OLD TOWN, Maine — Even as the Old Town High School football team struggled for survival a few years ago, youngsters like Jake Jarvis and Andre Miller were dreaming big.
“We’ve been throwing the ball together since about the second grade,” said Jarvis, now the senior quarterback on the Coyotes’ undefeated team, which enters postseason play ranked No. 1 in the Class C North.
“This is a dream come true right now because ever since we were younger we talked about how we wanted to go undefeated in high school and that we wanted to win a state championship. We’ve got that undefeated [regular] season, and we’re just feeling blessed right now.”
Jarvis and Miller are among 16 seniors who have led the renaissance of the Old Town program from one that went 4-62 between 2002 and 2009 to the 2015 edition that is ranked first in its division entering the playoffs for the first time since 1982.
Even last year the Coyotes won just twice, but the presence of one of the region’s more diversified offenses needed just a bit more attention paid to defensive detail to take this fall’s trip to the top.
“We knew we had a really good chance because we put in a whole new defense and that’s what’s carried us this year,” said Miller, a wide receiver and free safety for coach Lance Cowan’s club. “Last year we had a good offense just like this year but we couldn’t tackle anyone, so we put in a whole new defense and it seems to be working.”
Old Town has been remarkably consistent on offense this fall, averaging 38.4 points per game during its 8-0 start while scoring at least 31 points in each game.
Miller represents a touchdown play waiting to happen, whether running the ball out of the backfield from the Coyotes’ Wildcat formation, on kick returns or on defense, but most often as either a deep receiving threat or with yards after the catch of a shorter pass pattern.
“You’ve got to account for him, and if you don’t account for him we’re in a position to take advantage of him,” said Cowan. “He and Jake have a great relationship, they can do things that most quarterbacks and receivers can’t do at this level.”
Miller has 35 catches for 731 yards — an average of more than 20 yards per reception — with 12 touchdowns so far this fall.
“You know when the game’s on the line you can throw the ball up to Dre and nine out of 10 times no matter who’s on him he’s going to come down with the ball,” said Jarvis, who has completed 75 of 123 passes for 1,208 yards and 16 TDs. “It’s a great luxury to have. He’s a great player.”
But as the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Miller routinely draws the attention of multiple defenders, classmates such as Pascal Cyr, Ethan Stoddard and Josh Crouse also have contributed to the passing game.
“We have a lot of weapons,” said Cowan, the team’s second-year head coach. “It’s something we’ve talked about all year, that if you take one person away we have plenty of other guys who are willing and ready to step up and make plays.”
That passing game is complemented by an unsung rushing attack led by junior T.J. Crawford, a first-year starter at tailback.
“Not a lot of people knew about T.J.,” said Cowan. “He didn’t get a lot of carries last year with Braden [Upshaw] in front of him.”
Crawford displayed his strength, speed and quickness in a major way during Old Town’s biggest game to date this season, last Friday’s 31-8 win over Mount Desert Island in their battle for a first-round bye. The victory evolved into the No. 1 seed a day later when the Coyotes won a coin flip with Winslow, which also finished the regular season without a loss.
Crawford blitzed through the MDI defense for 182 yards and two touchdowns despite starting fullback Dana Ouellette seeing limited duty on offense due to injury.
That performance pushed Crawford’s season totals to 1,044 yards and 16 touchdowns on 125 rushing attempts behind the all-senior offensive line of tackles Chris Hoxie and Noah Hayes, guards Drew Ryder and Caleb Koneff and center Seth Jack.
“We know teams are going to try to stop the pass a lot,” said Miller, “but we also know T.J.’s a great running back and gets those tough yards.”
The Old Town defense, meanwhile, has yielded an average of just 13 points per contest with Ouellette and Stoddard the leading tacklers from their linebacker slots, while the secondary of Miller, Cyr and Crouse has combined for seven interceptions.
This week the Coyotes find themselves in an unfamiliar situation from what has been the norm for the program in late October, idle not because their season has ended but because they’re waiting to learn the identity of their next opponent. Old Town will host the winner of Saturday’s 1 p.m. Class C North quarterfinal that sends No. 5 Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft to No. 4 Madison/Carrabec on the weekend of Nov. 6-7.
“It’s not something we’re used to,” said Cowan. “We’re going to keep them focused. You don’t want to lose the gains you’ve made in the season, and we’ve got to fix our mistakes. We weren’t perfect [against MDI], so this week we’ll focus more on ourselves and then next week once we know our opponent we’ll get after it.”
In the meantime, the Coyotes are eager to continue pursuing the latest chapter in a series of significant athletic accomplishments for boys athletic teams in the Canoe City — among them the 2014 Class B basketball state championship, a trip to the 2014 Eastern Maine baseball final, return trips to the regional semifinals in both sports this year, including an undefeated regular season in baseball, and a berth in the 2015 Senior League World Series.
“It’s funny,” said Miller, “because when we were kids we used to be out in the backyard throwing the ball around and playing like we were seniors in high school, saying how this was for the state game or this was for the Eastern Maine game.
“We’ve always imagined it, but it’s great to be living it right now.”
