Wide-open offenses are spreading around the Western Maine football world, at least among two of the teams that will participate in Saturday’s state finals at Fitzpatrick Stadium of Portland.

Two of the three WM champs, Class A Bonny Eagle and Class C Jay, run spread formations on offense in order to capitalize on the talents of their skill-position players.

“We’ll spread out on at about 90 percent of the snaps,” said Bonny Eagle coach Kevin Cooper, whose 11-0 Scots will face Bangor. “We’ll play out of the shotgun and mostly go with one back.”

Bonny Eagle, a school of about 1,300 students that draws students from Standish, Hollis, Buxton and Limington, has had Class A football only since the mid-90s.

This year’s team relies heavily on quarterback Matt O’Donnell, recently named the Southern Maine Activities Association’s MVP.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior has rushed for 1,196 yards and nine TDs while passing for 1,090 yards and 17 TDs.

“He’s just one of the biggest competitors I’ve ever been around,” said Cooper, himself a former state championship quarterback at Lawrence of Fairfield in 1983 and 1984 while playing for his father, Earle “Pete” Cooper. Pete Cooper now is an assistant coach for his son, as is Kevin Cooper’s former Lawrence teammate John Suttie, who coached Noble of Berwick to the 1997 Class A state title.

O’Donnell teams with fullback John Wiechman to give the Scots the top 1-2 offensive punch in the SMAA. Wiechman, a 5-9, 195-pound junior, has rushed for 1,264 yards – averaging 11.1 yards per carry – and scored 14 touchdowns.

Wiechman’s presence enabled Bonny Eagle to move two fullbacks to the offensive line, and tackle Jeff Thompson and guard Spencer Dunzik have emerged as leaders along the line of scrimmage. Thompson was named the SMAA’s lineman of the year.

O’Donnell has two capable receivers in Kyle McKague (24 receptions, eight TDs) and David Lancaster (15 receptions).

“We’ve got some very good playmakers,” said Cooper. “We knew that going into the season we wanted to develop an offense to take advantage of those skill players, so we went to the spread.

Wiechman at nose guard and 210-pound tackles Josh Avery and Charlie Butler anchor Bonny Eagle’s defensive front, while McKague has eight interceptions at safety.

“Defensively we didn’t think at the middle of the season that we were good enough to win a championship,” said Cooper. “But we went back to stressing fundamentals, and the defense has really come along.”

Jay (11-0) features senior quarterback Justin Wells, a third-year starter who has posted some impressive numbers while directing the Tigers’ spread offense.

This season, he has completed 121 of 207 passes for 1,890 yards with 19 touchdowns and just three interceptions. For his career, Wells has thrown for 4,780 yards with 57 touchdown passes and just 17 interceptions in 557 attempts.

“He’s definitely one of a kind, and extremely smart,” said third-year Jay coach Mark Bonnevie. “He just has an unreal ability to read things, and we give him so many things to look for. We threw him in there as a sophomore, and as he’s grown and learned the offense, he’s done more than we ever could have expected.”

Wideouts Ryan DiPompo and Andrew Deering and wingback Jason Ouellette have combined for 104 pass receptions for 1,654 yards this fall. Deering caught a touchdown pass and then a two-point conversion pass with 33 seconds left in the Western C final as Jay rallied past archrival Livermore Falls 14-13.

The Tigers rely on quickness defensively, particularly at linebacker where Trevor McCourt, Ryan Bourassa and Shane Gagnon are among the team’s leading tacklers. The Jay defense has allowed an average of 7.5 points per game.

“Our hope was that when the playoffs came around this year that we’d be in that mix,” said Bonnevie. “But we played a couple of tough playoff teams early, and we beat both Boothbay and Lisbon and played extremely well and kind of rolled from there.”

Western B champion Mountain Valley of Rumford (10-1) is seeking its first state title after also winning regional championships in 1990, 1994 and 1996.

Seventeen-year coach Jim Aylward will bring a veteran team to Fitzpatrick that has won 10 straight games since opening the season with a 14-6 loss at York.

The Falcons avenged that loss with a 24-6 win at York in the Western B semifinals, then used an interception by senior Zach Fergola in the end zone with eight seconds left to preserve a 14-8 victory over defending regional champion Gorham in the WM final.

In addition to playing in the secondary, Fergola is one of Mountain Valley’s offensive catalysts at quarterback. He teams with running back Aaron Arsenault to trigger a power-oriented rushing attack.

Junior inside linebacker Travis Fergola leads an opportunistic Mountain Valley defense that has a knack for forcing turnovers at key times. The Falcons have allowed just 79 points this season, and no opponent has scored more than 14 points in a game.