Ponies to play at night Lisbon familiar foe for Foxcroft

The state championship experience is becoming quite familiar to the Foxcroft Academy football team, but the Ponies’ third trip to Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium in the last four years will mark their first night-time quest for statewide supremacy in Class C.

In 2003, when Foxcroft defeated Lisbon 26-20, and in 2002, when it dropped a 25-20 decision to Boothbay, the Ponies played in the afternoon.

But on Monday the Maine Principals’ Association on Monday announced the schedule for the 2005 state championship tripleheader, and it was as easy as A, B and C.

Foxcroft will play Lisbon in the Class C final scheduled as the final game of the day with a 6 p.m. opening kickoff.

This will mark the third time these teams have met in the state final in the last nine years. In addition to the 2003 clash, Lisbon edged Foxcroft 19-14 in 1997.

Coach Paul Withee’s Ponies – 42-4 over the last four years – is 10-1 this fall and riding the state’s longest winning streak, a 10-game run that includes a 28-14 win at Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in the Eastern Maine final. Lisbon, whose only loss this year was a 21-14 decision at Mattanawcook in Week 3, rolled past Boothbay 36-0 in the Western C final.

Championship Saturday begins with the Class A final at 11 a.m. as defending state champion Bonny Eagle of Standish meets Mt. Blue of Farmington in a battle of the spread offenses. Bonny Eagle (9-2) earned its return trip to the state title game with a 27-7 victory over Massabesic of Waterboro last Saturday. Mt. Blue (9-1) won its first EM title since 1987 with a 26-24 victory over Skowhegan last Friday night.

The Brewer Witches will play for their first state championship since 1970 at 2:30 p.m. against York in the Class B championship game. Both teams knocked off defending regional champions last weekend, with Brewer (9-2) upending previously undefeated Winslow 21-10 in the Eastern Maine final and York (9-2) edging 2004 state champion Mountain Valley of Rumford 16-14 in the Western B title game.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for students. One ticket is good for all three games, but if you leave the facility you must buy a second ticket to re-enter. In addition, Fitzpatrick Stadium policy does not allow fans to enter the field with backpacks, duffel bags or containers of any sort or drinks of any type.

A fruitful road trip

The Foxcroft Academy football team wasn’t exactly enamored with the reality that it had to return to Lincoln for Saturday’s Eastern C final, particularly after it matched Mattanawcook’s 8-1 regular-season record and defeated the Lynx at Lincoln 14-12 midway through the season.

But rather than dwell on how they were treated by the Crabtree point ratings, the Ponies fed off their earlier success on Mattanawcook’s home field en route to their 28-14 victory.

“We had a lot of confidence, we knew we could beat them,” said senior tailback Joey Caparrelli. “We came up here before and beat them on their Homecoming, so we knew we could beat them. But they’re an incredible football team, they’re big and strong, so we didn’t underestimate them at all. We really went to work and did what we had to do and came up here and worked hard.”

“It was a close game, it was an awesome game, and that was a real confidence booster for us to beat the No. 1 team,” said senior fullback-linebacker James McPhee of that earlier meeting. “We always had it in our heads that we had beat them once, so we could beat them again.”

Ironically, the reason Foxcroft had to travel to Mattanawcook for the regional final was because the Lynx had the edge in strength of schedule – their crossover game against a Western C foe was against once-beaten Lisbon, the team Foxcroft will meet in next Saturday’s state championship game. Foxcroft’s crossover game was against Livermore Falls, which finished fourth in Western C.

Slow turf alters game plan

Neither Foxcroft Academy nor Mattanawcook could use its full offensive playbook in the Eastern Maine final, the result of extremely muddy conditions between the hash marks.

Foxcroft basically ditched its counter plays early in the contest, which meant just three combined carries for wingbacks Brad Bellemare and Shane Adkins.

“We had to reduce the game plan,” said Foxcroft coach Paul Withee. “We were just running on the sideline, whatever side of the field we were on, and once in a while we’d come back to the middle just to keep them honest. You’re very limited in what you can do in this situation – we really couldn’t take advantage of our passing game, but we came around with a win, that’s all that counts.”

So the Ponies turned to their two leading rushers, tailback Joey Caparrelli and fullback James McPhee, and each ran for more than 100 yards – with McPhee working between the tackles and Caparrelli getting to the outside.

With 129 rushing yards against MA, Caparrelli closed in on the 1,000-yard mark for his senior season. Caparrelli has 949 yards on 112 carries, while McPhee has 838 yards on 118 tries.

“If we play our A game we feel we can beat anybody,” said Caparrelli. “We’ve just got to play to our ability, and that’s what we did this week [against Mattanawcook] and that’s what we want to do next week in Portland.”