WINSLOW, Maine — The road to the Class C football state championship has gone through this proud former milltown for the last four years, and most recently that road has been protected by a spike mat that has deflated all of the Black Raiders’ challengers.
Coach Mike Siviski’s club has won the last two state titles in undefeated fashion for its current 22-game winning streak and has played in four consecutive state finals.
And while Gaziano lineman award winner Alec Clark and quarterback Jacob Trask were among the graduation losses from last fall’s 11-0 team that topped Yarmouth for the gold ball, there’s the sense among opposing coaches that until they’re beaten, the Black Raiders remain the team to beat.
“I think you have to give Winslow the nod,” said veteran Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor coach Mark Shields. “They’re the two-time defending state champs and it’s just a football town. They graduated their quarterback and I think they’re replacing some guys up front but it’s just one of those schools where guys graduate and other guys step up.
“They’re going to be the team to beat, for sure.”
Winslow does returning two starting offensive linemen in Ben Abbott and Cam Morrison as well as tight end Hunter Campbell, and that trio will help break ground for the all-conference running back tandem of seniors Nate St. Amand and Kenny Rickard.
St. Amand showed off his sprinter’s speed in last year’s Class C North final, erupting for 331 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries as Winslow rallied from a 21-7 second-quarter deficit with 33 unanswered points for a 40-27 victory.
Much of St. Amand’s work also featured the lead blocking of Rickard, a punishing fullback who added two touchdowns in the win.
Rickard and classmate Patrick Hopkins also will key a formidable linebacking corps to lead the Black Raiders’ defense. Seniors Nate Gagnon and Dimitrios Bailis return along the front, while senior Dylan Hutchinson is back after starting at both cornerback and wide receiver last fall.
“I certainly think Winslow will be the team to beat. They bring back many starters on each side of the ball from last year’s squad, including their tailback and fullback,” said Foxcroft Academy coach Danny White. “Their line may have taken a hit but I fully expect them to be back at the top of the league.”
MDI and Foxcroft, who meet in Bar Harbor on Friday night in a key Week 1 matchup, expect to be among Winslow’s top challengers in what could be a deep division with the likes of Old Town, Madison-Carrabec, Belfast and Oceanside of Rockland-Thomaston also aspiring to contend.
Like Winslow, MDI is working to firm up its line play but will rely on a trio of experienced juniors — quarterback Andrew Phelps, fullback Croix Albee and halfback Colby Lee — to ease that transition up front.
“It’s one of the best-skilled backfields I’ve had in awhile, but we do need to figure out who’s going to play where up front on both sides of the ball,” said Shields, whose program is seeking its 11th consecutive playoff berth after advancing to the regional semifinals in 2015.
Junior Micah Hallett, a third-year starter, will lead MDI along the line of scrimmage.
Foxcroft, meanwhile, is happy to be relatively healthy at the start of its 2016 campaign after preseason injuries — particularly one that sidelined University of Maine recruit Hunter Smith for his senior season — forced the Ponies to Plan B even before their 2015 opening kickoff.
Nick Clawson returns for his second year at quarterback after stepping in when Smith was injured. Clawson battled through a broken hand to guide Foxcroft to a semifinal berth, but offseason surgery has him healthy and poised for a productive junior year.
Senior halfback Billy Brock, who suffered a broken hand during the 2015 preseason and was unable to carry the football until Foxcroft’s first playoff game in late October, also is back and could be one of the division’s top two-way players. He earned first-team conference honors at linebacker last fall despite missing three full games and wearing a cast throughout the season.
Other big-play threats for the Ponies include sophomores Hyatt Smith and Jeremy Richard and senior wide receiver Nick Dyer, all working behind a line that graduated four starters but returns guard Reggie Johnston and senior tackle Matt Storer, who started for the Ponies as a sophomore but lived in North Carolina last year.
Madison-Carrabec hosted its first home playoff game in two decades last fall, and while that game didn’t go as the Bulldogs had hoped — a quarterfinal loss to Foxcroft — coach Scott Franzose’s club can regroup around one of the league’s top backs in senior Nick Morales, who last fall became the school’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2010.
Old Town is coming off a breakthrough year last fall, an undefeated regular season followed by a trip to the regional championship game. Coach Lance Cowan’s Coyotes graduated nine starters on both offense and defense but return 1,000-yard rusher T.J. Crawford and middle linebacker-tight end Ethan Stoddard as well as the confidence of an athletic program steeped in recent success, including the 2016 Class B baseball state championship.
Belfast has been a regular participant in the Class C North playoffs in recent years, and while coach Chris Bartlett had some key spots to fill during preseason the Lions will be a tough out for any opponent, as will an Oceanside club that will test its rivals with good size along the line of scrimmage.
Waterville has a rich football history to draw upon, while John Bapst of Bangor enters its second year back in Class C with a more experienced lineup after starting five sophomores and four freshmen last year. Hermon also seeks steady improvement under third-year coach Brad Deuring, and the Hawks should be aided by an impact transfer in junior Geovany Carino.
“There are enough good teams this year where there could be a surprise as to who gets to the top,” said Shields, “but I think you have to give Winslow the nod because they’re so well coached, they have the experience and they know how to win big games. They’re the ones everyone’s trying to knock off.”
