Western Class A quarterfinal
No. 5 Sanford (4-4) at No. 4 Scarborough (4-4)
7 p.m. at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex
Sanford might feel a little perturbed that with matching records, and a week 1 win at Scarborough, it finds itself again on the road for this quarterfinal matchup. Such are the vagaries of the Crabtree Index, however.
Of course, the Spartans have already proven they can take a bus ride up to the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex and win convincingly, a feat they pulled off back on Sept. 5 in a 29-14 win
Not that it means a great deal now.
“Talking with the kids this week, it’s a totally different season once the playoffs start,” Sanford coach Keith Noel said. “Everyone’s 0-0 and what happened has happened. Every team in our conference has improved.”
No one more so than Scarborough, who after getting off to an 0-4 start is riding high thanks to four consecutive victories to end the regular season, tied with Cheverus and Portland for the longest current streak winning in Class A.
“Our kids know going in Scarborough’s not the same team they were week 1,” Noel said. “Yeah, they’re still the same kids, but they’ve evolved quite a bit since.”
After graduating nearly all of its key players at the skill positions from last year’s regionalist semifinalist squad, the Red Storm have pulled things together in large part thanks to an explosive passing attack led by junior quarterback Jack Hughes, who threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Biddeford and for 246 yards and five TD’s in beating Massabesic.
Hughes has no shortage of tall, athletic targets to throw to ”“ receivers Milani Hicks, who gave Sanford fits in that first game, and Griffin Madden stand at 6-foot-2 and 6-feet, respectively, while tight ends Anthony Quintiliani (6-foot-3) and Jacob Gardner (6-foot-6) serve as nightmare matchups for a secondary over the middle of the field.
“They throw it pretty well. They have some good receivers, some tall tight ends and if you play the pass too much they can thump it at you,” Noel said. “They’re multi-dimensional, give you a couple of different looks and ask you to stop it. We’ve got to buckle down on defense a little bit.”
While the Red Storm’s offense has been putting up points, their defense has been leaking them nearly as quickly. Scarborough has given up an average of 30.1 points a game, and only twice has stopped its opponents from scoring at least three touchdowns.
That’s good news for a Sanford ground game that wore down Scarborough back in week 1, when the Spartans gained 357 offensive yards ”“ 172 of them by running back Peter Hegarty on 24 carries.
Chase Eldredge has also developed into a multi-threat option at the quarterback position and will look to lead a Spartans offense that can hit you from many directions: four Sanford players gained at least 40 yards running in the first go-around with Scarborough, while a fifth ”“ Eddie Michetti ”“ scored two touchdowns.
“Our line play has gotten a little better and some other guys are starting to take advantage of opportunities,” Noel said. “Eddie Michetti has taken advantage of some chances and we’ve got some other guys contributing. Plenty of guys will get touches.”
Sanford, which started off 2-0 before losing three straight, looked on its way towards hosting a first-round playoff game on the night of Oct. 10 after beating Biddeford 35-14.
A week later, however, the Spartans were shocked on senior night by winless Noble 27-7 ”“ a result that, on further reflection, may not have been all that stunning considering the Knights also took Scarborough to the very brink before falling 22-21 in the regular-season finale last week.
Sanford was able to bounce back in the annual Battle of the Ridge game against rival Massabesic last week, riding a dominant second-half performance to a 37-7 victory that still wasn’t quite enough to pass Scarborough into the fourth spot, meaning a road game this week.
But this Spartans team has plenty of experience on the road in the postseason ”“ they’ve played four playoff road games in the past three years, including a defeat at Scarborough in the first round in 2012.
However, Sanford won away from home in South Portland last year in one of the big upsets of the postseason, a trick it hopes to pull again tonight in what wouldn’t be nearly as big a surprise.
“It helps because the kids have been there in the playoffs the last couple of years, but Scarborough has been too,” Noel said. “We’ve gone to Scarborough once this year, which helps, but you can’t look into that too, too much.
“Still, we’re in a good spot. We stress to the kids all the time that you can’t go in to any week and just expect to win. Last week was a good week for us, we bounced back after not playing our best football against Noble and that’s what you want to see in your team going into the tournament.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.
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