Saturday will be another big day for Bangor-area football, with two of the area’s top performing 11-man teams fighting for a place in the state championship.
The Crusaders from John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor will look to stay undefeated in Class D against a formidable Winslow High School team. The top two squads from Class D North will face off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bangor’s Cameron Stadium for the regional title.
The winner will move on to next weekend’s Class D state championship game.
Winslow’s only loss of the season came at the hands of the Crusaders on Sept. 27, when John Bapst pulled off a 27-14 win. The Crusaders have gone 9-0 so far this year and the Black Raiders are right behind at 8-1.
John Bapst is loaded with senior leadership, and its potent triple-option running attack has been powered in part by quarterback Aiden Ouellette and running back Malcolm Butler, both senior captains.
The Crusaders had some close calls this season as it preserved its perfect record, including a comeback win at Hampden Academy in the last game of the regular season.
“I like that we’ve had to be in some competitive games, and had some adversity,” John Bapst head coach Dan O’Connell said after that win. “And we’ve had to overcome it.”
The Crusaders can expect Winslow to provide all kinds of adversity on Saturday afternoon, as the Black Raiders look to avenge their only loss of the season. Winslow enters the regional final after delivering a 68-7 statement win over the No. 3 team in Class D North from Madison.
And that’s not the only semifinal matchup that could provide fireworks on Saturday.
The Hermon Hawks and Leavitt Hornets of Turner will get together for their own rematch that could prove explosive in Class C.
While Saturday’s game is technically a state semifinal rather than a regional championship because Class C football is one statewide table this year, Hermon has once again played its way into the final weeks of the season.
After making their first-ever Class C state title game a year ago, the Hawks are nearly back, and will need to get through a familiar foe to keep their 8-1 season rolling.
That only loss for Hermon came against Leavitt, which triumphed in a close 12-7 game on Oct. 24 to close out the regular season.
The loss has only made Hermon more determined, according to Hawks coach Kyle Gallant.
“When you’re 7-0 and you’re looking and hoping to be 8-0, and you lose a game week eight the way we did down there, knowing we didn’t play our best ball, I think it’s made us hungrier here in the playoffs,” Gallant said on Thursday.
Hermon started its postseason campaign last Friday night with a 30-6 win over Nokomis High School from Newport
“The way we flew around against Nokomis was the best we’ve flown around all year,” Gallant said.
The coach also took a large share of the responsibility for the previous loss against Leavitt.
“The first time we played Leavitt, I take a lot of the blame for what happened offensively,” Gallant said. “I didn’t think I put the guys in a great game plan to be consistent for 48 minutes of a football game.”
This time around, Gallant said it will be key for the Hermon offense to stay on the field longer than it did the first time around.
And at this stage in the playoffs, Gallant and his team know that “everybody’s gonna bring their best, and we especially know Leavitt’s going to.”
He’s looking for his team to be more consistent offensively than it was in the previous matchup, while putting up a similarly strong defensive performance.
Leavitt is the No. 2 team in the Class C rankings with a record of 7-3, and Hermon is right behind at No. 3 with a record of 8-1. That previous head-to-head matchup was the deciding factor in who nabbed the No. 2 seed.
Expect junior back and co-captain Sam Hopkins to continue to be a weapon for the Hawks on Saturday. Hopkins was everywhere for Hermon against Nokomis — starting the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown rush, nabbing a highlight-reel interception and rumbling over 80 yards for a kick return touchdown.
“He really can do everything,” Gallant said about Hopkins. “He obviously runs the ball really, really well. He’s a threat in the pass game. He kick and punt returns for us, which a lot of people don’t kick to him or punt to him, as Nokomis found out real quick why you don’t kick to him.”
Hermon and Leavitt will kick off at 5 p.m. Saturday in Lewiston. The winner punches its ticket to the Class C state championship game next Saturday, also in Lewiston.
