got a solid effort from senior defensive end Nick Buchanan, who had a quarterback sack and several other key tackles.

“I think we’ve made a lot of improvement,” said Hackett. “There are a lot of things we still need to work on, but we’re working to clean it up. We just hope to get better every week, because we need to be able to do the whole package and do the whole package well if we want to be successful.”

Brewer Witches (1-0) vs. Hampden Academy Broncos (0-1), 7 p.m. Friday, Hampden: This is an early season matchup of PTC Class B teams that both harbor postseason aspirations. Brewer opened with a 48-0 victory against Old Town last Friday, while Hampden Academy dropped an 18-16 decision to Leavitt of Turner Center.

Brewer’s win featured the debut of junior quarterback Ricky Porter, who rushed for 57 yards and created opportunities for a cast of running backs led by senior Kevin McAvoy, who rushed for 119 yards and four TDs.

“Ricky was terrific,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego. “He finds space for us.”

Brewer was able to limit Old Town to 102 total yards, and did so while using a lot of players, including junior linebacker Nate Eisworth and sophomore tackle Matt Wilson, each of whom had four tackles.

“We were pleased with our execution,” said Ortego. “I thought it was our best execution for a first game since I’ve been at Brewer. We executed well, and we’d like to be able to continue that.”

Hampden is coming off a frustrating loss, given that coach John Sparacio’s Broncos rallied from a 6-0 halftime deficit to take a 16-6 third-quarter lead only to yield a pair of rushing touchdowns that produced the margin of defeat.

Quarterback Chris Morris completed 6 of 10 passes, including a 26-yard TD strike to Blaine Meehan, while Jeremy Tyler and Justin Preston each scored a rushing touchdown behind an offensive line led by senior Ramsey Lafayette and junior Drew Chase.

“They have some players who are physical on both the O-line and the D-line,” said Ortego of Hampden. “They’ve got a running back [Tyler] who runs hard, a tight end who’s a good athlete, and their quarterback [Morris] is elusive.”

Bucksport Golden Bucks (1-0) vs. Rockland Tigers (1-0), 7 p.m. Friday, Rockland: Bucksport begins a two-week stretch against teams that along with itself may rank as the iron of the LTC. Resurgent Rockland is the foe this week, followed by the Bucks’ home opener against reigning Class C state champion Foxcroft Academy on Sept. 17.

Coach Joel Sankey’s club opened with a 62-6 blitz of Maranacook at Readfield, while Rockland posted an impressive 48-8 win against Stearns of Millinocket, the Tigers’ first win over the Minutemen since 1988.

“Rockland’s a good football team,” Sankey said. “They’ve got a huge offensive line and a freshman quarterback [Andrew Weiss] who works out of the shotgun. They throw the ball all over the field, and they have some kids who can really catch it.”

While Rockland is new to a pass-oriented attack under fourth-year coach Darryle Weiss, Bucksport in recent years has mixed the pass and run effectively. This year should be no exception with senior quarterback Joey Carmichael a 1,000-yard passer in 2003 and classmate John Harvey a top receiving threat. Senior Nick Tymoczko gives Bucksport sprinter’s speed at tailback.

Rockland also has some imposing offensive weapons, including Weiss, the LTC Player of the Week, at quarterback and wide receiver Wade Oliver, who caught four TD passes last week.

“They’ve got good athletes, and we’ve got good athletes,” said coach Weiss. “Probably the team that makes the fewest mistakes is going to win.”