Yes, it’s true that the Cougars lay claim to the breadth of linemen and depth of backs that coach Jim Aylward, now in his second season, favored while winning four state championships at Mountain Valley. You don’t look the proverbial gifted horse in the mouth, however, and Aylward knows he has a prized pony in […]
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Gray-New Gloucester football: Patriots undaunted by history, dreaming playoffs
Learn signature plays. Break them down into simple components. Move the chains. Rinse. Repeat. “We ran four plays today,” Gray-New Gloucester coach Mark Renna said after his team’s August scrimmage against Gorham. “That’s all we can get in the first week. Even those four plays weren’t polished. But if you run the right four plays, […]
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Mountain Valley football: Kyle Farrar, big blockers make Falcons huge threat
RUMFORD — Perhaps it isn’t the fever pitch that surrounded the program for almost a quarter-century, but one look around the Mountain Valley football huddle reveals why the expectations are bigger than they’ve been for a while. Bigger, as in the 6-foot-3, 300-pound frame of four-year starting two-way tackle Alan Carrier. Or the dueling shadows of […]
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Poland football: Knights banking on big line to reverse fortunes
POLAND — What’s that sound you hear from the Poland football camp? Well, it could be the Knights knocking on the door. They’ve made a habit of winning three or four games each season and challenging whoever were the top teams in Class C South (formerly West) at the time. This summer, more than likely, it’s […]
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Spruce Mountain football: Phoenix move on without their big three
LIVERMORE FALLS — If it seems that Matt Vigue, Peter Theriault and Deonte Ring played for Spruce Mountain football forever, well, it’s because they did. The Phoenix’s “big three” were part of the school’s inaugural team when Jay and Livermore Falls merged their high schools in 2012. Each member of the trio started on both sides […]
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Dirigo football: Riley Robinson, Gavin Arsenault slide into Cougars’ spotlight
Play to your strengths. When Dirigo employed that strategy the past four seasons, especially the 2014 campaign, it naturally involved Tyler Frost. Roughly 5-foot-8 and 235 pounds with a heart bigger than his body, Frost flaunted a knack for taking over games as a fullback and linebacker. Frost’s graduation will change the Cougars’ philosophy and […]
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Lisbon football: Shawn Grover, Henry Adams help Greyhounds overcome senior shortage
One of those maxims, after all, is that “you win with seniors” in high school sports. And if that were explicitly true, the Greyhounds might be in trouble. Only two seniors who suited up for Lisbon a year ago — tailback Shawn Grover and receiver and free safety Henry Adams — are on the roster. “We don’t […]
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Oak Hill football: Austin Goucher, Garrett Gile, Brendon Tervo walk the line for Raiders
That’s especially true when the group in question is plowing lanes for Kyle Flaherty and Alex Mace, who accumulated close to 7,000 combined rushing and receiving yards during their career at Oak Hill High School. So you might not have noticed that Garrett Gile, Austin Goucher and Brendon Tervo each have started not one, but […]
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Telstar football: New attitude as Rebels put playoff forfeit behind them
BETHEL — Without ever celebrating a regular-season victory on the field, Telstar became one of the biggest stories of the 2014 high school football playoffs. Not in the way anybody would dream up, either. After being awarded a late-season victory due to Traip’s inadvertent use of an ineligible player, Telstar elected to forfeit its Class […]
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Winthrop/Monmouth football: QB Matt Ingram, summer Wing-T study fuel Ramblers
WINTHROP — Winthrop/Monmouth football is serious about its adoption of the Wing-T. After a transitional season that improved from a four-game losing streak to its conclusion, a playoff loss at Old Orchard Beach, the Ramblers decided to step up their game by joining some of the best practitioners of the time-tested offense in New England. […]