The Class B state football final between Winslow and Mountain Valley of Rumford will kick off Championship Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Nov. 20.

Winslow and Mountain Valley will square off in the first game of the tripleheader at 11 a.m., according to Larry LaBrie, assistant executive director of the Maine Principals’ Association.

The Class A final between Bangor and Bonny Eagle of West Buxton is next at 2:30 p.m., followed at 6 p.m. by the Class C championship game between Bucksport and Jay.

The game times were determined during a conference call of the MPA’s football committee Monday morning, according to LaBrie. The Class B game was placed first due to the participants’ proximity to the game site, he said.

“The committee felt that Winslow and Mountain Valley were the closest, so they would have the first game,” LaBrie said.

Whether to place the Class A or Class C game in the afternoon was a closer call, given that both Eastern Maine champions have to travel a considerable distance to the game site, but the A game – held at 11 a.m. during each of the two previous Championship Saturday tripleheaders at Fitzpatrick – ultimately gained the 2:30 p.m. start.

“It’s never easy,” LaBrie said. “Both of the Eastern teams have to travel, but the good thing is that it isn’t a school night.”

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, stadium policy doesn’t allow fans to enter the game site with backpacks, duffel bags or containers of any sort and drinks of any type.

LaBrie said ample parking is available near Fitzpatrick Stadium, including nearby lots at Maine Medical Center and the University of Southern Maine.

No weather to weather

The Bangor High football coaches had hoped inclement weather Friday night would slow the big-play capabilities of Skowhegan tailbacks Aaron Chambers and Jason Lisherness.

The weather didn’t comply, but the Rams are grateful, because it was their ability to turn the big play that led to their dramatic 28-22 victory in the Eastern A final.

Senior quarterback Brian Hackett completed TD passes of 72 yards to Aaron Gallant and 88 yards to Anthony DeRosa, Nick Payson ripped off a 62-yard run to set up the game-winning touchdown, and a 38-yard gain by T.J. Vanidestine set up Bangor’s other score.

And while Chambers rushed for 211 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries, his longest gain from scrimmage was 26 yards, so while Skowhegan ran 70 plays from scrimmage compared to 32 for Bangor, the Indians weren’t quite able to match the Rams big play for big play.

Mother Nature played no role.

“The weather helped us,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “We’d been saying we hoped it would rain or snow, but the good weather helped us because we needed all the big plays we got to beat this team.”

Dramatic ending

Much of the buzz around the Eastern Maine football world still surrounds the final moment of Bucksport’s 26-25 victory over Foxcroft Academy in the Class C final.

Bucksport had taken a 26-19 lead on a 6-yard run by Nick Tymoczko midway through the final period, and had the Ponies down to a fourth-and-14 desperation situation near midfield with less than a minute to play.

The Ponies sailed the center snap high over quarterback Logan Forrest, but he chased down the ball, scrambled and found Jon Catell open for a 56-yard TD with 38 seconds left.

Bucksport then came up big defensively, stopping Foxcroft star Bobby Gilbert inches short of the goal line on the two-point conversion try that would have given the Ponies the lead.

“We knew it was going to be Power-I right,” said Bucksport coach Joel Sankey, “and Bobby was going to run it right and try to bounce, but we were able to get some penetration and get a piece of him to slow him down.”

The win was Bucksport’s second dramatic EM final victory over Foxcroft in the last four years, as the Golden Bucks blocked an extra point to earn a one-point overtime win in 2001.

Ponies wear memorial decal

Members of the Foxcroft Academy football players wore a decal with the letters “FW” on the back of their helmets during Saturday’s Eastern C final. The decal was in memory of Frank Withee, the father of Ponies’ coach Paul Withee and one of the program’s most ardent supporters. Frank Withee died Nov. 3 at age 68 due to cancer.

Paul Withee coached Foxcroft through its 34-14 semifinal win against Orono two nights later, then was away from the team until last Wednesday before the EM final while spending time with his family.

“It’s been really tough,” said Foxcroft senior Bobby Gilbert in the days preceding the Ponies’ 26-25 loss to Bucksport, “mostly for Coach and for the program because Frank Withee was the kind of man who was always at our games two hours before kickoff. He was the first person on the field, always wondering how we were doing. He was always standing and screaming for us when we were scoring, and screaming as loud as he could because he was so proud of us.”

Paul Withee credited his players for fighting through all of the emotions surrounding his father’s death to battle the undefeated Golden Bucks until the final seconds.

“They’ve been unbelievable the last three weeks for me, being very, very supportive and just being tremendous kids,” he said. “They’ve really grown up, and to go through what they’ve had to go through with me not being around, and not doing the things that we normally get to do, it’s a real credit to my kids and the way they performed. I’m so proud of them.”