When Windham entered halftime tied with Massabesic on Saturday, there was no panic or anxiety among the players or coaching staff. It was a situation the Eagles had been in before.
“We’ve been in this situation a lot this year,” said Windham coach Matt Perkins. “It’s either tied and we feel like we should be winning, or we go in and we’re down at the half. Our kids are very laid back. They go with the moment. They’re not high strung, so it’s easy to make adjustments at halftime.”
With a couple tweaks, the No. 3 Eagles dominated the second half – scoring three touchdowns and holding Massabesic without a first down – en route to a 28-7 win over the No. 6 Mustangs in Saturday’s Class A West football quarterfinal game at Windham High School. It was the first-ever playoff victory for the Eagles (7-2), who have won seven straight games. They’ll take on No. 2 Thornton Academy (9-0) in this Saturday’s semifinal at 1 p.m. in Saco.
“Early, we were doing too much defensively, stunting,” Perkins said. “We just needed to be less aggressive with that and just let our kids make reads and play. That helped. Then there were a few things on the offensive line we had to mess with a little bit.”
The first half was an offensive struggle for the Eagles, who turned the ball over twice early on.
Joey Eon’s 15-yard TD run and the point-after kick from Pat McCarthy gave Massabesic a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. A shanked punt by the Mustangs (6-3) gave Windham the ball on the Massabesic 24 early in the second quarter, but the Eagles missed a 29-yard field goal and remained scoreless.
Massabesic failed to move the ball on its next possession, and a bad snap on the punt gave Windham the ball at the 7. Three plays later, quarterback Jackson Taylor finally got the Eagles on the board when he hit David Ingraham on a 3-yard TD pass. Tyler Littlefield’s PAT made it 7-7 with 2:05 left in the half.
“In that first half, we tired ourselves out defensively,” said Massabesic coach John Morin. “A lot of that is emotion. It took just about everything we had emotionally to keep them out of the end zone in the first have, and then we gave them a 7-yard field to score. I think it wore us down.”
After holding Massabesic three-and-out its opening drive of the third quarter, the Eagles embarked on a 7-play, 66-yard drive to take the lead. Jack Mallis picked up 46 of those yards on five carries, including a 9-yard scoring jaunt with 6:16 to go in the quarter. Littlefield’s kick made it 14-7.
The Mustangs, who saw quarterback Tony Campbell go down with a tweaked knee on the first play of the second half, again stalled offensively and had to punt. Windham took over on its own 30 and drove to the Massabesic 5 after a 35-yard run by Ingraham and a 21-yard completion from Taylor to Matthew Gledhill. On first-and-goal, Taylor kept it himself, but fumbled after a jarring hit. The Mustangs recovered on their own 3.
Three straight runs resulted in no gain and Massabesic’s Alex Holland punted from deep in his own end zone. Windham took over on the Massabesic 30. On fourth-and-11 from the 18, the Eagles missed a field goal, but a roughing the kicker penalty gave Windham a first down just inside the 10. Two plays later, Taylor kept it for a 7-yard TD. The kick made it 21-7 with 7:45 left in the game.
The Mustangs turned the ball over on a fumble at their own 35 on their next offensive play, but Windham returned the favor four plays later. Three straight runs gave Massabesic a fourth-and-short at their own 17 midway through the fourth quarter. The Mustangs went for it, but McCarthy (in at running back for Eon, who left the game after taking a hard hit) was stopped for no gain by Windham’s Cody McLean.
Windham punched in its final score on a 5-yard run by Ingraham with 4:20 to go.
Massabesic – down to freshman third-string quarterback Cody Frazier at the end of the game after Campbell went down and Matt Turnage struggled – couldn’t get anything going in the second half.
“We were struggling offensively because of our situation at quarterback,” Morin said. “They know we’re not throwing the ball. We know we’re not throwing the ball. So they loaded up in the box and came like hell, and that puts even more pressure on our young kids.”
The big edge in field position late in the second quarter and throughout the second half allowed Windham to pull ahead despite several miscues.
“That helped a ton,” said Taylor. “It opens up the field. You can spread it out. It makes it a lot easier and less stressful.”
“That’s a good football team,” Morin said. “We were fortunate to put that one in early. Losing that field position battle in the second period really hurt us. We played great defense in the first half.”
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