First-year head coach Keith Noel has the Kennebunk High football team off to 5-0 start
KENNEBUNK, Maine — Under first-year head coach Keith Noel, the undefeated Kennebunk High School football team went through its first five opponents like a hot knife through butter.
The Rams outscored the opposition 177-24 during that stretch and haven’t allowed more than six points in any one game.
“We saw that we were going to be competitive,” Noel said. “I don’t know if we thought we’d be undefeated. It seems like Class B is wide open. We knew we’d be in the mix.”
Although the Rams have faced minimal resistance thus far, the schedule is about to get tougher, at least on paper. Class B Kennebunk plays its next two games against Class A foes Sanford (home) and South Portland (away) before finishing up the regular season with Class B Marshwood (home).
Those three clubs have a combined record of 8-6 entering the weekend compared to a 7-18 mark for the previous five.
“I like tight games,” said senior quarterback and co-captain Gray Compton. “I’m excited to get a little more competition and really see what the team is made of.”
However, the relatively soft early season schedule shouldn’t detract from what the Rams have accomplished in the first five weeks. They opened with a 14-6 triumph over Gorham, their most competitive game to date, and built momentum from there capped by last week’s 62-6 rout of winless Biddeford.
“We’re trying to get better each week,” Noel said. “That’s sort of been the mantra and the kids have embraced that mentality.”
In between there were victories over Massabesic (38-6), Westbrook (35-0) and Deering (28-6).
“I expected it to be a little bit of a bumpy road,” said senior co-captain and two-way lineman Owen Bourque. “I didn’t think we were going to be undefeated after five games. It took me by surprise so I’m excited to see how the rest of the season plays out.”
Currently in first place in the Class B South Crabtree standings through five games, Kennebunk has been able to run the ball on offense and defend the ground game for the most part.
“We were struggling a little bit in Week 1 but other than that our run game has been amazing every week,” Compton said. “We’ve just been punching the ball down the field.”
The run game has been bolstered by the return of senior back Jonah Barstow who missed the first three games with an injury.
Barstow joins juniors Brady Stone and Moose Keys in the offensive backfield along with sophomore Austin West. Compton and junior co-captain Max Andrews anchor the secondary, a team strength.
“Defensively our secondary has been pretty outstanding,” Noel said. “Our defensive line has done a decent job. Offensively we’re running the ball pretty well. We’ve been able to throw it when needed and that’s been helpful.”
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An assistant at Kennebunk for the previous six years and defensive coordinator for the past three, Noel took over this season for longtime head coach Joe Rafferty, who stepped down after more than four decades as the face of the program.
“There’s always a learning curve,” Noel said. “There’s more than just the X’s and O’s. That’s one thing I’ve had to adjust to I guess and the day-to-day operations.”
Noel is a 2001 graduate of Kennebunk High School and played for Rafferty, making the transition at the top relatively smooth as opposed to bringing in an outsider. Noel also worked as an assistant for 12 years under longtime Sanford head coach Mike Fallon.
Noel, who graduated from Plymouth State College, now Plymouth State University, in New Hampshire, will be going up against one of his mentors as a head coach for the first time Saturday.
“It’s going to be kind of a surreal experience,” he said. “(Fallon) took a chance on me when I was a young kid out of college.”
As if the Rams need any more motivation, the game against Sanford is also Homecoming.
“We’ll definitely want to impress and show people what kind of a team we are,” Bourque said. “People say there’s a lot of pressure on us but it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before. We're very interested to see what we can put on the table against Sanford.”
Seniors Gabe Jewett and Brandon Lemire, all two-way linemen, are the other Kennebunk captains.
The Rams, who have just eight seniors on the roster, host Sanford on Saturday afternoon at 1:30.
“We’ve just got to keep getting better,” Noel said. “We’re going to be in battles for the next couple weeks. As you get in the playoffs you kind of want to be battle-tested and see where you are. I think the kids are looking forward to the opportunity.”
The run-oriented Spartans (3-1) are coming off their first loss, a 41-14 setback last week to Thornton Academy.
“I think Sanford’s going to be a big challenge but it’s also going to be a big opportunity for us to show we can stand with the Class A teams and have success,” Compton said. “I think there’s definitely a chance to prove ourselves in the next couple weeks and finish off the season strong.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Coach Noel has Kennebunk High football team off to undefeated start
