West champs no strangers to gold-ball game

Western Maine’s representatives in Saturday’s football state championship tripleheader are no strangers to battling for the gold ball.

All three – Class A Gorham, Class B Mountain Valley of Rumford, and Class C Lisbon – have made the trek to Fitzpatrick Stadium before.

There is one wrinkle in that success-breeds-success formula, the fact that Gorham made its most recent championship game appearance as a Class B school in 2003 in a 28-16 loss to Belfast.

Since then Gorham has moved up to the Class A wars, but it took only two years for coach Dave Kilborn’s club to reach the ultimate game in Maine’s highest class.

A regional quarterfinalist in its Class A debut last year, Gorham brings a 10-1 record into Saturday’s 11 a.m. state final against undefeated Eastern Maine champion Lawrence of Fairfield.

The Rams feature a punishing double-wing offense anchored by one of the state’s biggest offensive lines, a contingent that averages more than 275 pounds from tackle to tackle with the biggest, center Nate Brown, topping out at 6-foot-6, 350 pounds.

That front has allowed Justin Villacci to thrive statistically, as the Gorham wingback has rushed for 1,655 yards and scored 22 touchdowns this fall. Villacci has amassed more than 3,000 rushing yards and 40 touchdowns in his two years of Class A play.

Fullback Ben Mitchell has been another potent rushing threat behind quarterback Mark Clements with some 900 yards this season for a Gorham offense that averages 31.8 points per game.

Defensively Gorham has come on strong during postseason play, having allowed just seven total points in its semifinal victory over then-unbeaten Marshwood of Eliot (6-0) and last Saturday’s 9-7 win over Deering of Portland in the regional final.

For the season, Gorham is yielding 14.4 points per contest.

In Class B, Mountain Valley is seeking its second state title in the last three years against a Winslow team it defeated 21-7 in the 2004 championship. Game time is 6 p.m.

Jim Aylward, in his 20th season as the Falcons’ head coach, has watched his team dominate the Western B ranks both offensively and defensively. In amassing an 11-0 record this fall, Mountain Valley has won 10 of those games by 28 points or more – the lone exception being an 18-6 win over then-undefeated Cape Elizabeth in the regular-season finale.

And the Falcons whipped the Capers 47-6 when they met again Saturday in the Western A final.

Mountain Valley, which features 22 seniors on its roster, is averaging 40.4 points per game with an offense led by senior quarterback Andy Shorey and running backs Justin Staires and Devin Roberts. Staires, one of the state’s top sophomores, has scored eight touchdowns in the Falcons’ two playoff wins, four each in a 54-0 drubbing of Greely of Cumberland Center and last week’s win over Cape Elizabeth.

The Mountain Valley defense, meanwhile, has pitched seven shutouts and allowed only 26 points in 11 games, the best scoring defense in the state regardless of class. No team has scored more than one touchdown in a game against the Falcons.

Mountain Valley is 32-2 over the last three years, losing only its 2004 season opener to York and then falling to the Wildcats again in the 2005 Western B final.

In Class C, this wasn’t supposed to be Lisbon’s year.

The Greyhounds suffered heavy graduation losses after outlasting Foxcroft Academy 12-7 in last year’s state final, and only six seniors returned.

No matter. After scratching out a 12-7 Week 1 victory over Livermore Falls, Lisbon has used a stifling defensive effort to build an 11-0 record heading into its third state championship game in the last four years – all against Foxcroft.

The teams split those earlier encounters, with Foxcroft winning 26-20 in 2003, but the rivalry really extends back a decade to the 1997 final when Lisbon drove 97 yards in the game’s final four minutes to rally for a 19-14 victory.

As for the present, 19th-year coach Dick Mynahan’s Greyhounds have allowed just 39 points this fall, and no opponent has scored more than one touchdown against a defensive unit featuring linebackers Dan Willis, Ryan Guisto, and Jesse Moan.

The Lisbon offense, directed by a first-year starter at quarterback in Mike Unterkoefler, has averaged 25.5 points per game. Willis has rushed for more than 1,000 yards behind a smallish yet aggressive line anchored by senior tackle Mark Stambach.

Lisbon, the No. 1 seed in the Western C playoffs, advanced in methodical fashion by defeating Jay 14-8 in the semifinals and Livermore Falls 23-6 in the final.

Lisbon is 22-1 over the last two seasons and will bring a 20-game winning streak into Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. Class C state final. The Greyhounds haven’t lost since a 21-14 decision at Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in Week 3 of the 2005 season – a game in which they fell behind 21-0 before mounting a second-half rally.