Lynx, John Bapst clash today Monday football game at 5 p.m.; finals set for soccer, field hockey

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Weather permitting, the waiting soon will be over for the final two candidates for a berth in one of next weekend’s Eastern Maine high school football finals.

Five teams already have qualified to play another week. The Class A matchup will send No. 2 Bangor (9-1) to No. 1 Lawrence of Fairfield (10-0) next Friday night, while No. 3 Winslow (8-2) will play at No. 1 Gardiner (9-1) on Saturday afternoon.

Two-time defending Eastern Maine champion Foxcroft Academy will host the Class C regional final at Oakes Field in Dover-Foxcroft on Saturday after ousting No. 4 Rockland 32-0 on Friday night, but coach Paul Withee’s top-ranked and undefeated Ponies (10-0) have yet to learn their opponent.

That should be determined this evening, when No. 2 John Bapst of Bangor (8-1) hosts No. 3 Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (7-2) in a 5 p.m. start from Cameron Stadium in Bangor.

That game originally was scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday but was postponed due to inclement weather.

John Bapst edged Mattanawcook 22-20 during Week 2 of the regular season, the first of eight consecutive victories by the Crusaders.

Mattanawcook dropped a 16-6 decision to Foxcroft the following weekend but won its last six regular-season games.

Elsewhere around the state, two other regional semifinals remain to be played tonight. In Western A, top-ranked Bonny Eagle of Standish (9-0) hosts No. 5 Deering of Portland (7-2), with the winner to face Marshwood of South Berwick next weekend. No. 3 Marshwood (8-2) advanced to its first regional final since 1996 with a 21-7 victory at No. 2 Thornton Academy of Saco in the only high school football game played statewide Saturday.

Tonight’s Western B semifinal sends No. 4 York (6-3) to top-ranked Cape Elizabeth (9-0), with that winner to play No. 2 Mountain Valley of Rumford (9-1) next weekend.

The Western C final is set, with No. 1 Winthrop (9-1) hosting No. 2 Boothbay (9-1). Winthrop defeated Boothbay 33-14 during their regular-season meeting in Week 5.

State champions will be determined in boys soccer tonight after the games were postponed on Saturday due to inclement weather. The girls state soccer finals will be held Tuesday.

However, the day and site for the state Class D boys and girls soccer finals still have not been determined by the Maine Principals’ Association.

The state finals for field hockey have also been moved to today and Tuesday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

The schedule for the state finals are listed in a box on Page C1.

Lines emerge, lead ground games

It’s a fine line between success and mediocrity in high school football, and two football teams with question marks along the line of scrimmage as the 2007 season began are proving that point.

Bangor and Foxcroft Academy have advanced to return to Eastern Maine championship games next weekend, in no small part because of the emergence of their offensive lines.

Bangor, 9-1 after a 56-35 win over Lewiston in Friday night’s Class A regional semifinals, returned only senior guard Tyler McDade to its starting offensive line this season.

But the play of first-year starters Jory Tracy at guard and Stephen Schley at center, the return of senior tackle Andrew Riley after a year away from the game and the emergence of senior tackle Sam Martin in his first year of high school football have turned that preseason question mark into a postseason asset.

Working primarily out of the Wing-T formation, the Rams averaged 8.6 yards per carry in its playoff win against Lewiston, amassing 333 yards on 39 carries – just above their 10-game average of 331.6 yards per contest.

Senior running back Kyle Vanidestine is closing in on 1,200 yards for the season after a 105-yard performance against the Blue Devils, while classmate Shane Walton is approaching 1,000 rushing yards for the second straight year after gaining 205 yards and scoring four touchdowns last weekend.

The scenario is similar up Route 15 in Dover-Foxcroft, where senior guard Adam LePrevost was the only returning starter along Foxcroft’s offensive line this season.

But the depth within the Ponies’ program produced senior center Josh Boone, senior guard Robert Segerson and junior tackles Andrew Larson and Dan Moriarty to join with LePrevost to give Foxcroft a most formidable front line.

Their work helped Foxcroft finish the regular season with five of the top 15 running backs in the LTC, all with between 333 and 467 yards.

That backfield depth also was on display in the team’s semifinal win over Rockland. Senior Shane Adkins led the way with 126 yards on 10 carries, but clasmates Jerod Rideout (22-97) and Ben Provost (11-66), junior Wade Witham (6-50) and sophomore Ian Champeon (6-33) all played key roles as the Ponies rushed for 365 yards on 57 carries.

Further evidence of the line’s dominance was that Foxcroft had just three rushes that went for negative yardage and only seven that went for 10 yards or more.

For the season, the Ponies are averaging 8.1 yards per carry.

Rams, Ponies familiar finalists

Eastern Maine championship games are a familiar destination for the Bangor and Foxcroft Academy football programs, especially during the new millenium.

Bangor will play in the Class A regional championship game for the sixth time in the last eight years. The Rams won EM crowns in 2000, 2001 and 2004 while losing in the championship game in 2003 to Brunswick and last fall to Lawrence of Fairfield.

Bangor won its last state championship in 2001.

Foxcroft, meanwhile, will be making its seventh straight appearance in the Class C regional final and will by trying to win its third straight EM crown and fifth in the last six seasons.

The Ponies, who have qualified for the title game in every year since Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield outlasted Stearns of Millinocket 22-14 in overtime in 2000, are 4-2 in its previous trips this decade.

Foxcroft won the Eastern C finals in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006, and went on to win the Class C state championship in 2003.

The Ponies’ two losses in the Eastern Maine final both were against Bucksport in dramatic fashion. Bucksport edged Foxcroft 14-13 in overtime in 2001, and 26-25 in 2004 when the Ponies’ go-ahead two-point conversion run with 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter came up just short.