TOPSHAM — Another week, another tough test for the Mt. Ararat football team.
And, thanks to another dominant performance from senior Shea Farrell, it was another comfortable eight-man victory for the title-chasing Eagles.
Farrell rushed for 311 yards and four touchdowns on 26 carries to power Mt. Ararat to a 38-14 drubbing of previously unbeaten Yarmouth on Friday night at Stadium Field.
“We want to win a championship,” said Farrell. “That’s the goal. We’ve been playing some tough teams of late and I think we came out and made a statement.”
Indeed, the Eagles did.
Mt. Ararat (7-1) — winners of seven consecutive games — put itself in a good position to contend for the eight-man Large School crown. The Eagles wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the South playoffs with the decisive victory, wrestling that spot away from the Clippers (7-1). Mt. Ararat entered the showdown with consecutive victories over playoff-bound Waterville (Large North) and Spruce Mountain (Large South).
“Hopefully, we can rebound from this,” added Yarmouth coach Jim Hartman. “We went toe to toe with them physically but we had some mental mistakes that we will need to fix, which we can fix.”
Michael McGonagle rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries to pace the Clippers. Quarterback Sam Bradford rushed for 31 yards and threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Kai Sullivan with 48 seconds remaining in the game.
By then, however, the game was out of reach.
Farrell opened the scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run a little more than three minutes into the contest. The score capped a six-play, 57-yard drive.
“It’s always a relief to get the first one,” he said.
Farrell would add touchdown runs of 7, 5 and 84 yards in the second half — the latter putting the game away with 3:40 left in regulation.
“We worked hard,” he said. “We prepared hard.”
Added Mt. Ararat coach Frank True: “We played well, and we beat a really good football team. We feel good about where we’re at, but we still have work to do.”
Leading 6-0, Mt. Ararat extended its lead when senior quarterback Mack Wilkins threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Dash Farrell in the opening two minutes of the second quarter. Shea Farrell — Dash’s older brother — rushed for the 2-point conversion to give the Eagles a 14-0 lead.
McGonagle would bring Yarmouth closer when he rushed for a 48-yard touchdown with 5:45 left in the half, but the Eagles responded on their ensuing possession, with Farrell rumbling into the end zone from 7 yards out. The touchdown and 2-point conversion helped the Eagles take a 22-6 lead into the break.
“We played hard and made some plays,” True said.
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