WALES —Oak Hill earned the second seed in Class D West thanks in part to a talented pair of junior running backs, Kyle Flaherty and Alex Mace.
In last Saturday’s win over Lisbon to clinch the No. 2 spot, it was Mace who had the big day, rushing for 160 yards and three touchdowns.
This week, in the first round of the playoffs, it was Flaherty’s turn. The Raiders went to him early and often, and Boothbay never found an antidote.
Flaherty rushed 28 times for 224 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 2 Oak Hill to a 41-22 win over No. 7 Boothbay in the Class D West quarterfinals.
The Raiders (7-2) will host No. 3 Lisbon in the semifinals at 12:30 p.m. next Saturday.
Flaherty picked up the yoke early, running the ball 11 times in the first quarter, including a 32-yard jaunt that he immediately followed with a six-yard touchdown run capping Oak Hill’s opening drive.
“It’s big for me (to get going early). I get a little nervous early in the game,” Flaherty said. “But getting those first handoffs, it just all goes away.”
“We can’t tell week to week who is going to be the main guy,” said tight end/H-back Luke Washburn, who is usually the lead blocker for either Flaherty or Mace. “They’re both fantastic backs, and (quarterback) Parker (Asselin) is a great runner when it’s time and can throw the ball like no one else, I think. So whatever’s open, that’s what we’re going to take.”
After Samson Lacroix recovered a Boothbay fumble at the Seahawks’ 17, Mace (16 carries, 108 yards) announced his presence with a 10-yard touchdown run that made it 13-0 on the first quarter’s final play from scrimmage.
Mace added a touchdown pass on a halfback option, a 57-yard strike to Ryan Stevens, which with Asselin’s two-point pass to Washburn put the Raiders up 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Jason Maddocks (12 carries, 167 yards, 2 TD) momentarily stunned the Oak Hill crowd with a 79-yard touchdown run on Boothbay’s next play from scrimmage. Led by Washburn (two sacks), the Raiders defense rebounded and forced a punt on Boothbay’s next possession and started at the Seahawks 47. Seven play s later, Asselin sneaked it in from the 1 to make it 27-8 at halftime.
Boothbay (3-6) halted Oak Hill’s opening series of the second half with a stop on 4th-and-1. On the Seahawks’ first play from scrimmage, Maddocks again struck quickly with a 58-yard touchdown run.
Maddocks then ran in the two-point conversion pass from Julian Aponte, running behind a wall of defenders on a well-designed pole cat play to pull the Seahawks within 27-16.
“We worked on that wedge play all week with (Maddocks) going in, but they came to play,” Flaherty said.
“They have run the ball against every team in the conference,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “They’re well-coached in the double-wing, their kids work hard, and they’ve turned their program around in a few short years.”
Oak Hill answered on its next possession, giving the ball three times to Mace and four times to Flaherty, who took the last one 25 yards to the end zone for a 34-16 lead.
“Kyle takes a beating. He gets gang-tackled,” Doucette said. “Sometimes that’s the way it is when we run spreads, but he’s a good athlete.”
Flaherty’s 77-yard run on the first play of the Raiders’ next series set up Asselin’s 15-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Washburn that put the game out of reach late in the third quarter.
“That was just a great pass by Parker. He told Coach that he thought it was open. Coach wanted to run something else but it worked out,” Washburn said.
The Raiders rolled up 410 yards of total offense and 18 first downs.
“We didn’t want to let down in the playoffs. We’re coming into every game knowing we need to play our hardest,” Flaherty said. “We’re not going to underestimate anyone.”
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