White encouraged by Ponies’ skill but turnovers costly

Ashley L. Conti Foxcroft Academy’s Brandon Brock (right) is congratulated by teammate Drew Dankert after scoring a touchdown against Old Town during their football game Friday night in Old Town. Old Town defeated Foxcroft 41-19

By Larry Mahoney
Staff Writer

OLD TOWN — Foxcroft Academy football coach Danny White wasn’t disheartened by Friday night’s 41-19 loss to undefeated Old Town at Victory Field.

His team moved the ball effectively between the 20-yard lines but their inability to cash in on more red zone opportunities, their costly turnovers and Old Town’s big plays proved to be the Ponies’ undoing.

Four of Old Town’s touchdowns covered at least 42 yards including a 95-yard interception return by Andre Miller and an 85-yard blocked field goal return by Pascal Cyr. Three TDs came on plays that covered at least 76 yards.

“I was pleased with the effort. We received a ton of great production on offense from a lot of young kids. (Sophomore quarterback) Nick Clawson had a great game,” said White. “We did exactly what we wanted to do offensively. We got first downs and kept (Old Town’s offense) off the field.

“Old Town only stopped us (from manufacturing a long drive) once. We had seven trips into the red zone (inside the opponent’s 20-yard line) and we scored three touchdowns. But we also had two huge turnovers that resulted (directly) in touchdowns for them. You can’t turn the ball over against a team that can score 40 points,” said White. “We’re going to take the good things away from the game. You can’t eliminate all of the mistakes but we’ve got to eliminate some of them.”

“We had some real good drives to get us into the red zone but then we’d stall. We need to come together in the red zone,” said Foxcroft standout senior running back and linebacker Zach Caron. “And you’ve got to give it to Old Town. They made some good plays.”

Clawson, who was going to be a slotback-halfback until he was converted to quarterback after star quarterback Hunter Smith suffered a season-ending hip injury during an exhibition game, wound up completing 9-of-18 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

Ashley L. Conti TACKLE YES — Old Town’s TJ Crawford (left) tackles Foxcroft Academy’s Nick Clawson during their football game Friday night in Old Town.

Old Town is now 4-0 while Foxcroft fell to 1-3.

Senior Andre Miller was the catalyst for Old Town as he returned an interception 95 yards for a touchdown to make it 12-0 in the first quarter, ran 76 yards for another TD in the third quarter and set up two more TDs with a game-opening 50-yard kickoff return and a 36-yard option pass to Pascal Cyr off a reverse.

“We base our whole offense on trying to make big plays,” said Miller.

Cyr scored the pivotal touchdown in the third quarter when he returned Nate Church’s field goal attempt 85 yards for a TD that gave the Coyotes a 20-6 lead.

“It almost went out of bounds but I picked it up and took off with it,” said Cyr. “I forgot you could pick it up and return it. I just did it anyways.”

“That was a huge play,” said White. “Instead of it being 12-10, it was 20-6. “

White said his team didn’t react well to the runback after the blocked field goal attempt.

Old Town had bolted out to a 12-0 lead on T.J. Crawford’s three-yard run following Miller’s kickoff return and Miller’s interception return.

Clawson answered by tossing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Brock to shave the deficit to 12-7 entering halftime.

Following Cyr’s blocked field goal return, Miller extended the lead by bursting 76 yards on an option pitch from quarterback Jake Jarvis.

Clawson tossed a 15-yard TD pass to Hyatt Smith to make it 28-13, but Crawford ran 42 yards for a touchdown after the 36-yard pass from Miller to the wide-open Cyr, who tripped after catching the ball.

Clawson ran 14 yards for a TD with 6:20 left as the resilient Ponies kept battling.

But Miller’s 1-yard plunge sewed it up.

White said the talented Miller is very difficult to tackle, especially in the open field.

Crawford ran for 95 yards on 11 carries and Miller had 80 on three. Jarvis completed 11 of 17 passes for 121 yards. Cyr had five catches for 66 yards.

The hard-running Caron rushed for 75 yards on 18 carries for FA and Brandon Brock gained 51 yards on six carries and also caught four passes for 49 yards.

Freshman Smith, younger brother of Hunter, had three receptions for 68 yards.

White said the Ponies were hurt in the second half by absence of senior linebacker Billy Brock, Brandon’s brother.

Billy Brock sustained a broken hand during the preseason but returned to the lineup and had 14 tackles in the 20-6 win over Waterville the previous weekend. Brock, whose hand and arm are protected by a cast and lots of wrapping, made seven tackles in the first half before re-injuring the hand at the end of the half.

“Billy’s absence was evident. it played a role in their big plays,” said White.

White said defensive tackles Connor Holmes and Cody Strout had strong games as did linebacker Tanner Strout.

Offensively, right tackle Tanner Strout and left guard James Smith were standouts.

Foxcroft will host Hermon on Friday night.