No. 2 Hermon came away with a shutout victory on Friday night over Hampden to advance to the Class C North semifinals against No. 3 Oceanside, but coach Kyle Gallant knew his team left points on the board.
“We have to clean up the mistakes,” Gallant said after the game. “We didn’t even do it last year as a young football team. We did it in the Medomak game last week, too, and that’s what lost us the game.”
Hermon threw three interceptions to Hampden on Friday night, fumbled away possession right before halftime and had a punt blocked by the Broncos.
Still, the Hawks scored twice thanks to running back Gary Glidden and forced a safety to win 16-0 and advance to a semifinal showdown with Oceanside.
At halftime, Gallant asked the team who wanted to take the game over and the answer was Glidden.
“Gary has all year,” Gallant said. “I love all the kids and everyone plays really well, but sometimes some of the kids sputter and Gary doesn’t sputter. We needed to get out of that funk and who else to give it to than the guy that’s run 1,200 yards all year for you.”
In week three of the regular season Hermon escaped Oceanside with a 38-36 win.
In the other Class C North semifinal, top-seeded Medomak Valley is facing No. 5 Winslow.
Orono is on a revenge tour
There hasn’t been a player more on fire than Jack Brewer, quarterback of the No. 5 Orono Red Riots.
In Orono’s first playoff game against No. 4 Bucksport, Brewer threw seven touchdowns, all to receiver Will Francis in a 51-46 victory. Brewer tallied 352 total passing yards in the game.
Last Saturday, Orono traveled to No. 1 Dexter to face the defending eight-player small school state champions.
Brewer seemingly picked up right where he left off, throwing for 400 yards and seven more touchdowns. Instead of all seven going to Francis, Brewer saw that Dexter was doubling Francis and spread the ball to other players, throwing touchdowns to five different players.
“They were trying to take certain players away like Will so we hit other receivers and everyone can step up at any time. A lot of guys had a lot of catches,” Brewer said.
Orono now is gearing up to face No. 2 Stearns. The teams matched up in Week 2, with Stearns earning a 34-30 victory. Orono avenged its regular season loss to Dexter last week and Bucksport the week before, and will look to do the same against Stearns on Friday.
Large school update
In the eight-player large school North division, No. 1 Mount Desert Island took care of No. 4 Camden Hills 42-8, while No. 3 Waterville upset No. 2 Morse 22-12.
MDI and Waterville played each other in the third week of the season, with Waterville winning 26-20.
Brewer ousted in B North playoffs
Adam Savage helped Skowhegan end Brewer’s season on Friday in a Class B North quarterfinal, 42-6.
No. 2 Skowhegan’s quarterback accounted for five touchdowns to beat the No. 7 Witches to advance in the playoffs.
Cam Hughes scored a 1-yard touchdown run for Brewer in the fourth quarter.
Class A, D regular season ends
Bangor lost to Bonny Eagle 52-14, ending its season before the playoffs started in Class A.
In Class D, Foxcroft Academy earned a big 47-6 victory over Oak Hill to secure the top seed in the playoffs that begin this week.