A lot has changed for the Falmouth High football team since it last played York in Week 3 of the regular season. The Yachtsmen have won a playoff game for the first time. Their eight victories is the most in the program’s short history.
Since losing to York 37-14, the third-ranked Yachtsmen (8-1) have a six-game win streak, including last week’s Western Class B quarterfinal victory against Morse, 48-6.
Falmouth is a different team than earlier in the season.
“No question,” said Coach John Fitzsimmons. “We have a very good line that has matured over the course of the season. Our offense has been far more balanced. I like the progression of the team. This is a much stronger team than the one that started the season.”
Fitzsimmons said the threat of quarterback Noah Nelson’s play-action passes opened the running game. And the Yachtsmen have three good runners in Connor Aube, George Gilbert and Nick Wisseman.
Aube has 28 touchdowns and 1,100 yards rushing. Gilbert has returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. Fitzsimmons calls Wisseman “a very deceptive runner.” Aube and Gilbert are excellent receivers for the Yachtsmen, who average 38 points per game.
For its success, Falmouth gets a rematch Friday night at No. 2 York (8-1).
In the first meeting, Falmouth was hurt by 120 yards in penalties. The Yachtsmen had a 5-yard touchdown run by Aube called back on their opening drive because of an illegal block.
Cullen McCarty of York ran for three touchdowns and 241 yards. Fitzsimmons knows his defense will have to slow McCarty to have a shot.
“We’re going down there with confidence but we know it’s going to be a tough game,” said Fitzsimmons.
Joe Fitzpatrick of Cheverus finished the regular season as the leading rusher and top scorer in Eastern Class A. Fitzpatrick had 1,608 yards rushing on 166 carries. He rushed for 23 touchdowns. Dane Johnson of Bangor was second with 1,257 yards on 190 carries. He scored 18 touchdowns. Other top rushers were Hunter Martin of Edward Little (827 yards), Davis Turner of Oxford Hills (702) and Dylan Koza of Windham (687).
Deering was a pass-happy offense and the statistics showed it. Max Chabot passed 216 times, completing 96 for 1,362 yards. He threw 11 touchdowns but was intercepted 14 times. Matt Verrill of Edward Little threw for 778 yards and eight touchdowns with eight interceptions. Verrill completed 58 of 122 passes. Desmond Leslie of Windham had the best completion percentage at 64.18. Leslie completed 43 of 67 passes for 732 yards and five touchdowns.
Deering had three of the top four receivers based on yardage. Dom Bernard led the league with 41 receptions for 482 yards and three touchdowns. Tyler Blanchard of Edward Little was second with 390 yards. He caught one TD pass.
Pat Viola and Jacob Coon of Deering were next with 303 and 301 receiving yards. Viola had 19 catches; Coon had 22. Viola caught three touchdowns and Coon had five. Drew Lashua of Edward Little was second in receptions with 24.
Turner led the league with 104 tackles. Corey Gillespie of Edward Little had 90.
Eric Webb of Windham led in punt returns with 130 yards. Domenic Fagone of Portland was next with 119.
Stefan Porter of Lewiston led in kickoff returns with 360 yards on 15 returns for an average of 24 yards per return.
Fitzpatrick had the top punting average at 37 yards. Coon was next at 36.82. The top three place-kickers were Patrick Mourmouras of Cheverus (38 of 40), Josh Dugas of Windham (25 of 27) and John Williams of Portland (23 of 26). Dugas was 7 of 7 on field goals and Williams was 4 of 6.
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