DOVER-FOXCROFT – The first half couldn’t have been much worse for Foxcroft Academy in Friday night’s LTC Class C semifinal playoff game.

The second half couldn’t have been much better.

As if the week wasn’t already emotionally draining and nerve-wracking enough, the second-seeded Ponies had to go through the wringer again before scoring 27 points in the fourth quarter and defeating No. 3 Orono 34-14 on a gusty, rainy, and chilly night at Oakes Field.

It was a victory that Foxcroft coach Paul Withee’s father Frank was supposed to be able to enjoy from his customary spot in the bleachers, but the longtime Ponies football devotee’s spot was empty Friday. Lymphoma and bone cancer ended Frank Withee’s life at age 68 Wednesday.

“I’ve only been here for one practice, really. I thought my dad would get a chance to see us make the playoff run,” Paul Withee said. “Last week they gave us two weeks, maybe two months … and then he really just went downhill from there.

“The last thing he said to me was ‘Make sure the boys are ready for the game Friday.’ That was Monday and I didn’t talk to him again before he passed away Wednesday.”

Frank Withee’s beloved Ponies will take a 9-1 record to Bucksport to face the top-seeded Golden Bucks (10-0) next Friday for the conference title – quite a turn of events considering the Ponies’ season looked done two quarters earlier.

Orono (7-3) scored on its first possession with a four-play, 72-yard drive capped by Mardy Simon’s 60-yard touchdown run off left tackle and down the left side. The Red Riots took a 14-0 lead with a seven-play, 69-yard drive Simon ended with a 37-yard TD jaunt to the right side. Simon led the Riots with a game-high 241 yards on 24 carries.

After forcing FA to go three-and-out, Orono drove 59 yards in 12 plays and had a third-and-goal from the FA-1 with a little over a minute left in the half. After nearly turning the ball over with a fumble at the FA-3, Simon was thrown for a 1-yard loss on a toss sweep run to the left and the Ponies took over on downs at their 4. Foxcroft ran out the clock and went into the locker room with some newfound momentum.

The Ponies capitalized on it by engineering a 14-play, 65-yard scoring drive which standout halfback Bobby Gilbert ended with an 8-yard TD run with 5:30 left in the third quarter.

“We had our chances,” said Orono coach Bob Sinclair. “I think if we could have punched that one in, it would have kept our momentum going and made it that much more difficult for them in the second half.”

As it was, momentum clearly switched to the Ponies’ sideline and that, combined with a switch from a 4-4 defensive alignment to a 6-2 (goal line) front, turned the tide.

“We came out flat and, give them credit, they played an awesome half, but it was a tale of two halves,” said Gilbert, whose individual stats testified to that statement.

Gilbert, who was held to 24 yards on eight carries in the first half, erupted for 155 on 18 carries in the second. Most of those yards came after initial contact.

“We worked all week long on getting to him and we played him phenomenally in the first half, but he’s explosive, and once he gets rolling, he’s their lifeblood and he gets them going,” Sinclair said. “We couldn’t control him in the second half.”

Neither could the Riots slow the FA ground game as the Ponies accounted for 221 of their 245 rushing yards in the second half.

“I don’t know if we wore them down, but our guys stayed on their blocks just a split-second longer and let us make some cuts,” Gilbert said.

The Ponies tied things up 3:14 into the fourth when Gilbert capped a 60-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run and Brad Bellemare kicked the point-after.

The Riots managed to get a first down (their last of the game) and gain 19 yards, but the Ponies stuffed them on fourth-and-two from the 50 and scored five plays later on Gilbert’s 27-yard run on fourth-and-three.

After the Riots fumbled the ensuing kickoff at their own 4 and FA’s Randy Briggs recovered on the O-7, the Ponies scored in three plays. Another kickoff, two Riot fumbles, and three FA offensive plays later, the turnaround was complete. The Ponies scored 20 points in 21/2 whirlwind minutes.

“It’s been a pretty tough week for everybody in the Foxcroft football community and I think some of those emotions played on us,” Withee said. “As much as they wanted to play well for my dad, it worked against them and I guess they just kind of had to get shaken out of their doldrums.”

PONIES 34, RED RIOTS 14

Orono (7-3) 7 7 0 0 – 14

Foxcroft (9-1) 0 0 7 27 – 34

O – M. Simon 60 run (Brothers kick)

O – M. Simon 37 run (Brothers kick)

F – Gilbert 8 run (Bellemare kick)

F – Gilbert 2 run (Bellemare kick)

F – Gilbert 27 run (kick failed)

F – McPhee 4 run (McKusick pass from Forrest)

F – McPhee 4 run (Bellemare kick)

Orono Foxcroft

First downs 15 10

Rushing att.-yards 56-331 43-245

Passing comp.-att. 0-0 2-4

Passing yards 0 37

Total yards 331 282

Punts-avg. 2-29.5 4-37

Fumbles-lost 9-3 3-1

Intercepted by 0 0

Penalties-yards 3-14 3-30

Rushing

Orono: M. Simon 24-241, Nazmy 20-78, Fullwood 9-26, Chase 3-(minus 14); Foxcroft: Gilbert 26-179, McPhee 13-63, Croan 1-9, Pomeroy 3-(minus 6)

Passing

Orono: none; Foxcroft: Croan 2-4-0-37

Receiving

Orono: none; Foxcroft: Gilbert 1-20, McPhee 1-17

A-400 (est.)