Orono ousts Dexter in LTC quarterfinal

ORONO — Dexter Regional High School’s football season ended in the opening round of the LTC Class D playoffs as Orono avenged a regular-season loss to the Tigers with a 35-18 victory.

The fourth-seeded Red Riots amassed 485 yards of rushing offense on 44 carries to overcome rushing touchdowns by Dexter’s Brayden Miller, Bryce Salsbury and Tyler Beem.

After a 60-yard rush by Orono’s Keenan Collett, Matt Fowler ran the ball to the 1-yard line on a 24-yard scamper and then plunged in from the one. Jackson Coutts booted the extra-point kick to give the Red Riots a 7 -0 lead.

The Tigers answered with a 14-play, 82-yard drive that culminated with Miller’s 1-yard TD rush.

Orono struck again with Coutts slicing through the Dexter defense for the score, and his kick pushed the lead to 14-6, but Salsbury countered with a 7-yard scoring run to cut the Tigers’ deficit to two points.

Collett added Orono’s third touchdown before halftime on an 18-yard-run, then Coutts added a 5-yard score in the third quarter to push the Red Riots’ lead to 27-12.

Fifth-seeded Dexter, which defeated Orono 48-22 midway through the regular season, responded with an eight-play drive capped off by Beem’s 16-yard touchdown run.

Orono added an insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter as Fowler raced in for a 29-yard TD to make it 33-18, then Riots’ defensive end Andrew Cookson sacked Miller in the end zone for a safety on Dexter’s final possession.

Dexter concluded its season with a 3-6 record under first-year co-coaches Brian Salsbury and Andrew Shorey.