Dexter football upsets Bucksport

By Sam Canfield, Bangor Daily News Staff

BUCKSPORT — Big losers in two straight, the reeling 3-3 Dexter Regional High School Tigers bounced back 24-22 on Friday, Oct. 13 in Bucksport, rattling the 8-Player Small North status quo at the perfect time. The conference’s playoffs start this Friday, and Dexter is showing that no win is guaranteed.

“Bucksport and Dexter is an old, fierce rivalry,” Orono High School’s longtime head coach Bob Sinclair said. “Dexter saw some things in the Bucksport-Ellsworth game that they took advantage of, and is still a dangerous team.”

Unfortunately for reigning No. 1-seed Dexter, it will still have to play Houlton/Hodgdon away in the first round of the playoffs, because of Houlton’s wins over Ellsworth this past weekend and Dexter (on Sept. 15). Both Dexter and Houlton are tied for fourth place at 4-3, but Houlton gets the tiebreaker in the Crabtree standings.

Meanwhile, the second-place Golden Bucks will play No. 7 Ellsworth at home this Friday, and will also have home field advantage in the second round, if they advance. A streaking Stearns/Schenck squad was unable to leapfrog Bucksport in the Crabtree standings, despite winning five straight.