The only team separating Cheverus High School from its fourth regional title in the last five years is the only team to defeat the Stags this year, the Windham Eagles.
And Windham’s 35-7 beating of Cheverus in Week 4 — which ended the Stags’ 36-game regular-season unbeaten streak — was decisive, as the Eagles countered an early 7-0 deficit with 35 unanswered points.
No. 1 Cheverus (8-1) has rebounded from that loss impressively, its current five-game winning streak including one victory over Western A top seed Thornton Academy of Saco and two over Eastern A No. 4 Bangor, including a 35-6 semifinal decision over the Rams last Saturday.
The two teams will meet again at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Boulos Stadium in Portland to decide the Eastern Maine Class A champ and a berth in next weekend’s state final.
Second seed Windham (8-1) must contain Fitzpatrick Trophy favorite Joe Fitzpatrick, a senior halfback who rushed for 196 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries last week and has 1,804 yards for the season.
Windham, which avenged its only loss of the fall last week with a 21-17 semifinal victory over No. 3 Portland, features a youthful roster led by junior halfback Dylan Koza. Koza, who had some injury issues midway through the season, has returned to the lineup and contributed 109 rushing yards to the playoff win over Portland in complementing sophomore quarterback Desmond Leslie, who rushed for two touchdowns and passed for a third.
In the Western A final, No. 2 Bonny Eagle of Standish (6-3) will battle No. 1 Thornton Academy (8-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Saco.
Class B: No. 3 Lawrence Bulldogs (8-2) at No. 1 Brunswick Dragons (8-1), 7 p.m. Friday: The lone Friday night contest among the eight regional finals matches teams that typically have ranked among the top contenders in their division over the last decade.
Brunswick advanced to last year’s EM title game before falling to eventual state champion Cony of Augusta 48-38, and returned this year to earn the No. 1 seed behind a punishing running game featuring Alex Bandouveres and Will Bessey.
Bessey, a junior, had a monstrous game last week, rushing for 365 yards on just 16 carries as the Dragons avenged their only loss this fall with a 27-20 semifinal victory over Messalonskee of Oakland. Bessey’s night featured touchdown runs of 92, 78, 44 and 91 yards — a total of 305 yards on those four carries alone.
Lawrence, Eastern Maine champion most recently in 2012 and 2011, is coming off a remarkable come-from-behind 28-27 semifinal win over No. 2 Cony of Augusta. The Bulldogs drove 84 yards to score with 1:08 left in the fourth quarter, then went for and made the two-point conversion play for the game-winning points.
The Bulldogs rely on a fairly balanced attack. Cole Robinson rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown last week while quarterback Cody Martin completed 15 of 27 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, both to Seth Powers.
Brunswick scored a 34-14 homefield victory over Lawrence during Week 7 of the regular season.
In the Western B final, No. 2 York (9-1) will take on No. 1 Marshwood (10-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday at South Berwick.
Class C: No. 2 Waterville Purple Panthers (8-1) at No. 1 Winslow Black Raiders (9-0), 1 p.m Saturday: This is the lone rematch of a 2013 Eastern Maine final, when Winslow avenged its lone regular-season loss by emphatically defeating its crossriver rival 49-18.
This year Winslow also owns a Week 7 regular-season victory over Waterville by a similarly decisive 34-7 score.
Waterville needs to find a way to overcome Winslow’s speed to reverse those recent fortunes, and likely will try to do so by controlling the line of scrimmage and the time of possession with a rushing attack led by Cam Thomas, who rushed for 173 yards and scored two touchdowns in last week’s 13-7 semifinal survival of No. 3 Foxcroft Academy.
Winslow remained undefeated by outscoring No. 4 Belfast last week 27-18 behind senior halfback Dylan Hapworth, who rushed for 186 yards and all four Black Raiders’ touchdowns. Winslow also has a veteran passing combination in senior Bobby Chenard and senior end Justin Martin capable of creating big plays through the air.
In the Western C final, No. 3 Wells (8-2) will play No. 1 Leavitt (8-1) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Turner.
