Newsletter #23...State Championship Saturday promises to be spectacular
The fall sports season has been fantastic and it comes to an end Saturday with the football state finals.
Local squads are involved in three of the four contests.
Portland and Thornton Academy will renew acquaintances at 11 a.m., in the Class A state game at Fitzpatrick Stadium. The Golden Trojans rolled in the regular season meeting, 36-0, at Portland, and appear unstoppable behind senior workhorse running back Connor Ayoob, who ran for 263 yards and three touchdowns on 35 carries, while also throwing a TD pass in a 40-28 regional final victory over Bonny Eagle. The Bulldogs are the reigning state champions, beating Thornton Academy, 35-14, a year ago. Portland is a decided underdog this time around, but is hoping that its standout senior, Cordell Jones, can be a difference-maker. The Bulldogs seek to go back-to-back for the first time in program history, while the Golden Trojans aim for their seventh crown in the past 13 seasons.
"It's going to be about making sure our defense is structured and sound and stopping what they do well and leaning on what we do well and throwing some wrinkles in," said Bulldogs' first-year coach Nick Cliche. "They presented us some problems earlier in the year. Ayoob is one of the top players in the state. The nerves will be there, but I'm super-excited. We can't treat it any differently. We'll put our players in places to succeed and hope the breaks go our way."
"You want to get every minute out of the season as you possibly can and we wanted it to last as long as we could," said Golden Trojans' coach Kevin Kezal. "I'm just so grateful the kids get to go out on their own terms. It's been a great run. I'm so proud of our kids, how they respond every year. Portland's a heck of a program and they've done a great job. We certainly have our work cut out for us."
The magical story that is Westbrook football follows at 2:30 p.m., when the Blue Blazes take on a juggernaut from Cony, which has won all 10 of its contests, averaging 50 points per game. The teams did not meet this season. The Rams can score from anywhere at anytime and are the favorite, but Westbrook (9-1) just has that special something this season and it hopes to author one more memorable chapter and bring home the program's first Gold Ball.
"We're used to being the underdog and we've really embraced that as a team and as a community," said Blue Blazes' coach Sam Johnson. "We're staying positive. We feel like teams have to prepare for us. We'll get these kids ready to go."
In Lewiston, Greely (10-0), the reigning eight-man, large school champions, meets perennial powerhouse Leavitt (8-2) in the Class C state game at 11 a.m. The Rangers have never won an 11-man championship, while the Hornets have a trophy case full of Gold Balls. The teams met on Sept. 12, where Greely announced its arrival as a Class C contender by holding on for a 28-26 victory. Leavitt will be energized by a big crowd traveling from nearby Turner, but if we've learned anything the past three years, it's that you never pick against the Rangers in a big game.
"Leavitt is a perennial contender," Greely coach Caleb King said. "They're well-coached, they have kids who love football and play super-hard. It'll be a great test. I think they'll try to try to neutralize what we do well and we'll try to neutralize what they do well and try to take advantage of matchups that favor us. We're certainly very happy with what we've accomplished so far. We have a 'Why not us?' mentality. It would be great to win again. It would be the ultimate cap of a successful season. The eight-man championship was hard to win and this one would be hard to win too. Our goal is another Gold Ball."
"t's been pretty cool to see this young team improve from where we were in those losses to Greely and Wells," said longtime Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. "Credit to the staff for making some good changes to the scheme and personnel, but mostly to the players for being coachable and putting in the work. We are excited for that challenge one more week and for the chance to knock off another undefeated team on the coolest stage. Greely has put up a great season, has the win streak and a bunch of start players to back it, but we will see what we can do."
More signings
College signings continued this past week, as athletes from Windham, Portland, Scarborough and Gorham all announced their plans for next year.
Windham senior Abby Trainor, a goal-scorer without peer, will play women's lacrosse next year at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Senior Neve Ledbetter, Trainor's lacrosse teammate, is going to play that sport at Southern New Hampshire University. First, Ledbetter and Trainor hope to lead the Eagles to a second consecutive state championship.
At Scarborough, senior runner Laurel Driscoll, a distance standout, committed to the University of New Hampshire.
At Cheverus, a large ceremony was held Wednesday for seven athletes.
Field hockey standout Joey Pompeo committed to Sacred Heart University, a Division I program in Connecticut, while golf star Mick Madden announced he'll play at Siena University, a Division I program in New York. Five Stags will compete at the Division III level. That group includes Sadie Collins (Lasell University, field hockey), Jordan Drouin (Gordon College, field hockey), Liam Kalakowsky (Suffolk University, baseball), Ellie Skolnekovich (Union College, field hockey) and Scott Sockabasin (Clark University, baseball).
Finally, on Thursday afternoon, two Gorham field hockey players shared the stage at a signing. Annabelle Collier, an All-State standout, committed to Division I Sacred Heart, while Reece Leclerc announced she'll attend and play at Division II Saint Michael's College in Vermont.
Collier is a four-year varsity starter and was a captain this past year, scoring 12 goals and adding 11 assists. Collier reached the 100-career point plateau. Collier holds the school record with 41 career assists and has 32 career goals, ranking her third all-time in points.
"This means a lot, having friends, family, coaches and teachers here," said Collier, who plans to study pre-med. "This has been a dream since I was like four-years-old. I wanted to play at a high level. I was looking at four schools, but Sacred Heart's coach is amazing. The girls are amazing and the campus is amazing. It checked all the boxes."
"Annie's hard work and dedication have built her skills and made her one of the best out there," said longtime Gorham coach Becky Manson-Rioux. "She always tries to get better. She doesn't settle."
Leclerc is also a four-year varsity player and was a captain this year, scoring six goals and adding six assists. Leclerc finished with 15 career goals and 12 career assists.
"Having all my friends and family here shows how much support we have," said Leclerc, who plans to study business. "Since youth field hockey, I wanted to play in college, so I'm so glad it came true. St. Michael's really spoke to me. The community really stood out. The coaches, the players. They were all so welcoming."
"Reece has had to withstand injuries and if she can stay healthy, she has a lot of room to grow for a tremendous collegiate career," Manson-Rioux said.
"This is the first time we've had two girls sign together. They've put in the hard work and deserved it and I'm so glad they can continue to play the sport they love."
On a heater
Four remaining local squads are riding long win streaks:
Greely football (19, including 2024)
Thornton Academy football (8)
Westbrook football (8)
Portland football (5)
In case you missed it...
If you missed any of our recent game stories, you can find them here:
Westbrook beats Kennebunk to win first regional championship
Thornton Academy holds off Bonny Eagle to return to states
Greely routs Wells, one win from state title
All-stars
Now that the season is over in most fall sports, it's time for postseason all-star teams.
Volleyball led us off earlier this week:
https://www.hoffershighschoolsports.com/hoffers-high-school-sports-volleyball-all-star-team/
Media
Last Friday's Middays with Mannix and Mannix spot:
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Tuesday's WGAN spot with Matt Gagnon:
https://wgan.com/morning-news/hoffers-high-school-sports-10/
Predictions
I'm now 8-3 on my popular, prescient Patriots pick, following last Thursday's win over the hapless Jets.
This week's prediction:
Patriots 30 Bengals 27
Looks like Joe Burrow will be back and that means Cincy will score some points, but their defense is dreadful and there's no reason Drake Maye and Company shouldn't match them score for score, plus a little more. Hopefully no letdown this week...
Turning to high school football, here are my picks for this week's games. I went 3-1 last week (83-25 for the season):
Thornton Academy over Portland
Cony over Westbrook
Greely over Leavitt
Daily features
This past Monday, HHSS, in conjunction with cPort Credit Union, named our Athlete of the Week, Thornton Academy's standout senior running back Connor Ayoob, after his monster performance in the Golden Trojans' regional final win over Bonny Eagle. Ayoob is the first repeat selection.
Michael Hoffer
On Tuesday, our weekly Super-Six polls featured the penultimate poll for football:
Michael Hoffer
Thursday, our weekly Hoffer's High School Sports podcast featured reaction from Coach Sam Johnson and Westbrook players Giovanni Staples, Tony Bongomin and Owen Taylor following the Blue Blazes' regional final victory over Kennebunk, as well as thoughts from coaches Caleb King (Greely), Nick Cliche (Portland) and Kevin Kezal (Thornton Academy) prior to their state final appearances.
Michael Hoffer
Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
May we all experience as much joy as Westbrook's football community did following last weekend's regional final win.
See you again right here, next Friday.
Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffersports@yahoo.com
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