Lawrence earns top seed for Eastern A playoffs

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Defending state champion Lawrence of Fairfield will take the No. 1 seed into the Eastern Maine Class A football playoffs that begin last weekend.

Lawrence, 8-0 this season and winner of 19 straight games overall, will host No. 8 Mt. Blue of Farmington (3-5) in its quarterfinal at Keyes Field next Friday night. Lawrence defeated Mt. Blue 42-7 in the opening week of the season, and Mt. Blue enters postseason play coming off back-to-back losses to Bangor (46-0) and Skowhegan (50-14).

Bangor, which fell to Lawrence in last year?s EM final, will host Brunswick in next Friday?s 2-7 quarterfinal. The Rams (7-1) secured their fifth straight win with a 63-6 victory over Brewer in the 100th edition of that rivalry last Friday, while 3-5 Brunswick – ranked ninth in the Crabtree points entering the final week of the season, forced its way into the playoffs with a 26-15 victory over Mount Ararat of Topsham.

Bangor topped Brunswick 45-0 during Week 2 of the season.

Other quarterfinals have No. 5 Mount Ararat (4-4) at No. 4 Skowhegan (6-2) and No. 6 Cony of Augusta (4-4) at No. 3 Lewiston (7-1). Cony and Mount Ararat actually tied for fifth in the Crabtree points, but Mount Ararat’s one-point win over Cony in Week 1 moved the Eagles ahead of the Rams.

Skowhegan defeated Mount Ararat 34-15 in Week 2, while Lewiston topped Cony 34-6 in Week 3.

In Eastern Maine Class B, Gardiner earned the top seed in the division, while Belfast edged Maranacook in a tie-breaker for the eighth and final slot.

That means that No. 8 Belfast (3-5) will travel to No. 1 Gardiner (7-1) in one of four quarterfinals next weekend.

Belfast and Maranacook (3-5) tied for the eighth spot in the final Crabtree point ratings.

The first tiebreaker was head-to-head play, but Belfast and Maranacook did not face each other during the regular season.

The next tiebreaker was the Heal point ratings, and Belfast edged Maranacook in that category by virtue of its 28-0 victory at No. 6 Mount Desert Island (5-3) last Friday night.

Other Eastern B semifinals have No. 7 Oak Hill of Sabattus (3-5) at No. 2 Morse of Bath (7-1), MDI at No. 3 Winslow (6-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday, and No. 5 Waterville (4-4) at No. 4 Leavitt of Turner Center.

Hampden 61, Old Town 6

At Hampden, Friday, Shawn Smith rushed five times for 122 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead Hampden Academy to victory over Old Town.

Ryan Lindemann added four carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns for Hampden. He also converted seven of nine extra point kicks.

Nathan Rocker picked up an Alex Van Unden blocked punt and returned it for a touchdown in the second quarter. Dan Ellis and Jonathan Haws added one-yard touchdown runs.

Ryan Blake scored in the fourth on a 55-yard run for Hampden.

Van Unden had two blocked punts and recorded two quarterback sacks.

Old Town got on the board on a 55-yard pass from Josh Boucher to Lance Getchell in the fourth quarter.

Old Town (0-8) 0 0 0 6 – 6

Hampden (3-5) 21 20 6 14 – 61

H – Smith 40 run (R. Lindemann kick)

H – R. Lindemann 20 run (R. Lindemann kick)

H – R. Lindemann 60 run (R. Lindemann kick)

H – Smith 15 run (R. Lindemann kick)

H – Rocker blocked punt recovery (kick failed)

H – Smith 50 run (R. Lindemann kick)

H – Ellis 1 run (kick failed)

H – Haws 1 run (R Lindemann kick)

OT – Getchell 55 pass from Boucher (pass failed)

H – Blake 55 run (R. Lindemann kick)

Maranacook 49, Nokomis 0

At Readfield, Pat Norwood scored four touchdowns as Maranacook topped Nokomis of Newport.

Norwood scored three touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of 3, 81 and 9 yards. He added a 49-yard TD run in the second quarter as the Black Bears built a 35-0 halftime lead.

Mike Brennan had a 2-yard scoring run and a 18-yard TD pass to Corey Stephens, while Brandon Crandall contributed a 1-yard scoring run.

Nokomis (1-7) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Maranacook (3-5) 20 15 6 8- 49

M-Norwood 3 run (kick failed)

M-Norwood 81 run (pass failed)

M-Norwood 9 run (Johnson pass from Brennan)

M-Crandall 1 run (Stephens pass from Brennan

M-Norwood 49 run (Brennan kick)

M-Brennan 2 run (kick failed)

M-Stephens 18 pass from Brennan (Brennan rush)