PORTLAND — Beleaguered, long-suffering football opponents hoping to get back at Cheverus this season embraced the idea that the Stags don’t seem to have a bona fide “home run hitter” in their camp.
Maybe not, but the purple-and-gold darned sure boast a complete lineup.
Cheverus put two backs over the century mark Saturday afternoon and four different players reached the end zone in a 42-14 Class A North season-opening win over Oxford Hills at Boulos Stadium.
Senior wingback Dan Baker carried eight times for 142 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Stags, who showed they will be a force once again despite the graduation of Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist Joe Fitzpatrick and Gaziano Award winner Zordan Holman.
“We wanted to come out here and make a statement,” Cheverus senior two-way lineman Frank Curran said. “A lot of people are doubting us because 27 (Fitzpatrick) and 90 (Holman) are gone. We played our game still. It’s definitely a different team than last year, but we’re still as good a team as last year.”
Rylan Benedict added a team-high 20 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown. Justin Johnston had an 89-yard kick return touchdown for Cheverus, and Isaac Dunn scored on a quarterback sneak.
Jake Spinhirn ran 18 times for 131 yards and both touchdowns to ignite the Vikings. He tied the game on a 71-yard ramble before Johnston’s gem reclaimed the lead. Spinhirn later ran it in from 4 yards out.
John Bowen and Connor Bickford recovered fumbles to lead the Oxford Hills defense.
The Vikings were stymied by their own giveaways, however: Three lost fumbles in the second half, when they were limited to one first down.
“The truth is their adjustments were better than my adjustments at halftime, and a couple of those fumbled snaps were tough. That shortened up a couple drives,” Oxford Hills coach Mark Soehren said. “They dominated the line of scrimmage, clearly both sides.”
Baker, Spinhirn and Johnston scored on three consecutive first-quarter plays in a span of 33 seconds.
Cheverus made a living between the tackles on Fitzpatrick and Holman’s shoulders the past two years, but Baker’s success on the buck sweep was the theme of the first half. He raced to the end zone on runs of 18, 25 and 72 yards before leg cramps contained him to only two second-half carries.
“I give credit to the linemen, mostly. Those are new running plays we have. We just got them done. We said we were going to do it and we did,” Baker said. “Frankie (Curran), that’s his key block, and Owen (Gorman).”
Spinhrin answered by stutter-stepping two Stags before accelerating to the end zone. That run typified an intense first half in which the Vikings repeatedly rallied and refused to go away.
Baker’s second and third touchdowns inflated Cheverus’ lead to 28-7 less than a minute into the second quarter. Oxford Hills countered by driving from its own 38 on the strength of Bowen’s 15-yard run and surges of 18 and 12 by Spinhirn.
It was first-and-goal at the 3 before Kieran Conley’s consecutive tackles for loss revived the Stags. Cordell Stuart snagged Connor Truman’s throw over the middle on fourth down, but Curran dragged him down at the 1.
“We said at the half if you take out the kick return and the goal-line stand, it’s really sort of a 21-21 game right now,” Soehren said. “We’ve got to put some consistency together. It’s not a new offense, but it’s a lot of new kids in that offense.”
Oxford Hills’ encore stalled at the Cheverus 18, but Bowen’s scoop of a fumble on the next play put the Vikings in business. Spinhirn zoomed left for 19 to set up his own scor plunge.
Bowen and Adaryan Ray stopped Benedict to force an ensuing three-and-out, and Spinhirn returned the punt to Cheverus territory once again. Curran sacked Truman to derail that series and protect the Stags’ two-touchdown lead at the break.
“We knew they were fired up. We knew they thought they could beat us,” Curran said. “Usually people look at Cheverus like they’re very dominant, but this year a lot of teams think they can beat us.”
Curran, Conley and Kenny Drelich pounced on the loose ball for the Stags in the second half, when they clamped down on Spinhirn to the tune of only four yards on six attempts.
Benedict banged in from 15 yards away in the third quarter. Dunn delivered from 6 yards in the fourth.
“We’re not a one-trick pony like we were last year,” Cheverus coach John Wolfgram said. “We got contributions from a lot of different people, which is what we’re going to have to do.”
Oxford Hills’ improvement against a benchmark program was visible both on the scoreboard and to the naked eye.
“Two years ago was 38-0, and last year was 21-0 middle of the second and 42-0 at half. We went south fast there,” Soehren said. “We’re done with the loss. We can learn lessons from this, but we’re not going to hang our heads.”
koakes@sunjournal.com
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