Week 2 Football: York, Marshwood even records at 1-1; here's what happened in other games
Mother Nature certainly played a major role in Friday's high school football games along the Seacoast.
Two games didn't even attempt to play and were moved to Saturday; one game played a half, and will resume Saturday; one game played nearly a half before it was delayed and will resume Saturday, one game played most of the first half and the coaches agreed to call it an official game when a lightning delay suspended their game; and one game played most of the first quarter before its weather delay. That game resumed more than an hour later and was the only game in the Seacoast that played a full game.
More: Who will win in Week 2? Our picks for Portsmouth-Winnacunnet football, all Seacoast games
Spaulding had its scheduled game at Timberlane postponed until Saturday, and the Red Raiders fell to 0-2 after a 27-22 loss. York visited Wells and earned a 32-14 win.
In Division I, Portsmouth and Winnacunnet started 45 minutes early, but only got to halftime before a lightning delay halted that game with the ClipperCats leading 14-0. The game resumed Saturday with the ClipperCats coming away with a 42-0 win.
More: Winnacunnet's Jimmy Schouller and St. Thomas Aquinas' Kate Burrus earn weekly honors
Also, Exeter and Nashua North played most of the first quarter before lightning delayed their game for more than an hour. The game resumed shortly after 9 p.m., and Exeter improved to 2-0 with a 31-7 win.
Dover and Sanford, Maine were tied 7-7 in the second quarter. The game was delayed before eventually being called. The game will not count, and will not be made up.
More: Moss scores three TDs as ClipperCats eclipse 40 points for second time this season
In Division II, St. Thomas Aquinas was trailing Pelham, 14-0 late in the first half before lightning delayed their game. After a wait, both coaches agreed to call it an official game, and will not resume.
In a regularly scheduled Saturday game, Traip Academy lost to Boothbay, 20-12 in a Maine 8-Man Small contest.
York 32, Wells 14
WELLS, Maine – Brody Gullison scored three touchdowns and Ben Brown added two as the York High School football team collected its first win of the season Saturday night, 32-14, over Wells.
Trailing 14-0 midway through the second quarter, the Class C South Wildcats erupted for 32 unanswered points to level their record at 1-1 and spoil the Warriors home-opener. Class D Wells dropped to 1-1.
Gullison put York ahead to stay on a 2-yard TD run with 9:15 left in the third quarter. Peter Martin threw three touchdown passes, two to Brown and one to Gullison.
Coach’s comment: “I think the light bulb went (on) for some of the kids tonight,” said York coach Matt Nelson. “We always knew they had it in ‘em. Our exhibition game and our first game against Cheverus (a 41-14 loss) I didn’t really know if they believed in themselves but tonight they did, and they showed it. As the game went along, they just gained more and more confidence.”
Key moments: York scored twice in the final 3:18 of the second quarter to carry momentum into the halftime break.
Gullison scampered down the right sideline for a 31-yard score and Brown caught a 20-yard TD pass to make it 14-13. The Wildcats also scored on their first possession of the second half to move in front for the first time, 19-14.
York pulled away with a pair of touchdowns less than three minutes apart in the fourth quarter. Trailing 19-14, the Warriors were poised to regain the lead but the Wildcats defense stymied them with a goal-line stand.
-Al Pike
Marshwood 46, Biddeford 6
BIDDEFORD, Maine - Marshwood scored seven rushing touchdowns and defeated Biddeford in a Class A South game that started on Friday night and finished Saturday morning.
Marshwood improved to 1-1 on the season.
"It was good to get (a win) under our belts for sure," Marshwood head coach Alex Rotsko said following the win. "We thought our kids worked hard in preseason and it's nice to be rewarded with a win. We felt we got better as the game went along, and executed better in the second half."
Rotsko added that he was proud of the bounce-back effort from his linebackers.
"I think after last week, we thought our defensive line played fairly well last week, but we were disappointed with our linebackers," Rotsko said. "It seemed like we did a better job today, did a better job with our reads and just tackling. I thought it was good."
Key Players: Marshwood running back Ryan Essex led the way on the ground with three rushing touchdowns from one 1, 2, and 10 yards.
Dylan Grassi had a 46-yard touchdown run for the Hawks, and Ty Hussey added a touchdown run of 18 yards. Landon Waterman scored on a 3-yard touchdown run and Cole Goodwin added a 1-yard touchdown run.
Up next: Marshwood visits Gorham on Friday at 7 p.m.
-Brandon Brown
Boothbay 24, Traip Academy 12
KITTERY, Maine - Seamus Berry ran for 139 yards and scored two touchdowns for Traip in this Maine 8-Man Small contest. Traip is now 0-2 on the season.
Traip's Sam Matthews had three sacks and eight tackles, including four for a loss.
"We played all four quarters and this was our best overall game in a year and a half," Traip head coach Eric Lane. "We only had one turnover, so I am very pleased."
The Rangers will visit Maranacook Community on Friday.
-Jay Pinsonnault
Timberlane 27, Spaulding 22
PLAISTOW - In a tight Division I battle with Spaulding holding a 22-21 at halftime, one second-half score by Timberlane was the difference.
Timberlane scored a touchdown on a 12-yard pass, failed on the two-point conversion attempt, but held on for its first win of the season. Spaulding is now 0-2.
"It's one of those situations with two evenly matched teams," Spaulding head coach Kevin Hebert said. "Our offense did a great job of moving the ball in the first half. I don't think they stopped up in the first half; we had long three long drives. Defensively we were better today, still missed a couple of tackles which hurt us. But I was proud of our guys."
Key moments: Spaulding running back Hunter Trueman started the scoring with a 41-yard touchdown run, to give Spaulding a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Timberlane responded with a 14-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-6 to take a 7-6 lead.
In the second quarter, Spaulding quarterback Kaiden Melendez found Zach Lynch for a 14-yard score, and the Red Raiders converted the 2-point conversion to jump back ahead, 14-7.
After a Timberlane score, Brady English blocked the PAT to keep Spaulding ahead, 14-13. With 12 seconds left in the second quarter, Trueman scored on a 33-yard touchdown reception from Melendez for a 22-21 halftime advantage.
Key Players: Melendez threw for nearly 150 yards and two touchdown passes, while Trueman ran for nearly 100 yards with two scores.
-Brandon Brown
Exeter 31, Nashua North 7
EXETER - The Blue Hawks used a tenacious defense, timely forced turnovers, a dominant run game sprinkled in with timely throws by quarterback Jack Bove and improved to 2-0 with a 31-7 win over Nashua North on Friday night at Exeter High School. The game was delayed for more than an hour due to lightning and resumed shortly after 9 p.m.
In the last seven quarters, Exeter has outscored both Timberlane, last week's opponent, and Nashua North by a margin of 73-7.
"It was a good solid effort against a pretty good football team," Exeter head coach Bill Ball said following the win. "I'm happy with that effort."
Exeter got on the board on a 30-yard field goal off the foot of Dylan Drunsic. Then Exeter's Daniel Batstone forced and recovered a fumble, giving the Blue Hawks a first down at the North 21. Three plays later, Batstone scored his first of two touchdowns on a 2-yard run to increase the Blue Hawk lead to 10-0.
Ball thought Batstone's takeaway was the biggest play of the game.
A 21-yard pass from Bove to Kenny Verhelle added to the lead as Exeter went into the shortened intermission with a 17-0 lead, and the second half was more of the same, though it didn't start that way.
North opened the second half with a 62-yard touchdown pass from John Canaway to Peters, cutting the lead to Exeter 17-7 with just under 11 minutes in the third.
"Defensively, I thought we were better than we were a week ago," Ball said.
Key moments: With Exeter leading 10-0 in the first half, the Titans faced a fourth-and-inches at the Exeter 21. North's Darius Smith received the handoff, but was met in the backfield by Isaac Beem and Tyler Graney for the tackle for loss and turnover on downs. This led to Verhelle's touchdown on the next drive.
Another timely defensive stop by Exeter occurred again, and this time it was Verhelle getting it done. With the Titans on a first-and-10 the Exeter 26, North quarterback Gavin Flynn attempted to connect with Joshua Bozek, but Verhelle went up with Bozek and came down with the interception at the 6-yard line with 40 seconds left until halftime.
Bove scored on a one-yard TD run to push the lead back to three possessions, 24-7 with just under three minutes in the third, and Batstone added his second score of the game in the fourth.
Key players: Bove accounted for two touchdowns - one on the ground and one through the air to Verhelle, while Batstone collected two scores on the ground, giving him four rushing touchdowns this season.
The Exeter defense as a whole was stingy, forcing three first-half turnovers (two fumble recoveries and an interception), as well as a turnover on downs.
Dylan Drunsic, who is perfect on two field-goal attempts and all 10 extra-point attempts this season, did a great job of kicking to the goal line, allowing the Blue Hawks' special teams unit to keep the Titans from having great starting field position.
Up next: Exeter hits the road for the first time and will visit Spaulding on Thursday. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Dover 7, Sanford, Maine 7
DOVER – Meeting for the second time in two years, Dover and Sanford, Maine were tied 7-7 midway through the second quarter Friday night at Dunaway Field when the game went into a lightning delay with 7:28 remaining in the first half.
However, the abbreviated contest was eventually canceled and will not be made up despite moving the start time up a half hour to 6:30 in a futile attempt to beat the nasty weather.
The Green Wave (1-0) scored on their first possession when Ryder Aubin scampered into the end zone on a 19-yard quarterback keeper that capped a 92-yard drive in eight plays.
Aubin completed a pass to freshman Amari Lewis for a 30-yard gain on the second play from scrimmage. Aubin also added an 18-yard run that gave Dover a first down on the Sanford 38. He scored four plays later.
The Spartans (1-0) pulled even early in the second quarter on a 41-yard TD pass from Tanner McCann to Makai Bougie down the left sideline with 9:57 left in the first half.
Dover’s defense stood tall during one sequence when punter Tucker Johnson’s knee touched the ground while he was attempting to field a low snap, giving the visitors a first down on the Dover 15.
Sanford got as close as the 11 but no farther when Dover’s Bryce Carberry sacked McCann on fourth down on the first play of the second quarter to kill the threat.
However, the Green Wave failed to move the ball and the Spartans scored on their next possession to tie the game at 7.
-Al Pike
Pelham 14, St. Thomas Aquinas 0
DOVER - Weather shortened the game to two quarters, as both coaches agreed to make the game official with the Pythons leading 14-0 with 16 seconds left in the first half due to lightning.
St. Thomas fell to 1-1 on the season, while Pelham extended its win streak to 32 games and is now 2-0 on the season.
St. Thomas coach Ed McDonough said although he wished the game could have completed, he was proud of the way his team battled, and felt there was plenty to build off. Both Pelham touchdowns came on big plays, and the Saints managed a fourth-down stop at their 4-yard line to keep the game within reach.
“(Pelham) is a great team, but I thought our kids played really well on defense,” McDonough said. “What hurt us was a couple big plays when they used motion. When they came straight at us, I thought we held up well. But they’re a good team. They’ve got a winning streak for a reason.”
Key moments: Three minutes into the second quarter, Pelham seemed poised to jump ahead 14-0, as the Pythons marched to the St. Thomas 4. But on fourth-and-1 the Saints defense stepped up and swarmed Jake Ciulla for no gain to end the threat.
Pelham got on the board when Dom Herrling broke off a 25-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to open the scoring. On a third-and-6 with 3:23 left in the half, Pelham quarterback Nick Muise hit Connor Travis for a 39-yard touchdown. St. Thomas recovered a fumbled punt at midfield midway through the first quarter, but the Saints were unable to capitalize and tie the game as they faltered on fourth down and seven from the Pelham 28 yard line.
Key players: The Saints defense held their own against Pelham’s powerhouse offense as Trent Salyards and Dylan Lassard stepped up and got in on several plays. Offensively, Sam Grondin led the charge for St. Thomas with five carries for 27 yards, and was the only Saint with a reception, hauling in a 3-yard pass from Michael Skowron.
Up Next: St. Thomas will host Sanborn Friday at 7 p.m.
-Terrill Covey
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Mother Nature wreaks havoc with Week 2 Friday football schedule
