BANGOR — Only one opponent contained Foxcroft Academy’s offense during the 2022 football season, but when the Ponies got a second chance to face that foe Saturday in the Class D state championship game, the Ponies quickly made amends.
Top-seeded Foxcroft put together two long touchdown drives in the first quarter, extended its lead to 28-0 in the second quarter, then added two late touchdowns to complete a 41-22 win over Lisbon/St. Dominic as the Ponies successfully defended their title at Cameron Stadium.
“For our school, it’s history. It’s never been done,” Foxcroft Coach Danny White said of going back-to-back. “I think for high school sports, winning a state championship is pretty remarkable in and of itself, and two in a row is, like, I don’t know. We feel very blessed and fortunate, that’s all I can say.”
Lisbon (7-4) dealt Foxcroft (10-1) its only loss of the season, beating the Ponies 14-13 in September. Saturday, Foxcroft surpassed that point total on its first two possessions, both ending in Wyatt Rayfield quarterback keepers (3 and 4 yards). Kemsley Marsters converted both extra points for a 14-0 lead.
Third-seeded Lisbon, which took advantage of three Foxcroft turnovers in the regular-season meeting, committed a turnover of its own on its second possession two plays into the second quarter. Caden Crocker’s halfback pass for an apparent Foxcroft touchdown was negated by a penalty on the very next play, but then Crocker immediately ran 51 yards for a TD.
“The whole idea was we were going to get the ball into our playmakers’ hands, and get the ball to Caden Crocker early in the game so that he could have his impact quick, and force their hand a little bit defensively,” White said. “And that’s what we were able to do. We were able to build enough of a lead so that when their wave came, which was bound to come, we were able to have enough of a gap so that we could keep the separation. That was huge for us.”
After a Lisbon three-and-out, Marsters finished off the next possession with a 28-yard touchdown run. His fourth extra point of the half made it 28-0 with 8:32 left in the second quarter.
The Greyhounds fumbled two plays later, but the Lisbon defense finally stopped Foxcroft on downs.
Lisbon then produced an 80-yard scoring drive, capped by Josh Carter’s 2-yard run with 47.7 seconds left in the half. Carter also ran in the 2-point conversion to cut the deficit to 28-8 at halftime.
“Just getting a little bit of momentum coming in (to halftime), especially where we were getting the ball in the second half. So the kids were fired up, as opposed to being down, going in the locker room,” said Lisbon Coach Chris Kates. “So it was big. And I think we came out hot in the second half; we just didn’t quite have enough at the end there.”
The Greyhounds made it interesting in the third quarter.
They opened the second half with a 16-play, run-only drive that ended with Colby Levasseur’s 6-yard touchdown run.
Lisbon then recovered an onside kick at the Foxcroft 38. Nine plays later, Levasseur rumbled into the end zone again from 8 yards out, and Carter’s conversion run made it 28-22 with 2:28 left in the third quarter.
“I think just once you’ve strung together a little bit of success, a couple good plays in a row, I mean, the kids started to get confidence after that,” Kates said. “And honestly, we had it right where we wanted to, but we just made too many mistakes today.”
Foxcroft’s first possession of the second half netted just three yards, but Marsters’ punt was downed inside the Lisbon 1. On the next play, the Greyhounds fumbled and Foxcroft recovered, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Crocker.
“The reality is you can’t give good teams extra possessions, right? Especially on the 1-yard line,” Kates said. “If we would have been able to at least get better field position, move the ball a little bit, and then punt, who knows what the outcome would have been.”
Lisbon drove into the red zone on its next drive, which spilled into the fourth quarter. But the Ponies came up with a fourth-down stop at the 12.
Foxcroft made the most of shovel passes from Rayfield to Crocker on the ensuing possession, with one going for 59 yards and another for 4 yards and a touchdown.
The Greyhounds outgained Foxcroft 299-297, with all of Lisbon’s yards coming on the ground. Levasseur and Carter each had 26 carries, with Levasseur running for 142 yards and Carter for 114.
Rayfield passed for 97 yards, completing 7 of 9 attempts. Crocker ran nine times for 79 yards and had five catches for 82 yards.
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