The rested Bangor High School Rams will try to climb into the Class A North playoff picture when they travel to Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium on Friday night to take on Portland High in a rematch of the last two A North championship games.
Kickoff is at 6 p.m., and it is Portland’s Homecoming game.
Bangor, 2-2, was off last weekend while defending two-time regional champ Portland suffered its first loss after four wins as defending state champ Thornton Academy of Saco scored 36 unanswered points en route to a 43-13 triumph.
Thornton blanked Portland 28-0 in the state title game last fall.
Portland had advanced to the state game with a hard-fought 30-22 victory over Bangor in the regional final. Portland had also bested Bangor, 54-14, in the 2024 A North championship game en route to the state title.
Four teams qualify for the Class A North playoffs, and Bangor is currently in fifth place, 12.368 Crabtree Index points behind No. 4 Edward Little of Auburn, which currently owns the last playoff spot.
Bangor and Edward Little are both 2-2 and square off Friday, Oct. 16 at Cameron Stadium in Bangor.
Edward Little is hosting third-place Windham, 2-3, on Friday night.
Windham upended Bangor, 21-14, in Bangor two weeks ago.
Bangor has wins over Lewiston (28-0) and Deering of Portland (32-13) with the other loss being a season-opening 22-18 setback against Massabesic of Waterboro.
Portland rattled off consecutive victories over Lewiston (40-14), Scarborough (25-0), Windham (39-13) and Edward Little (35-7) before Thornton Academy erased a 13-7 deficit by scoring 36 straight points.
Portland’s Alex Martin ran for both Portland touchdowns against Thornton, with one coming on an 86-yard run. He had scored three TDs vs. Edward Little.
Dynamic Gavin Hughes is Bangor’s offensive catalyst, and he produced 172 yards against Windham. But he had only 10 touches as he rushed for 123 yards on seven carries, including an 88-yard TD jaunt, and caught three passes for 49 yards.
Bangor quarterback Alex Tennett completed six of 12 passes for 77 yards vs. Windham, and Obi Okafor rushed for 63 yards on 11 carries.
Among other matchups this weekend, the top two teams in Class D North will collide in Pittsfield at 7 p.m. Friday as No. 1 Winslow, the defending D North champ, will take on second seed Maine Central Institute. Both are 4-1.
Winslow followed a one-point loss to Wells (14-13) with wins over John Bapst of Bangor (26-6), Oak Hill of Sabattus (46-6), Freeport (14-6) and Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (44-0).
MCI has victories over Oak Hill (42-8), Mattanawcook Academy (27-25), Hampden Academy (28-13) and Madison (21-12), with its only loss coming to Poland (34-14).
Winslow humbled MCI 63-12 a year ago.
In statewide Class C, 4-1 Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft will seek its fifth straight win when it treks to Newport for a 1 p.m. Saturday game against 2-3 Nokomis, which is occupying the eighth spot and the final playoff berth in the 12-team division.
Foxcroft Academy is currently ranked third in the division.
The Ponies followed a season-opening 24-0 loss to second seed Hermon with wins over Oceanside/North Haven of Rockland (28-12), Gardiner (28-0), Madison (41-7) and John Bapst (45-14).
Nokomis has won two of its last three after losing its first two games to Gardiner (37-6) and Hermon (28-6). It has since sandwiched victories over Brewer (42-8) and Hampden Academy (52-0) around a loss to Greely of Cumberland Center (35-7).
Undefeated defending State 8-Player Small titlist and current top seed Stearns/Schenck/Katahdin will be gunning for its sixth victory when it travels to face third seed Bucksport, 2-2, at 7 p.m. Friday.
Stearns/Schenck/Katahdin has beaten Dexter (42-8), the Houlton co-operative team (56-0), Orono (40-20), Lake Region of Naples (32-28) and Washington Academy of East Machias (40-14).
Bucksport has earned victories over Boothbay Region (26-0) and Mount Desert Island (36-24) and has lost to Ellsworth/Sumner (52-26) and Orono (67-28).
Old Town, the No. 1 team in 8-Player North, will try to go 6-0 when it makes the 143-mile one-way trip to Naples to face 1-4 Lake Region, the fifth seed in six-team 8-Player South.