KENNEBUNK — Kennebunk High School football coach Joe Rafferty has been around the game a long time and knows that a team can sometimes suffer a letdown the week after a big victory like the Rams had last week against rival Marshwood.
The No. 1 Rams proved to their coach early on in Friday night’s Class B South quarterfinal matchup with No. 8
Mt. Ararat running back Hunter Lohr (5) is tackles by a pair of Kennebunk defenders during Friday night’s Class B South quarterfinal at Kennebunk. The host Rams rolled to 55-7 victory. (Jason Gendron Photography)
Mt. Ararat that they had turned the page and were focused on making a playoff run.
Kennebunk scored 28 points in the opening quarter and cruised to a 55-7 victory over the visiting Eagles. The Rams will now face No. 4 Greely this upcoming Friday night at 6:30 p.m. in the regional semifinals.
“I was concerned with after such an emotional win last week, we could come out here flat and we didn’t. I was happy about that,” said Rafferty.
Kennebunk freshman Jacek Kudas had a sack to stop Mt. Ararat’s opening drive, and the Ram offense didn’t take long to heat up on a cold Friday evening. Senior quarterback Tripp Bush hit junior running back Ryan Connors on a 38-yard touchdown pass on the Rams’ first drive. Connors made the first of his seven extra points to make it 7-0 just under four minutes into the contest.
Kennebunk linebacker Dante DeLorenzo forced and recovered a fumble on the Eagles’ ensuing drive to set up the Rams at the Mt. Ararat 9. On the very first play, Derek Smith sprinted into the end zone to make it 14-0 with 6:41 left in the first.
Just over two minutes later, Kennebunk senior Alden Shields broke off a 53-yard touchdown run — and the rout was on. Connors made the score 28-0 late in the opening quarter when he returned a punt 45 yards to the house.
Bush went to the air with 11:13 left in the second quarter to put the Rams up 35-0. The senior QB tossed it up to Smith, who made an incredible grab in the end zone for a 19-yard score.
Following an interception by Smith, the Ram lead jumped to 42-0 when DeLorenzo scored on a 7-yard run with 6:51 left in the half.
Kennebunk senior Cam Lovejoy got into the scoring when he slammed his way into the end zone from 3-yards out. Connors’ kick made it 49-0 with 2:30 left in the half.
The Eagles scored their first points of the year against Kennebunk — Mt. Ararat dropped the regular season meeting 70-0 — with 9:20 remaining in regulation. Senior running back Hunter Lohr scored on a 35-yard run to cut the lead to 49-7.
The game was already well out of reach, but the loudest cheer of the night came with time winding down. Kennebunk senior James Colby got the call from Rafferty to take over at quarterback and he pounded his way into the end zone from 4-yards out for his first career touchdown.
“Unbelievable. I was at a loss for words when they said I was going in for a quarterback sneak,” said Colby. “I’m so grateful to coach Rafferty and coach (Joe) Bush for allowing me to go in there and take it up the gut.”
Rafferty was happy to give the senior a chance.
“Some of the kids don’t get as much time as others. They don’t get a lot of opportunity and it’s not because they don’t work hard, it’s just sometimes that’s the way it goes,” said Rafferty. “He’s thrilled (about it) and he’ll remember that forever. It’s nice to put a smile on someone’s face when you can.”
Mt. Ararat co-head coach Matt Haskell wasn’t surprised to see the Rams put on a show.
“They established themselves early — both offensively and defensively — and they just did a great job. They are a well-coached team and they have very disciplined student-athletes out there … Kennebunk is Kennebunk,” said Haskell.
The Rams will now face a Greely team — which won a wild 22-14 quarterfinal against Biddeford — in next week’s semifinals. The only meeting between the teams this year was during a scrimmage way back in August.
“We played Greely, but that’s back in preseason. That was like a whole world ago,” said Rafferty. “We’ll see what happens … they will come ready to play.”
The Eagles, who finished the season with a 2-7 record, will have to replace nine seniors off this year’s squad.
“A great group of guys with good leadership. We had some injuries with them along the way, but they pulled together and kept things going for us this season,” said Haskell of his senior group.
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