Tigers stretch winning streak to three games
DEXTER, Maine — The Dexter High football team enters the toughest stretch of its schedule Saturday afternoon with its homecoming game against Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.
But the Tigers do so from a position of confidence after extending their winning streak to three games with a 39-0 victory over Stearns of Millinocket last weekend.
“Not many people thought we’d be very good this year and we’re proving them wrong and it’s awesome,” said junior quarterback Brayden Miller, who threw touchdown asses to Zach White and Kyle Watson during Dexter’s most recent win.
After dropping their first two games to Houlton and Mount View of Thorndike, the Tigers scored back-to-back victories over perennial LTC Class D contenders Orono (48-22) and Bucksport (22-13) before improving their record to 3-2 with the win over Stearns.
“That meant a lot,” said senior fullback-linebacker Bryce Salsbury, a fourth-year varsity player, “since I hadn’t beaten Orono or Bucksport since I’ve been in high school.”
Some of the recent success can be traced to a growing familiarity with the team’s offensive and defensive schemes under first-year head coaches Brian Salsbury and Andrew Shorey.
“This is the fourth year in a row since I’ve been here (the first three as an assistant coach) that we’ve changed the offense and the defense,” said coach Salsbury, “and it seems like in the third week it just starts clicking and they understand what’s going on and what we’re looking for. They just start meshing.
“Hopefully in the future for our offense and defense we’ll just be able to build on what we’re doing now.”
Improved play along the line of scrimmage and a more balanced offense have been two other factors in the winning streak.
The Tigers’ defense came up with a big stop early in the Orono game, sparking the momentum needed to defeat a Red Riots’ team that admittedly was short-handed due to injuries that sidelined quarterback Jackson Coutts and top running back Keenan Collett.
“We came into the Orono game not really knowing what to expect,” said Miller. “They had some injuries, but on the first drive we shut them down and I think that showed us that we could do it.”
Against Stearns, the offensive line of Jeremy Davis, Connor Larson, Danny Wallace, David Kirshkain and Tanner Hall enabled the Tigers to find different ways to score, with Bryce Salsbury adding two rushing touchdowns and an option pass to White for a third score and Tyler Beem also rushing for a TD to complement Miller’s two touchdown passes.
“Everything’s picked up,” said Shorey. “Brayden’s throwing the ball really well and we’re giving him some time and it’s starting to click a little bit.”
The Tigers will be tested in the final three weeks of the regular season by 4-1 Mattanawcook Academy and 5-0 Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield, the reigning LTC champion, as well as an improved Ellsworth-Sumner team.
“We’ve got some tough teams coming up,” said Miller. “We’ve got homecoming next weekend so there’s going to be a lot of fans, I think. We’re going to be pushing each other this week and hopefully come out strong.”