BANGOR, Maine — Last year’s inaugural meeting between the Bangor and Scarborough football teams represented a rude road trip for the Rams.
Amid rainy conditions at Scarborough, the Red Storm proved to be hostile hosts with a dominant 34-7 victory in their Class A clash.
Scarborough makes the trek north to Cameron Stadium for the return match Friday night to highlight Week 2 of the high school football schedule, with Bangor hoping to use momentum from its opening-week victory at Edward Little of Auburn to return the hospitality.
“We didn’t forget what they did to us last year,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “They crushed us.”
Scarborough Red Storm (0-1) at Bangor Rams (1-0), 7 p.m. Friday: Bangor returns to hosting night home games after playing on Saturday afternoons last fall while Cameron Stadium’s lights were being replaced.
And the spotlight will be on a Bangor ground game that established itself early in last week’s 48-6 win at Edward Little and went on to churn out nearly 300 rushing yards.
Junior halfback Dane Johnson rushed for 163 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries, but also returned an interception 28 yards for a score from his safety position and returned a kickoff 84 yards for a fifth touchdown of the night.
Fullback Langston Hamer-Nagle added 40 rushing yards, two touchdowns and some punishing blocks in front of his backfield mate.
“One good thing we did was establish ball control early with two long drives,” said Hackett of Bangor’s first two possessions of the game, one a 14-play, 74-yard scoring march and the second covering 64 yards to the end zone.
The Rams’ defense was nearly flawless save for one 65-yard run that produced Edward Little’s lone touchdown.
“Our defense was quicker than it’s been,” said Hackett. “I was happy with our backs, our linebackers and our line. We were as solid as we’ve been on defense.”
Scarborough returns just four starters from last year’s 6-4 team that reached the Western A semifinals before being eliminated by eventual state champion Bonny Eagle of Standish.
The Red Storm fell 29-14 to Sanford in its season opener despite a 22-carry, 121-yard rushing performance by senior Zach Carriero.
“Their back’s a good player,” said Hackett. “He’s 205 pounds and runs hard.”
Cony Rams (1-0) at Brewer Witches (0-1), 7 p.m. Friday: Brewer made its debut under new head coach Nick Arthers last week at reigning Eastern B runner-up Brunswick and fell victim to the Dragons’ potent ground game in a 51-8 loss.
Now the Witches get defending state champion Cony for their home opener.
Cony rallied from a 14-3 deficit to defeat Messalonskee of Oakland 23-14 in its first game, as quarterback Mitchell Caron — the replacement for graduated Fitzpatrick Trophy winner Ben Lucas — passed for 239 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for a third score.
The Rams will be without leading receiver Tayler Carrier for the Brewer game, as Carrier was ejected from the Messalonskee game and as a result must sit out this week. Carrier caught 10 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown in Week 1.
Belfast Lions (1-0) at Mount Desert Island Trojans (1-0), 7 p.m. Friday: These two Eastern Maine Class C semifinalists from a year ago displayed impressive ground games during their Week 1 victories.
Belfast got a 108-yard, three-touchdown performance on just six carries from Steven Davis, a transfer from neighboring Mount View of Thorndike, during the Lions’ season-opening 48-6 victory.
Jalique Keene rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries and also scored on an 88-yard kickoff return to lead MDI to a 20-14 victory over an improved Nokomis of Newport club.
Mattanawcook Academy Lynx (1-0) at John Bapst Crusaders (0-0), 7 p.m. Friday, Husson University: John Bapst makes its season debut after having a Week 1 bye due to the odd number of teams (11) in the Class D LTC ranks this season.
The Crusaders are looking to bounce back from last year’s 2-6 campaign, which came after five appearances in the LTC championship game in the previous six years.
Mattanawcook, which reached that title game last year, will be playing its second straight road game after a 36-0 win at Stearns of Millinocket last week.
That victory featured a strong all-around performance by junior running back Scott Jipson, who rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and also caught a 97-yard scoring pass from sophomore Carter Ward. Ward, stepping in as the Lynx’ starting quarterback this year, made an impressive debut by completing five of eight passes for 146 yards and three TDs.
Washington Academy Raiders (0-1) at Houlton Shiretowners (0-1), 1 p.m. Saturday: This marks the first-year Shiretowners’ initial home game after a competitive effort against Orono in the program’s first varsity game in more than six decades.
It originally was scheduled for Friday night but was pushed back when the transformer to run the new lights at the Maliseet Sports Complex didn’t arrive in time.
The Shiretowners led Orono 12-0 at halftime of their first varsity game since 1950 thanks to two touchdowns by senior Jake Drew, but fell 28-12 after being unable to contain Orono’s ground game after intermission.
Drew finished the game with 187 yards on 22 carries.
WA, an Eastern D playoff team a year ago, got a combined 155 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Ellic Smith and Colin Pineo but fell at defending regional champion Bucksport 57-12 last week.
