The Orono football team dominated a highly-anticipated home opener versus Mount Desert Island on Friday night, scoring a 70-yard touchdown catch less than two minutes into play and never looking back.
The Riots, reigning 8-man small school state champions, bombarded the Trojans with 375 yards and four touchdowns in the air from senior quarterback Jack Brewer, who threw 40 touchdowns and zero interceptions last season.
Brewer found his favorite target in senior Will Francis (253 yards, seven catches, three TDs) for the opening score, and then sophomore Richie Watson for a stellar 72-yard catch-and-run TD on Orono’s first snap of the third quarter to make it 32-0.
“It’s good to get this one, it feels great. We gameplanned for them to sit back and give us a big cushion, but they didn’t. We knew our athletes could break one long if they got the chance to,” Brewer said. “Some of the routes took longer to develop today, because we wanted to attack them deep, so I just try to get outside and evade and give guys more time.”
The Riots moved to 2-0 on the year with Friday’s 46-6 win over the reigning 8-man Large school state champions. They previously beat Dexter/Piscataquis 54-6 last weekend. MDI moved to 1-1, having defeated Gray-New Gloucester 38-14 in week one.
Orono also outmatched MDI at the line of scrimmage, with junior running back Kason Bagley scampering for 96 yards and three rushing touchdowns (senior Logan Williams added on another 25 yards). On defense, the Red Riots secured three quarterback sacks and two fumble recoveries, while pressuring MDI into two first half interceptions — the Trojans only had one complete pass all game, a 22-yarder to senior tight end Jarron Biekert.
“We might be a little different in the way we throw the ball around, and [MDI’s] style this year is to ground and pound and keep the ball away from you,” Orono head coach Bob Sinclair said. “We practiced with those guys last year, and we have a lot of respect for their program. I think MDI’s probably gonna walk off the field and say, ‘Those guys were pretty physical.’”
MDI finally managed to break through on a four-yard rushing touchdown from sophomore Lincoln Gray late in the third quarter. Gray had 22 yards, and upperclassman running backs Nate Olson and Evan Mackenzie combined for an additional 64 yards rushing.
Under center for the Trojans, senior Cal Hodgdon and sophomore Alister Frongillo tallied 91 yards on the ground. Frongillo took over for Hodgdon in the fourth quarter, and Orono backup Caleb Tidwell also saw a few snaps in the final minutes of play.
Next Friday night, Orono will head down to Topsham to play another 8-man Large team in Mt. Ararat, and MDI will try to bounce back versus Yarmouth/North Yarmouth Academy away.
Two weeks from now, the Riots will play another marquee home game, versus the Stearns/Schenck Minutemen on Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. Stearns has lost its last two regional championship appearances to Orono, and have taken care of business versus Bucksport and Dexter by an average of 50 points each so far this season.
“We’ve got a very difficult schedule — we’re happy with our schedule. If you can play MDI and then Mt. Ararat and then come back and play Stearns, you’re playing quality teams that can hit and execute their offenses,” Sinclair said. “Our kids know that it’s early in the season, but we want to minimize our mistakes. We’re into our routine now, and the kids are ready.”
