Ponies pull out win over Lynx

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LINCOLN – Both teams were wearing maroon and white, but Friday’s LTC Class C football game between Foxcroft Academy and Mattanawcook Academy was decidedly black and blue.

Yards came grudgingly and sparingly at a defense-dominated game at Curry Field, but the visiting Ponies made two first-half touchdowns stand up and remained unbeaten with a 16-6 victory over the Lynx.

Senior halfback Jerod Rideout scored a touchdown and led all rushers with 59 yards on 16 carries as his Ponies finished with 166 total rushing yards on 44 carries. Foxcroft averaged 3.8 yards per carry behind center Josh Boone, guards Adam Leprevost and Rob Segerson, and tackles Dan Moriarty and Andrew Larson despite being thrown a curveball by the Lynx defense.

“They switched up their tackles and put them down into different gaps so we had to change our offense completely on the line,” Boone said. “We changed the center and guard’s plays to compensate for their stunting linebackers. The Nevells [MA’s Ian and Nathan] are just nasty linebackers, so we had to compensate for that.”

Foxcroft head coach Paul Withee credited the line and his team’s run defense for this win.

“They played 4-4 most of the time this year, but they went 4-3 I think to give them a little more help off their secondary coverage and take some things away from us,” Withee said. “We had to make some adjustments, and then they changed up again in the second half.”

The Ponies improved to 3-0 this season despite losing three fumbles to MA. The Lynx had no fumbles and one interception.

Segerson wouldn’t have expected the Ponies to have much of a chance if they fumbled the ball away three times.

“I’d say none. Our team’s good enough to hold onto the ball. It obviously didn’t happen tonight, but we still came out with a win,” Segerson said. “I think we did because we were just able to wear them down a little after about the third quarter or so.”

Foxcroft scored first with a six-play, 45-yard drive capped by quarterback Jamie Nason’s 1-yard run up the middle with 2:43 left in the first quarter. The PAT kick was short, but FA was able to make up for it on its next score, with 2:19 left in the first half.

The Ponies engineered a 17-play, 87-yard drive eating up almost 71/2 minutes and culminating with Rideout’s 1-yard TD plunge off right tackle. Nason then found Spencer Bowden alone in the left corner of the end zone for a two-point conversion pass off a fake extra-point kick attempt.

The Lynx answered with a five-play, 44-yard scoring drive aided by Derek Libbey’s 44-yard return of the Ponies’ ensuing kickoff. Libbey (8-for-20, 89 yards) capped the drive with a 23-yard TD pass to Derek Gardner with 38 seconds left in the half. Brady Vose then tried to rumble in for a two-point rush but was buried under a pileup. After taking several seconds to separate the pile, officials ruled the ball was jarred loose.

MA’s first series of the second half was a disaster as the Lynx went backward, from their own 13-yard line to the 10 after a 2-yard loss and back-to-back false start penalties. Things got worse on fourth-and-13 as the snap sailed high over the punter and through the back of the end zone for a safety.

“That gave us some inspiration,” said Segerson. “If we hadn’t gotten that safety, they still had a good chance.”

PONIES 16, LYNX 6

Foxcroft (3-0) 6 8 2 0 – 16

Mattanawcook (1-2) 0 6 0 0 – 6

F-Nason 1 run (kick failed)

F-Rideout 1 run (Nason pass to Bowden)

M-Gardner 23 pass from Libbey (rush failed)

F-Safety (snap out of back of endzone)

Foxcroft MA Lynx

First downs 11 7

Rushing att.-yards 44-166 25-42

Passing comp.-att. 4-9 8-20

Passing yards 48 89

Total yards 214 137

Punts-avg. 4-26.8 6-29.0

Fumbles-lost 3-3 1-0

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 4-60 7-41

Rushing

Foxcroft: Rideout 16-59, Champeon 7-38, Witham 6-37, Nason 4-18, Provost 8-17, Adkins 3-(-3); Mattanawcook: Smith 3-11, Libbey 10-11, Vose 9-9, Murchison 2-7, Flanders 1-4

Passing

Foxcroft: Nason 4-9-0-48; Mattanawcook: Libbey 8-20-1-89

Receiving

Foxcroft: Gould 2-24, Geiger 1-18, Rideout 1-6; Mattanawcook: Gardner 4-50, Cahill 1-19, Vose 2-11, Murchison 1-9

A-400 (est.)