TOPSHAM — The Mount Ararat football team hasn’t spent much time training on offense this past week.
Instead, head coach Frank True said, the Eagles worked primarily on establishing a coverage defense and finding the right matchups to stop Gray-New Gloucester’s dynamic transition attack.
The practice plan came together on a windy Friday evening when the Eagles shut out the Patriots 44-0 and punched their ticket to the Large School 8-team semifinals.
“Overall, the kids executed our game plan exactly as we laid it out all week,” True said. “I had a really good week of practice, good weather, but it was a great performance from our kids. We do very little (as coaches) – other than the twenty hours of film work I did this week.
Mount Ararat’s defense credited the film preparation for the Gray-New Gloucester company (averaging 39 points per game during the regular season) for the first time all year winless.
“All week in practice we’re going over their formations, so I see the play and I kind of see what’s happening before it starts,” senior linebacker Dash Farrell said. “So it’s really just about execution, about making big plays, and everyone here did that today.”
In addition to another explosive offensive performance — 19 carries for 303 yards rushing and six touchdowns runs — Farrell intercepted a pass and combined for a sack with junior lineman Adrian Reyes, who finished the night with 1.5 sacks and multiple QB pressures.
Gray-New Gloucester started the game in rhythm as Kobi Conant found Isaac Ormberg on the first play of the game for a 26-yard gain. Conant chopped away at the Eagles’ defense with his legs, bringing the offense into the red zone and to the 8-yard line, but the Patriots could not convert the opening drive into points.
Mount Ararat (7-2) took over possession and ran the rest of the quarter before Farrell scored his first touchdown from the 1-yard line on the first play of the second quarter.
Farrell scored twice more before halftime (4-yarder, 18-yarder) and twice in the third quarter (14-yarder, 29-yarder), before capping it off with his sixth touchdown on a 58-yard run in the final quarter. Junior running back Nick Doughty added 77 yards on eight carries.
The first drive ended up being Gray-New Gloucester’s best scoring opportunity of the game. Reyes said it was also a wake-up call for the Eagles.
“We stopped the pass all week (in practice), so when they showed us they could throw the ball, we started picking up and doing what we had to do,” Reyes said.
Conant completed 10 of his 20 passes for 92 yards and led the team with nine carries for 31 yards rushing. Ormberg was the leading receiver with four catches for 46 yards. Although most of the completions occurred on short routes the Eagles allowed underneath, the Patriots continued to throw deep with and against the wind, frustrating head coach Mike Caiazzo.
“We wanted to get the run game going, and then we wanted to set up our deep shots,” Caiazzo said. “We like to pass. The weather didn’t really cooperate with us tonight, but that’s okay. … I’m proud of them. I’m still processing this. Certainly not the outcome that any of us expected, but we will get after it tomorrow and get ready for next year.”
Gray-New Gloucester finishes 5-4, the best season in the program’s 20-year history.
Next week, Mount Ararat travels to Rockport to take on top-seeded Camden Hills (7-1) for a chance to play in the state championship game. The two teams met on October 4as the Windjammers overcame a 24-point first-half deficit to defeat the Eagles 36-30.
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