Western Class D quarterfinal
No. 5 Winthrop/Monmouth (3-4) at No. 4 Old Orchard Beach (4-3)
7 p.m. at Joe Regina Field
More than perhaps any other team in Western Maine, home field advantage means a lot to Old Orchard Beach. Surrounded by much larger schools, the Seagulls travel and travel and travel, almost always in a northward direction, for their road games; for instance, the average distance of a trip to the other six teams who qualified for the Western Class D playoffs weighs in at a cool 69 miles.
So getting the fourth seed ”“ and a home playoff game for the first time since 2009 ”“ is no small thing for coach Dean Plante’s team.
“There’s no short trips in our league,” Plante said. “There’s a lot of benefits to (playing at home), and if anybody tells you differently, they’re probably full of it.”
The Seagulls made the trip up to Winthrop on Sept. 12 and scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to come out with a 27-8 victory. As he has all season, quarterback Bryan Roberts did a little bit of everything for OOB in that one, running for two scores, throwing for another and leading a defense that shut down the Ramblers in the second half.
Still, that was seven weeks ago, and Winthrop/Monmouth won its final three games of the season to earn the No. 5 spot in the division.
“It’s been six, seven weeks since we’ve seen Winthrop, so I don’t put a ton into it,” Plante said. “I think it’s a confidence thing for our kids, knowing that going in we can compete. But both teams have improved, so it’s a different animal.”
The Ramblers will run a Wing T formation led by quarterback Matt Ingram and do-it-all back Dakota Carter, the pairing who hooked up for their only touchdown in that first game.
“They have some good skill kids. Dakota Carter is a very talented wing back and a good receiver, as well as probably their best defensive player,” Plante said. “They have a stable full of backs. No real superstars but a lot of kids who hit it hard, so we’ll have to take care of that because they want to run the ball first.”
That Winthrop/Monmouth TD in the first matchup was the result of two things that have plagued the Seagulls all season ”“ turnovers and big plays. Up 6-0 after dominating the first half, OOB muffed a punt that Ingram recovered at the Seagulls 21 with 1:26 to play before halftime.
The OOB defense looked to have made a big stand, but Ingram found Carter for a touchdown on a 15-yard pass on fourth-and-goal on the final play of the opening half. Old Orchard Beach also turned the ball over four times in a loss to Lisbon, three times in a defeat by Oak Hill and a pair of times in a narrow loss to Dirigo, games in which it also gave up several long plays.
“The games that we didn’t do well, we turned it over,” Plante said. “And when we don’t give up big plays we’ve been very successful. We’re going to try to make them put together drives.”
OOB started the season 3-0, only to drop its next three. But after regrouping during a bye week in week 7, the Seagulls came out firing in the regular-season finale against Boothbay last week, opening up a 34-0 halftime lead in a 41-14 victory.
Crucially, the Seagulls were able to find other offensive options to support Roberts in that win as Andrew Graves ran for 78 yards on only seven carries, while Erik Hogan also ran for a score and Joe Anderson caught a TD pass, the kind of multi-faceted attack the well-rested Seagulls will no doubt need in the playoffs.
“I’m really comfortable with where we are now,” Plante said. “The bye week, in some respects you have some apprehension going into it because it’s new and you’re used to playing every week, but honestly I think it helped us. We went in extremely healthy last week, took care of business and came out extremely healthy.
“It’s rare at this time of year to go in with all guns blazing at a small school where kids play both ways as well as special teams, but we’re healthy. I think we’re in as good a position as anyone to have a good tournament.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
