The speculation ends tonight.
We don’t have to wait to judge if this season is a speed bump between Class C championship runs at Leavitt or another building block in a dynasty.
There will be hard evidence before all eyes at Libby Field when Leavitt confronts another of the co-favorites in the Campbell Conference, Cape Elizabeth, at 7 p.m. Friday.
“To me, Cape, I like them the most,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said of title competition that figures to include Spruce Mountain and Wells. “They’re physical. I think that’s the style that Aaron (Filieo) likes to coach. I think it just fits him.”
Leavitt has a new look after completing its second perfect season in five years and its fourth since 1995.
The Hornets’ offensive and defensive schemes will change to reflect a necessary emphasis on speed over power. Junior Levi Craig gets the nod at quarterback, although Billy Bedard — who fueled the run to last year’s title out of the wildcat formation — will be heavily involved.
“I’m sure defenses are going to be a lot more focused on (Bedard). I know we can spread the ball around. We have good guy at every spot, and we have a quality guy behind all those guys. It’ll allow us to play a pretty fast tempo, because we can spin some guys in and out of there. That’s fun,” Hathaway said. “I do think this will be one of the best throwing teams we’ve had, depending on how Levi progresses with his reads and whatnot. He really has the tools to be pretty good.”
Cape Elizabeth returns its entire complement of skill position players from a team that challenged Leavitt twice in 2013. The Hornets prevailed 26-7 in the regular-season opener and 21-9 in the regional semifinals.
The bruising backfield tandem of Christian Lavallee and Jack Drinan leads Cape. Senior quarterback Noah Wolfinger’s favorite target is classmate Ethan Murphy. Another senior and incumbent conference all-star, Devon Stanford, anchors a young offensive line.
Spruce Mountain, Cape Elizabeth and Wells all have their eyes on what belonged to the Hornets from start-to-finish a year ago.
“All those teams were more junior-heavy last year, so experience-wise, on paper, they’re probably ahead of us, I would think,” Hathaway said.
Center/middle linebacker Will Parkin and two-way end Mitchel Davis join Bedard as holdovers for the Hornets. Hathaway compares the team favorably to his 2010 group, which overcame steep graduation losses and won a regional championship.
Tests will come early (Cape, then Yarmouth) and late (Wells and Spruce Mountain in the final two weeks of the regular season).
“It seems to have set up that way for us a few times,” Hathaway said. “We’ve seen huge gains here just day-to-day from the beginning of summer until now. A lot of kids have gotten a lot better.”
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