KITTERY — Preparing for Oak Hill was hard enough.
Add a week filled with distractions for the Traip Academy football team and the result was a 35-8 Western Maine Class D loss to the playoff-bound Raiders on Saturday at Memorial Field.
Traip coach Ron Ross began the week by running practice as normal, but he was suspended from coaching on Tuesday pending an investigation into player safety. Ross was cleared by school administrators to resume coaching on Friday.
“It was a tough week for the kids, tough week for me and a tough week for the staff,” Ross said. “The kids came out, played tough and they put their best effort in today. I’m happy for them.”
Traip assistant Nate Murphy ran the team in Ross’ absence, which left a strain on the coaching staff in getting the 16 kids ready to play.
“I didn’t have any input on the game plan in what we wanted to run,” Ross said. “Coach Murphy did the best job he could. He had to run the show basically by himself with two unpaid assistants, and he did a good job. If we had a normal week, we would’ve done some things different to prepare for what they were going to do.”
What Oak Hill (5-2) did was grab a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. Kyle Flaherty (16 carries, 164 yards) gained 57 yards on the opening drive and capped it with a 3-yard touchdown run.
On the Raiders’ second drive, a screen pass from quarterback Dalton Therrien to Alex Mace turned into a 57-yard scoring play. Therrien capped Oak Hill’s next possession with a 1-yard keeper for a touchdown with 1:58 left in the first quarter.
“Our kids came out with energy,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “We’re young up front, but our backfield is very seasoned and we did a good job of breaking tackles. We just want to make the defense play the whole field.”
Traip (1-6) was held to 57 yards of offense in the first half, compared to 228 for the Raiders. Oak Hill’s Ryan Stevens intercepted Traip quarterback Chris Czachor and returned it 75 yards to make it 28-0 with 5:21 left in the second quarter.
Oak Hill’s final score came on a 52-yard touchdown run by Flaherty in the third quarter. The Raiders host rival Lisbon next week for a chance to clinch the second seed in the regional playoffs.
“We’re a little banged up, but we’re playing well and we’re only going to get healthier,” Doucette said.
Traip’s lone score came on Nate Henderson’s 33-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Henderson finished with 69 yards on seven carries, while Anthony Sowell led the Rangers with 86 yards on nine carries.
With a rough week behind him, Ross wants his four seniors — Czachor, Matt Graham, Tyler Tuttle and Nick Ovington — to end the regular season on a positive note next Friday at Dirigo. Traip must win to have any shot at making the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
“(The players) handled it as well as they could,” Ross said.
“They were happy to see me on Friday, I was happy to see them on Friday. It was a distraction, but for the most part they handled it well and I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
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