This might be Joe Rafferty’s 40th season at the helm of the Kennebunk High School football program, but the legendary coach still gets fired up for big games.
His squad certainly has one this week as the Rams head to South Berwick tonight for a Class B South showdown with the Marshwood Hawks.
“It’s exciting. I look forward to it … it’s what high school football is all about,” said Rafferty.
Kennebunk and Marshwood both enter the game with perfect 7-0 records and the winner of this game will have the No. 1 seed and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
“I think with the whole hype of the game it should be exciting. If you’re a fan of high school football it should be a great night for you,” said Rafferty.
The Rams, who have outscored opponents 347-54 this season, know they are heading into their toughest test of the regular season.
“They are a very good team. They have always been a good football team and put up a good fight — and we are expecting that from them this year, too,” said Kennebunk senior Alden Shields of the Hawks.
“It’s an extremely big game for us. It’s going to be our biggest challenge this season. I’m a little nervous for it, but I think we can step up and play well,” added Kennebunk senior Chase Lamontagne.
One challenge for the Rams will be stopping the always tough Marshwood offense, which is led by quarterback Tommy Springer.
“It’s tough. It’s a lot of threats that we have to deal with, but we’re just watching film as much as we can and working hard every day,” said Kennebunk defensive end Evan Schindler on the Marshwood offense.
Just like the Hawks, the Kennebunk offense has a ton of weapons — led by QB Tripp Bush, running back Derek Smith, fullback Dante DeLorenzo and wide receiver Zack Sullivan — and the Rams aren’t afraid to spread the ball around.
Shields believes it may come down to which defense steps up tonight.
“They have a lot of good weapons and a lot of athletes so I think it’s kind of the same situation with playing us,” said Shields. “It’s going to be the first (team) to get a stop. It’s going to be a big game for our defense.”
The Hawks, who have a 305-60 scoring ratio this year, will have one big thing on their side tonight — homefield advantage.
“It’s definitely going to be a hostile environment … I’m expecting a big, big crowd there with two undefeated teams meeting,” Shields said.
The Hawks may have the homefield edge tonight, but the Rams are hoping to take that away for the playoffs.
“That would be huge. That’s probably the number one thing we want is homefield advantage so we don’t have to worry about going anywhere during the playoffs,” said Shields.
An undefeated regular season and getting the No. 1 seed would obviously be nice, but the Rams are just trying to treat tonight like any other game.
“I think we’re just trying to take it one game at a time. (We are) not really looking at it as an undefeated season, but more as just one win and trying to go 1-0 on Friday,” said Schindler.
Rafferty would love to finish off a perfect 8-0 regular season, but the longtime coach certainly knows the real season starts next week.
“Who doesn’t want to be on top at the end of the season? That’s what you work for. They want it, we want it, but the reality is what you’re playing for is what seed you’re going to be come playoff time,” said Rafferty. “That’s big, but getting into the playoffs — regardless of whether you are one, two, three or four — it just comes down to you’ve got to play and you’ve got to be there.”

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