TOPSHAM — The Mt. Ararat football team didn’t spend much time in practice the past week working on offense.
Instead, head coach Frank True said, the Eagles primarily worked on establishing a coverage defense and finding the right matchups to stop the dynamic Gray-New Gloucester passing offense.
The practice plan worked out on a windy Friday night as the Eagles shut out the Patriots, 44-0, and punched their ticket to the 8-man Large School semifinals.
“Overall, the kids executed our game plan just the way we’ve been drawing it up all week,” True said. “Had a really good week of practice, good weather, but it was great execution on our kids’ part. We do very little (as coaches) — other than the 20 hours of film work that I did this week.”
The Mt. Ararat defense credited film preparation for its holding Gray-New Gloucester (averaging 39 points per game during the regular season) scoreless for the first time all year.
“All week in practice, we’re repping their formations, so I’m seeing the play and I’m kind of seeing what’s happening before its going on,” senior linebacker Dash Farrell said. “So, it’s really just on execution, on making big plays, and everyone here did that today.”
In addition to yet another explosive offensive performance — 19 carries for 303 yards rushing and six touchdowns runs — Farrell intercepted a pass and combined for a sack with junior lineman Adrian Reyes, who finished the night with 1.5 sacks and multiple QB pressures.
Gray-New Gloucester started the game in rhythm as Kobi Conant found Isaac Ormberg on the first play of the game for a 26-yard gain. Conant chipped away at the Eagles defense with his legs, bringing the offense to the red zone and down to the 8-yard line, but the Patriots could not convert the opening drive into points.
Mt. Ararat (7-2) took over possession and ran out the rest of the quarter, before Farrell scored his first touchdown from the 1-yard line on the first play of the second quarter.
Farrell scored twice more before halftime (4-yarder, 18-yarder) and twice in the third quarter (14-yarder, 29-yarder), before capping it off with his sixth touchdown on a 58-yard run in the final quarter. Junior running back Nick Doughty added 77 yards on eight carries.
The first drive ended up being Gray-New Gloucester’s best scoring opportunity of the game. Reyes said it also was a wake-up call for the Eagles.
“We’ve been stopping the pass all week (in practice), so once they showed us they can throw the ball, we started picking up and doing what we should,” Reyes said.
Conant completed 10 of his 20 passes for 92 yards and led the team with nine carries for 31 yards rushing. Ormberg was the leading receiver with four catches for 46 yards. Even though most of the completions were on short routes that the Eagles were allowing underneath, the Patriots continued to throw deep with and against the wind, which frustrated head coach Mike Caiazzo.
“We wanted to get the run game going, and then we wanted to set up our deep shots,” Caiazzo said. “We love to pass. Weather didn’t really cooperate with us tonight on that, but that’s OK. … I’m proud of them. I’m still processing this one. Certainly not the outcome that any one of us expected, but we’ll get after it tomorrow and get ready for next year.”
Gray-New Gloucester finishes 5-4, the best season in the 20-year history of the program.
Next week, Mt. Ararat will travel to Rockport to take on top-seeded Camden Hills (7-1) for a chance to play in the state championship. The two teams met on Oct. 4, when the Windjammers overcame a 24-point first-half deficit and beat the Eagles, 36-30.