ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine football team’s season finale against archrival the University of New Hampshire is always a battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket.
According to the Colonial Athletic Association preseason coaches poll, that was all the Black Bears were supposed to be playing for before they turned in their pads and helmets to Steve Jones in the equipment room.
UMaine was picked ninth in the 12-team conference.
After an 0-3 start, including losses to Football Bowl Subdivision teams Connecticut and Toledo along with newly-crowned CAA champ James Madison, UMaine faced a 21-0 deficit against Bryant. It appeared as though the Black Bears were going to experience their third-straight losing season after winning the conference in 2013.
But UMaine, which went 3-8 last year and 5-6 in 2014, rallied to beat Bryant 35-31 and won five of its next six games, all in the CAA. Now, the Black Bears have put themselves in position to earn a trip to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs with a win over visiting UNH at 1 p.m. Saturday at Morse Field in Alfond Stadium.
It will be a tall task since UNH has not only claimed the musket the past five seasons, the Wildcats also beat UMaine in a 2013 FCS playoff game at Orono (41-27) and are in a must-win situation for the playoffs.
Both teams are 6-4 overall, 5-2 in the CAA. The winner has a good shot to make the playoffs while the loser is done. UNH has made 12 consecutive postseason appearances.
Nine UMaine seniors will be playing their final regular-season game and their last home contest.
The group includes defensive linemen Pat Ricard and Darius Greene, offensive linemen Josh Ingalls of Wells and Max Andrews of Holden, tight end Jeremy Salmon, quarterback Dan Collins, punter James DeMartini, wide receiver Jordan Dunn and linebacker Christophe Mulumba Tshimanga.
Coach Joe Harasymiak has nothing but praise for his seniors.
He said to experience a championship season early in their careers and expect to be a contender every year only to suffer through two losing seasons before bouncing back this season “shows you the character of those guys.”
“They have really been the leaders of this team. Just a commitment shown by them to not being the same as the past two years … the work ethic and to push through. We’ve won six games, all by seven points or less, so they grinded out a lot of things in their careers,” said Harasymiak.
He also noted that they have been tremendous in helping him and his staff build a relationship with them in spite of the early struggles.
“The results didn’t come right away,” said Harasymiak, who at 30 is the youngest Division I head coach. “Being 0-3 and down to Bryant 21-7 at halftime, there could have been a lot of reasons for them to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t going too well.’ But they continued to believe in what we were doing, and that’s a testament to their commitment to the program.”
Ricard said Harasymiak helped trigger the turnaround with an inspirational rant at halftime of the Bryant game that included throwing chairs around the locker room.
“He told us we were way better than the way we were playing. He definitely got his point across,” said Ricard.
“We’ve always been the underdog,” Salmon said, but after two frustrating seasons, “we finally put it together. We realized what we could be.”
“The confidence and belief we all have in each other to do great things has enabled us to overcome so much since the beginning of the season,” said senior quarterback Collins.
Ricard said coaching change was beneficial and that the new staff, “revamped the program and made the big changes we needed,” said Ricard.
“Coach instilled in us in the summer that we have to believe in ourselves to be successful and that we had to hold each other accountable,” said Andrews. “The senior class held a lot of the younger guys accountable for what they were doing.”
Andrews said Harasymiak’s relative youth helped him make a stronger connection with the players.
“He really knows how to get to us on a deeper level. He and the other coaches know how to get us hyped up and ready to go for each week,” said Andrews.
It all comes down to 60 minutes on Saturday against UNH.
“We’re fighting for a playoff berth … for the musket … stopping UNH from making the playoffs after making them the previous 12 years, and it’s the last regular season game for us seniors,” said Ricard.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way. I can’t wait to play,” said Collins.