Foxcroft’s football season ends
Lose to Old Town in ‘C’ North semifinals
OLD TOWN — The Foxcroft Academy football team had high expectations when preseason practices began in mid-August.
Ashley L. Conti/Bangor Daily News
FORCE THE INCOMPLETION — Foxcroft Academy’s Zachary Caron breaks up a pass intended for Old Town during their Class C North football semifinal game on Friday at Victory Field in Old Town. The top-seeded Coyotes ended the season for No. 5 Foxcroft with a 38-7 victory.
But a pair of devastating injuries suffered during an exhibition game at Orono sidelined Division I college prospect and starting quarterback and safety Hunter Smith for the season and left starting halfback-linebacker Billy Brock limited to defense until playoff time.
That the Ponies were even going to qualify for the playoffs was uncertain at that point, but seventh-year head coach Danny White and his staff went to work and remolded the squad to fit the largely youthful talent available.
Foxcroft endured some growing pains early in the season as it dropped its first two contests and three of its first four games.
But by midseason the Ponies began to find renewed rhythm based on team balance, leading to a run of four wins in five games — including three consecutive must-win victories — to finish 5-5 and match its 2014 finish when it advanced to the Class C North semifinals.
“The kids could have made a lot of excuses and they could have just been OK with whatever the outcome was,” said White. “But they refused to do that, they really adopted an attitude that they were going to go out there and compete to the best of our ability, they were going to get better each week and they were going to try to compete with anybody in the league, and they did that.”
“it’s a credit to their character and their hard work, and the leadership that remained on the field was tremendous. And when Hunter went down he became a coach on the sideline and he wouldn’t allow those kids to make excuses.”
The 2015 run to the semifinals ended Friday night when the Ponies fell to top-ranked and unbeaten Old Town 38-7.
“They’re playing really good football,” said White. “We were playing really good football, too. The only trouble was they’re deeper and a little bit more talented at this point at each position than we are, and they’ve got seniors in those spots that are really producing for them right now.
“It was a tough matchup to begin with, and then they played really well on top of it.”
The 9-0 Coyotes, who will host defending state champion Winslow for the regional title Friday night, needed a second-half surge to defeat the Ponies 41-19 during their regular-season meeting on Sept. 25 but struck early in the rematch.
Jake Jarvis, a senior quarterback, completed 10 of 18 passes for 291 yards and five touchdowns to help the Coyotes amass 451 yards of total offense as Old Town built leads of 18-0 after the first quarter and 25-0 at halftime.
Senior wide receiver Andre Miller caught five passes for 149 yards, including scoring receptions of 25, 63 and 36 yards. Classmate Pascal Cyr added four catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
“We’ve been throwing the ball since second grade,” Jarvis said. “We’ve been envisioning this moment, ‘senior year of high school, this one’s for the Eastern Maine game, this one’s for the state championship game.’”
T.J. Crawford, a junior tailback for a senior-laden Old Town squad, rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
Sophomore Nick Clawson, who replaced Smith as Foxcroft’s starting quarterback, passed for 55 yards and a touchdown and rushed for a team-high 46 yards on eight carries.
Brock, who returned to offensive duty a week earlier when fifth-seeded Foxcroft upended No. 4 Madison-Carrabec 21-14 in overtime in their Class C North quarterfinal, rushed for 41 yards on eight carries and caught two passes for 50-yards, including a 35-yard touchdown pass from Clawson in the third quarter.
“We were ready for them,” Crawford said. “We knew they had a few different approaches and we could stop them both.”
Brock also led the Foxcroft defense with 10 tackles, while James Smith and Tanner Strout — two of 15 seniors on the Ponies’ roster — added eight and seven tackles, respectively.
While 15 seniors graduate from this year’s Foxcroft squad, White is optimistic about the 2016 campaign to come — particularly in light of the experience numerous younger players earned this fall.
“A lot of kids saw times in various spots that they wouldn’t have had we not been in the circumstances we were in,” said White. “They certainly learned a great deal, and the coaches certainly learned a great deal having to work with such green, inexperienced kids.
“But it bodes well for our future.”
Pete Warner of the Bangor Daily News contributed to this article.
Ashley L. Conti/Bangor Daily News
TOUGH RUNNING — Billy Brock stiff arms Old Town High School’’s TJ Crawford on Nov. 6. Brock would score the Pony touchdown on a 35-yard reception from Nick Clawson in the third quarter.
Ashley L. Conti/Bangor Daily News
ROLLING TO HIS LEFT — Pony quarterback Nick Clawson scrambles for yardage during Foxcroft’s Class C North semifinal at Old Town on Friday night.
Ashley L. Conti/Bangor Daily News
JUST OUT REACH — Evan Chadbourne of Foxcroft tries to make a play on a pass thrown to Old Town’sPascal Cyr.
Ashley L. Conti/Bangor Daily News
SLEEVE TACKLE — The Ponies’ James Smith grabs a hold of TJ Crawford of Old Town during the two team’s semifinal on Nov. 6. in Old Town.