Ten weeks ago, Bangor and Skowhegan met to kick off the 2001 Pine Tree Conference season. Friday night, the Rams and the Indians will close out the PTC season as they battle to decide who represents Eastern Maine in the Class A state championship game.

Although defending East champ Bangor fully expected to play in this game, the Indians figured they’d be looking forward to the winter sports season about now after losing the season opener at home to Bangor 30-0 plus three of their next four games to dig themselves a gaping hole.

But thanks to exceptional veteran leadership and the quick maturation of several young players, Skowhegan is playing in its first PTC title game since 1990.

“The credit goes to the kids,” said Indians coach Bob LeCours. “When you’re 1-4 and the answers aren’t coming, it’s tough, especially with high school kids, but these guys believed in themselves.”

Consider what the Indians have done to get here: overcoming a 1-4 start with an improbable five-game win streak encompassing a three-week, murderers’ row stretch of road games against Mt. Blue, Oxford Hills and Mt. Blue again.

Now they’re back for a rematch in Friday’s 7 p.m. PTC championship game at Cameron Stadium.

The winner advances to the state championship game in Portland, which Bangor eagerly aches to get back to after a gut-wrenching loss there last year. This year, the man leading the Rams’ charge is last year’s assistant, Mark Hackett, who replaced longtime head coach Gabby Price in the offseason.

The magnitude Skowhegan’s resurgence is not lost on Hackett.

“That’s as good a stretch as anyone’s played knocking those teams off on the road,” Hackett said. “There’s no quit in ’em. They just believe they can do it now.”

Although they took divergent routes to get here, the top-seeded, 10-0 Rams and fourth-seeded (eighth overall), 6-4 Indians share many similarities. Both feature versatile offensive attacks that do not rely heavily on just one phase of the game (run or pass).

Bangor likes to use a base I-formation on offense and 5-2 (five down linemen, two linebackers) defensive alignment while Skowhegan runs multiple wing formations offensively and a hybrid defense built around a 4-4 alignment.

“We’ve gone to a pro-style attack front similar to Virginia Tech’s on defense,” explained LeCours. “It’s like a 4-4, but we can do a tremendous amount of movement in it and it’s versatile enough that we can go to a five-man front in certain situations.”

LeCours hopes to keep Bangor guessing on both sides of the ball.

“Our goal offensively is to break tendencies formationally,” he said.

Bangor’s offense is centered around a solid, physical line of center Ben Guerette, tackles Corey Mayhew and Conor Stephens, and guards J.J. Jackson and Trevor LaGrange.

“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical and they have a tradition of winning,” said LeCours of Bangor.

When they’re dominating the line of scrimmage, it’s open season on defenses for the Rams as tailback Buddy Nickerson (205 carries, 16 touchdowns, 1,155 yards) and quarterback Chris Bombardier (57-for-108, 831 yards, 7 TDs, three interceptions) go to work.

Bombardier’s favorite target is sophomore split end Mike Prentiss (16 receptions, 267 yards, four TDs). Nick Achorn is one of the PTC’s top kickers, going 25-for-28 on PAT kicks with two field goals.

Skowhegan’s main weapons are senior quarterback B.J. Dunlap (1,088 yards on 85-for-163 passing in regular season), halfback Jared Walker (119 for 457 yards), fullback Josh Meyer (663 yards, 10 TDs on 137 carries), and a fleet of fleet receivers led by Eric Carey, Jason Bird and Cole Quirion (combined 851 yards in regular season).

“If Dunlap isn’t the best quarterback in the league, he’s certainly one of them,” Hackett said.

LeCours is one of the few coaches in the PTC to utilize his backs as receivers regularly.

“Our receivers are averaging around 25-26 catches apiece. Our halfback has 14 and fullback has 12,” said LeCours. “We like to use our backs as receivers and give the offense a new dimension. We’ll actually spread them out and line them up as flankers or wingbacks.”

Defensive standouts include Bombardier (four interceptions), strong safety Joe Blier, defensive end Justin Hinton, and defensive tackle Stephens for Bangor plus Skowhegan’s Ryan Frederick – a two-way starter LeCours calls “the heart and soul of the team” – Brandon Hamilton, and Nate Goff.