The oldest formula for success in football is to run the ball effectively and play good defense.
That’s precisely what Fryeburg Academy did on Saturday, getting a pair of touchdown runs from speedy junior back Ty Boone and shutting down what had been a potent Hermon offense on the way to a 28-0 win in the Class C State Championship game at Lewiston High School.
The South champion Raiders finished the season with a 9-2 record but more impressively they capped a postseason run of three straight shutouts to take home the gold ball.
Hermon ended at 8-3 after appearing in the program’s first state championship game and winning its first regional crown.
“We’ve got some speed, we’ve got some athleticism, but we’re also very, very physical,’’ said Fryeburg coach David Turner after the win. “That doesn’t happen during the season, that happens in the off season.”
Fryeburg’s speed was embodied by Boone, who directed the ground attack by taking direct snaps like a quarterback and then used his running instincts to shred Hermon’s defense. Boone scored on an 18-yard run following a blocked punt to give the Raiders a quick 7-0 lead early in the first quarter.
Hermon’s ensuing possession lasted four plays, the last of which was a fake punt that Fryeburg’s defense smothered, giving the Raiders the ball back at the Hawks 22-yard line. Boone took advantage of the short field and capped a 4-play scoring drive by darting up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 with 3:25 left in the opening period.
Hermon fought back in the second quarter, embarking on a 17-play, 81-yard drive fueled by quarterback Ethan Curtis’s pass completions of 27 yards to tight end Tyler Corson and a 17-yard slant to receiver Griffin Dunton. But Fryeburg’s defense rose up to keep the Hawks out of the end zone.
On second and goal from the Fryeburg 4-yard line, Curtis fumbled a handoff resulting in a 6-yard loss. Fryeburg tackle Anton Kravchuk then sacked Curtis for a 7-yard loss. Raiders linebacker Daniel Ruiz intercepted Curtis’s ensuing fourth-down pass and returned it to the Hermon 40-yard line to end the threat.
Boone was not the only Fryeburg runner to make his presence felt. Senior backs Ruiz and Malik Sow both gained more than 80 yards and each scored a second-half touchdown. The three-pronged running game powered by the Raiders physical offensive line enabled the team to control the ball for almost the entire third quarter.
Fryeburg opened the second half with an 8-play, 63-yard scoring drive that consumed nearly half the quarter capped by a 4-yard TD run by Ruiz.
Hermon’s only possession of the quarter was a 3-and-out.
A 21-yard punt return by Boone gave the Raiders the ball at the Hermon-41. A 9-play drive ensued, spearheaded by Ruiz and Sow, with the latter scoring from 5 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Hermon threatened to score in the fourth quarter, driving to the Fryeburg-13. But Max Hopkins’ halfback pass on fourth down fell incomplete and Fryeburg’s ground game took over. The Raiders ran out the clock with a 12-play drive ending with quarterback Benny Arnason taking a knee the last 3 plays.
BDN photographer Troy R. Bennett contributed to this report.
