Raiders’ defense of state crown starts Saturday Class B playoffs ready to kick off

The Pine Tree Conference Class B football playoffs kick off this weekend, with defending champion Winslow showing no signs of being ready to relinquish its status atop the division.

Coach Mike Siviski’s Black Raiders enters postseason play as the top seed, their 8-0 record guaranteeing them Saturday afternoon games at Poulin Field in Winslow as long as they advance through the regional playoffs.

There’s regular-season evidence to suggest that run could be lengthy. Only one of their eight victories was decided by fewer than 12 points, that an opening-week 16-12 survival of No. 2 Leavitt of Turner Center in which the Black Raiders rallied from a 12-3 deficit to win on a late touchdown pass from Stephen Siviski to Kevin McCabe.

Winslow went 6-0 overall against other playoff participants, with an average victory margin of 15 points.

“They’re so sound,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego, “that they really force everybody else to be sound against them.”

No. 6 Gardiner (4-4) at No. 3 Brewer (6-2), 7 p.m. Friday: These teams will be meeting for the second time this season, only this time the game will be played at Doyle Field in Brewer. In their Week 3 clash, Gardiner took a 13-0 lead before Brewer rallied behind senior quarterback-wingback Ricky Porter for a 22-16 win.

“They’re probably anxious to play us again,” said Ortego. “They got off to a good start the first time we played them, and then we came on to win the game.”

Brewer, which scored its first postseason victory since 1970 a year ago while advancing to the Eastern Maine Class B final, is coming off a 20-14 win at Belfast that featured the strong two-way play of senior fullback-linebacker Ben Caldwell. Caldwell rushed for 203 yards and scored two touchdowns on offense, and had 11 tackles (eight solos) on defense en route to being named the PTC B player of the week.

Gardiner is coming off a .500 regular season in which it neither won nor lost more than one game consecutively. The Tigers, who defeated Morse of Bath 41-6 last weekend, are led offensively by sophomore quarterback Kyle Stilphen and tailback Kerry Ramsay, who has averaged 100 rushing yards per game since being installed as the starter three weeks ago.

The Gardiner defense is anchored by middle linebacker Devon Brown, one of the PTC’s leading tacklers.

“They come right at you,” Ortego said, “The use Power I, double leads, they really use their backs for blocking.”

No. 5 Waterville (5-3) at No. 4 Belfast (5-3), 7 p.m. Friday: An old-time rivalry will be renewed at Bryant Field, where the host Lions will face Waterville for the first time in many years.

Both teams are coming off defeats, with Belfast absorbing a narrow loss to Brewer while Waterville suffered a deceptive 36-15 defeat to Winslow in the first countable meeting between those crossriver rivals in 15 years. In that game, Waterville was within a touchdown until the Black Raiders scored twice in the game’s final 45 seconds.

Belfast is led by the PTC B’s top rusher in senior tailback Sean Leeman, who topped 1,000 yards in the first seven weeks of the season and added a 150-yard performance at Brewer. Senior quarterback Andy Whalen runs the Belfast attack, while Nick Thomann, Tim Caldwell, Hugh Morse and Travis Lee are other key performers on both sides of the ball.

Waterville has been without starting quarterback Dan Hussey for the last two weeks. Hussey, who has been sidelined with a shoulder injury, amassed more than 1,000 before being injured. He has been replaced the last two weeks by Nate Lancaster, who has averaged more than 100 passing yards per game in Hussey’s absence.

The Purple Panthers’ attack also includes Tyler Madore and Mike Bernhardt, who have combined to rush for more than 1,000 yards from the tailback position, fullback Jon Hart and ends Finley Allen and Barrett Moore.

No. 8 Oak Hill (3-5) at No. 1 Winslow (8-0), 1 p.m. Saturday: These teams did not meet during the regular season, but the Black Raiders boast championship experience and a variety of playmakers on offense in quarterback Siviski, running backs Justin Lindie, Jared Maroon and John Goulette and McCabe at wide receiver.

The defense is quick and aggressive, with inside linebacker Brandon Bellows a catalyst. Oak Hill eked its way into the playoffs as the fourth team in the PTC’s southern division, despite losing head-to-head and trailing in Crabtree points to Mount Desert Island, the fifth-place team in the northern division.

MDI also finished 3-5, but league policy this year was to take the top four teams from each division and then reseed them one through eight for the playoffs.

No. 7 Hampden Academy (4-4) at No. 2 Leavitt (7-1), 7 p.m. Saturday: Leavitt hasn’t lost since its narrow defeat at Winslow in Week 1. The Hornets are led by versatile quarterback Tyler Angell and running back Chris Brewer on offense, as well as a physical defense.

“Leavitt has a lot of skill kids,” said Hampden coach Harry McCluskey, whose team did not face the Hornets during the regular season. “I like their quickness and the height of their receivers, and they’ve got some big linemen. They really pass the eyeball test.”

Hampden defeated Old Town and Maranacook of Readfield in its final two contests to best MDI for the final playoff berth in the northern division. The Broncos feature one of the top fullbacks in the division in senior Som Ratsakongsy, and last weekend Bobby Seger had three interceptions to lead Hampden to a 28-14 victory at Maranacook.

“The big thing with us is that the kids kept going to battle and they’ve continued to work,” McCluskey said. “I really like the character of this ballclub.”