While seven of the state’s eight high school football regions begin postseason play this weekend, there’s still one playoff berth to be determined.
That’s in the LTC Class D North, where league officials voted during the offseason to pare the playoff field from six schools to four and instead play a nine-week, regular-season schedule in which each team plays all other league members.
And that has simplified the remaining postseason question to be answered, with Bucksport entering Week 9 holding the edge over Mount View of Thorndike.
Both teams are 5-3, but Bucksport defeated Mount View in their Week 5 meeting at Thorndike. With the Golden Bucks holding that definitive tiebreaker, all coach Joel Sankey’s club needs this Friday night to advance to next week’s conference semifinals is a win at Ellsworth-Sumner or a Mount View loss at Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield.
Mount View faces a massive challenge just to remain alive long enough to learn of Bucksport’s fate, as two-time defending Class D North champion MCI already has clinched the conference’s No. 1 seed and has won 28 straight games against LTC competition, including an 8-0 record this fall.
Bucksport will be favored at 2-6 Ellsworth-Sumner, as the Golden Bucks have won four straight since a three-game losing streak early in the season against opponents that nailed down the LTC’s top three seeds last weekend — MCI, No. 2 Orono and No. 3 Dexter.
Elsewhere around the region, it’s playoffs time.
Class C North
No. 6 Old Town Coyotes (4-4) at No. 3 Winslow Black Raiders (7-1), 1 p.m. Saturday: This is a rematch of the 2015 Class C North final, though no coin flips were needed to determine the host team as was the case a year ago when Winslow rallied for a 40-27 victory en route to its second-straight state championship. The first meeting this season between the teams will be held at Gerry Poulin Memorial Field. Winslow settled for the No. 3 seed in the final Crabtree points behind No. 1 Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor and No. 2 Madison-Carrabec, also both 7-1. Winslow has been playing with a vengeance since a Week 4 loss at Madison-Carrabec ended its 25-game winning streak, winning four in a row since then by an average of 42.3 points. Old Town survived back-to-back losses at Madison-Carrabec and MDI in Weeks 7 and 8 to earn the division’s final playoff berth over Belfast, a team the Coyotes outscored 42-28 in Week 5.
No. 5 Foxcroft Academy Ponies (4-4) vs. No. 5 Oceanside Mariners (5-3), 1 p.m. Saturday at Rockland: Coach Wes Drinkwater’s Oceanside club has shown evidence that it could be the spoiler in a division led into the playoffs by 7-1 powers MDI, Madison-Carrabec and Winslow. The Mariners scored 27 points in a Week 5 loss at Winslow and narrowly fell to MDI 14-12 during Week 7 before securing home field for this weekend by defeating Belfast last Friday night. Foxcroft has dropped two of its last three since a three-game winning streak midway through the season that included the Ponies’ most notable victory of the fall, a 35-0 win at Old Town. Oceanside and Foxcroft did not meet during the regular season.
Class B North
No. 6 Cony Rams (3-5) vs. No. 3 Lawrence Bulldogs (6-2), 7 p.m. Friday at Fairfield: Lawrence looks to be peaking at the right time with six-straight wins, including the last five by an average of 31.6 points. That latter streak began with a 36-12 win over visiting Cony in Week 4. Cony earned the division’s final playoff berth with a 27-18 victory at Gardiner last Friday but will need its passing attack to be Tom Brady-esque to keep pace with a Lawrence offense that has averaged 41.2 points over the last five weeks.
No. 5 Messalonskee Eagles (4-4) at No. 4 Skowhegan Indians (5-3), 7 p.m. Friday: Skowhegan had its high-powered offense slowed by both the Mt. Blue of Farmington defense and Mother Nature last Saturday as the Indians’ 20-14 loss dropped them from third to fourth place in the PTC and set up this rematch with Messalonskee. Skowhegan won 33-29 during Week 6 at Oakland. The Eagles have dropped their last three contests, including a 44-13 decision at No. 3 Lawrence of Fairfield last Friday night.
Class A North
No. 6 Lewiston Blue Devils (2-6) vs. No. 3 Cheverus Stags (4-4), 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Portland: This game may be closer than most people would think. Cheverus managed just a one-score (28-20) victory over the Blue Devils in Week 3 when the teams met in Lewiston. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, are coming off a win over Massabesic of Waterboro and a hard-fought 22-19 loss to Edward Little of Auburn in their Battle of the Bridge last Saturday. Cheverus has dropped three of its last four against admittedly stiffer competition (Portland, Scarborough and Windham).
No. 5 Edward Little Red Eddies (3-5) vs. No. 4 Oxford Hills-Buckfield Vikings (4-4), 7 p.m. Friday at South Paris: Edward Little ended a four-game losing streak with its narrow win over Lewiston last week, but the Red Eddies also knocked off Oxford Hills-Buckfield 32-28 with a last-minute touchdown in their Week 3 meeting at South Paris. Oxford Hills-Buckfield edged out Edward Little for home-field advantage in this rematch thanks to its 14-0 Week 6 crossover victory over Deering of Portland, the No. 5 seed in Class A South.
