Seagulls win first game of second season

OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Consider this the second season for the Old Orchard Beach football team.

Their record this season? 1-1.

In reality, the Seagulls are 1-5, but after their 23-0 win over Poland on Saturday, the first of the season, the response of the team rivaled that of a Super Bowl winner.

“It’s nice to finally finish some stuff,” Old Orchard Beach head coach Dean Plante said. “I feel great for the kids and my staff. They’ve worked hard and they overcame a lot. When you’re dealing with injuries and grades, it’s nice to just focus on football and know who you have to sub. It was a great day and a good homecoming, and I’m happy for them.”

Old Orchard Beach used a sound running game and a smothering defense to defeat the Knights. The Seagulls outgained Poland 258-41 in total offensive yards, and forced three turnovers as a defensive unit to complete the shutout.

After a stretch of four losses to playoff teams from a season ago, Plante said he and the team considered the latter four games of the schedule as a second season.

“We talked about that going into Freeport last week,” Plante said. “It was a second season. I think the kids are looking forward to it, and right now we’re 1-1. We’re regretting last week a little bit, but we put it behind us and focused. I think we hit, and I think we do that every week. I think it paid off this week, we got them this week.”

The news gets better for the Seagulls. Old Orchard Beach has Sacopee Valley (0-6) and Boothbay (1-5) for the final two games of the season.

The Seagulls responded to their new challenge on Saturday, particularly on defense, where the team has allowed only six points in the past two games, all of which came in a 6-0 loss to Freeport on Oct. 1.

But the defense tightened up even more against the Knights, to the point where the Seagulls allowed -9 yards to Poland in the second half.

“There’s an old saying, ‘It’s not the X’s and O’s, it’s the Johnnys and Joes,'” Plante said. “We can draw anything up to stop stuff. We’ve got to have kids to execute it. We’ve had the kids the past couple of weeks. We asked a lot of kids to step up early in their careers the past couple of weeks. It’s not fair to them, or realistic, but you play the hand you’re dealt. We’ve got kids back, and we’re competitive. If we could start back over with a clean slate, great. But we didn’t get dealt the hand, we did it to ourselves, and now we have to win out.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Old Orchard Beach marched 65 yards down the field on 12 plays, killing 5:03 in the process before running back Bryan Roberts capped the drive off with a 2-yard run into the endzone for a touchdown. Seagulls quarterback Matt Parks, making his first start, ran into the endzone for the 2-point conversion to give Old Orchard Beach an 8-0 lead.

Poland, running the triple-option offense, had some success on the ground in the first half, particularly from quarterback Tony Whalen, who ran for 30 yards on four carries. But on one of the final plays in the first half, Whalen, playing on defense as a cornerback, intercepted a pass from Parks and returned it 47 yards down the field. But Whalen was knocked hard in the ribs on the play, and he couldn’t return, leaving the quarterback duties to backup Everett Bertrand.

Poland head coach Ted Tibbetts said the wind seemed to come out of his team’s sails after Whalen’s injury.

“He’s a smart quarterback, he’s a fast quarterback,” Tibbetts said. “Everett, bless his heart, is tough. He’s only a sophomore, he’s only been an option quarterback for a couple of years. He’s not really familiar with the center, so we had some problems with the quarterback-center exchange. But even before Tony came out, they were taking it to us. We’ve got to play faster and play harder.”

The Seagulls took full advantage of the opportunity, forcing two turnovers in the second half. One of the turnovers became the second score of the game for Old Orchard Beach. Midway through the fourth quarter and deep in his own territory, Bertrand fumbled, and Seagulls linebacker Jason Regis recovered the ball in the endzone for the touchdown. Parks connected with running back Nick Carlin on a pass play for the 2-point conversion, giving the Seagulls a 16-0 lead.

Regis said the success of the Seagulls defense has come from having players come back from injury.

“It was mostly the seven or eight people we got back,” Regis said. “We just all wanted to win from last week, and we came out and killed them.”

The final score of the game came on the Seagulls next possession. After recovering a fumble in Poland territory, the Old Orchard Beach needed just five plays and 26 yards to score, capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Regis. The extra point by Julian Gomez sealed the 23-0 win for the Seagulls.

Tibbetts credited the Seagulls after the game.

“They came out and played faster and harder,” Tibbetts said. “We could scheme and everything like that. But I didn’t have the team prepared to play as hard and physical as they did, that’s what I told the guys after. I have to look at the way I’m coaching and the style and figure out a way to get them as intense as (Old Orchard Beach) played, because they just took it to us.”

Out of Old Orchard Beach’s offensive yards, 197 came in the running game. Roberts led the Seagulls with 68 yards rushing on 15 carries, and even added a 24-yard option pass to his total for the day. Regis followed with 46 yards rushing on 16 carries.

The Seagulls continue the second season on Friday on the road against Sacopee Valley.

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