WALES — Find a way. One heartbeat. Rise as one. We believe. Do your job. Make a play.
The Oak Hill buzzwords and catch phrases that have now sparked three consecutive Class D South football championships are part sports cliché, part pop psychology. Cynical sportswriters stopped quoting them a while ago.
Twenty consecutive wins and a chance to raise a third Gold Ball in succession, something no gridiron program of any size has done since the junction of the Reagan and Carter administrations, suggests that there might be some value to all this positive self-talk.
“Winning games always feels great,” Oak Hill senior receiver and defensive back Connor Nilsson said. “You never forget that feeling. It’s like an addiction.”
Oak Hill will attempt to achieve that ultimate delirium again Friday night when it faces fellow unbeaten Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield in the Class D state final at the University of Maine.
To win three consecutive state titles is next to impossible in a physically demanding, junior-and-senior-dominated game such as football.
Go ahead, scroll through the names of Maine’s modern football dynasties in your mind. Nobody in any class — not Marshwood, Biddeford, South Portland, Bonny Eagle, Winslow, Cheverus, Mountain Valley, Stearns, Foxcroft, Madison or Lisbon — has accomplished the feat since 1981.
Orono, which won Class C consecutively in 1979, 1980 and 1981, is the only school to triple up in the playoff era. Biddeford (1965-67) and Morse (1968-72) are the most recent programs to string together three or more in Classes A/AA and B, respectively.
And the Raiders were somewhat of an overnight sensation. They won their only previous state title in Class D in 1982 before enduring three decades of ups-and-downs in an ever-changing array of classes and conferences.
At the professional level, a modern dynasty has birthed the term (and led to an endless debate on the merits of) “the Patriot Way.” Spend any time around Oak Hill and you will discover a scholastic football program that has adopted the positive aspects of that philosophy into the Raider Way.
Oak Hill favors performance over panache and sacrifice over self-promotion. Any sound bites tend to be fun-size. Star players eagerly redistribute the glory in a world where me-first otherwise reigns.
“We’re a team overall, everyone being so close since we were little, playing football together since second and third grade all the way up,” senior running back and linebacker Levi Buteau said. “Pretty much being like a family for the most part. Growing up together and never really having that many new kids come in, everyone knows each other and knows what to do and what to expect.”
Family. Responsibility. Every team pays homage to those elusive qualities in the ultimate team sport, but then it falls apart after the first loss or internal crisis.
How? How does the Raiders’ reign roll on when all of history, a shifting society and even the law of averages appears stacked against them?
The right coaches
Oak Hill appointed Stacen Doucette to replace retired coach Dave Wing in 2012. Doucette was long overdue for a promotion, having shared in three state championships as an assistant coach at alma mater Lisbon after his playing career ended in 1991.
Still, it was his first job after moving over from a neighboring rival. There should have been a getting-to-you-know-you phase or some bumps in the road. Instead, the Raiders are 39-5 (.886) in his four seasons.
Doucette, consistent with the attitude he teaches, deflects the credit.
“I think the first team in 2012 created a culture. These (seniors) have been around since 2012, working hard, and hard work pays off,” Doucette said. “That team in 2012 was very special, and they’ve all been special. The kids really have done a good job of commitment to excellence, and it goes everywhere, from the players to the parents, the community, the administration, the coaches, even the bus drivers.”
He smiled as he finished the sentence, but he wasn’t kidding.
Emotions are real and shared indiscriminately in the Oak Hill camp. Buteau furnished additional evidence when his voice wavered for a moment after he was asked to talk about his coach.
“He definitely means a lot,” Buteau said. “Like a couple of other players have said, since he’s been here, he’s been straight to the point. We’ve all been here all four years, most of us. He’s just as close to a father to us as our real dads. He knows when to be nice and he knows when to yell right at you.”
Assistant coaches Geoff Wright and B.J. Robbins stayed on board and provided continuity when Doucette was hired. Chip Webster followed the current players through the youth program.
“They make it sound possible, and not only that but they drill it into our heads that we have full capability of doing it, so it’s really just up to us as long as you do your job,” Nilsson said.
The right players
The timing of Doucette’s arrival was a perfect storm. Oak Hill has produced a steady parade of high-character, low-ego athletes over the past four years.
Parker Asselin, a senior quarterback in 2013, didn’t bristle publicly at the thought of sharing snaps with a sophomore named Dalton Therrien. It was no surprise this season when Therrien lined up at wingback and scored a touchdown to spark a big win while Matthew Strout got his cleats settled.
Kyle Flaherty and Alex Mace, once-in-a-lifetime backs born at the same time, never complained about sharing carries, because each recognized that the other’s presence made him more difficult to stop. Luke Washburn, a Division I-caliber talent, was content to serve as a blocking tight end when his team had the ball.
This year’s “Rise as One” theme is an homage to the fact that most of those greats have graduated, but it also reiterates a way of life that already was in place.
“We don’t have superstars. We don’t have selfish players. Our seniors came up with that motto. I challenged them. They could have gone any way they wanted with it,” Doucette said. “The first week of the playoffs a couple of the seniors told me, ‘The difference in our team is that we’re seniors.’ They’re unselfish. It doesn’t really matter who carries or catches the ball. If someone’s a lineman, they’re going to block until they can’t anymore.”
Therrien is the offensive star, with more than 1,000 passing yards and a chance to eclipse that number on the ground. The rest of the Raiders’ ledger, though, is a study in shared wealth.
Five receivers have at least 10 catches. Therrien, Buteau and Cruz Poirier have combined for just under 2,000 rushing yards. Thirteen different defensive players have produced a turnover.
“There’s no individual star. It’s a melting pot of a bunch of crayons,” Nilsson said. “It’s just expressed so much that it has meaning. With our past success, as long as we keep listening to what Coach has to say, there’s really no stopping us.”
The right atmosphere
Some high school athletic teams put the “fun” in dysfunctional.
Not Oak Hill football. Seniors lead effectively without crossing that blurry line into harassment.
“Our sophomore year was definitely rough, because the seniors that year were one of the best senior groups we’ve had,” Buteau said. “They were always yelling at us, trying to keep us motivated. Every time we would screw up they would be right on our butt, telling us what to do. Ever since then, our senior class has been motivated and wanting to speak up and trying to keep everyone up to date.”
Freshmen, isolated on other football teams, are expected to participate in every Oak Hill practice and be ready to contribute in varsity games.
“Our freshmen are part of it. No matter what anybody says, it’s the best team that wins, top to bottom. Our freshmen do an extremely great job of running scout (team). We’re just happy with all our kids. Our freshmen learn the culture. That’s why they’re with us, and they’re just as special as anybody else,” Doucette said. “I remember the first day of 7-on-7 my first year. Levi showed up wearing boots, no smaller than he is now, same size, and he was running patterns and catching everything, having a good time.”
At least nine senior starters saw time in the lineup as sophomores. Garrett Gile, Brendon Tervo and Austin Goucher were regulars on the line. Gile, Buteau and Therrien helped anchor the defense.
Going along for the ride doesn’t necessarily mean learning leadership skills, as other teams shooting for the three-peat the past 35 years have learned. The expectation that Oak Hill players will lead by example, regardless of age, has paid ongoing dividends.
“It starts with the coaching. They’re motivators,” Nilsson said. “And it starts with us. It’s the heart, the dedication, not quitting. That’s really how we are. We don’t know how to quit. The competition that we have in our conference, they make it impossible for us to quit. We just pursue and always have the right mentality.”
Drama between players isn’t tolerated, not that much exists in Raider country.
“The coaches talk about being a close group, and if you don’t like someone then flush it during football. They’d better be your best friend,” Buteau said. “After football, whatever, you can be worst enemies, but at practice and at games as long as you guys are close, everything should be alright.”
The right confidence level
Oak Hill flaunts the 20-game winning streak, but customarily it is the opponent that enters the game with swagger.
The Raiders’ knack for winning close games leaves observers under the delusion that they are vulnerable, rather than giving them credit for the strengths of their system and their league.
“We’ve had our backs against the wall numerous times. We’ve had goal-line stands. Last year in the state game we had the ball on the one-inch line and went on a 99-yard, 11-inch touchdown drive,” Doucette said. “We’ve had to make first downs to put games away. We feel that we’re ready and we’re not going to waver. We have confidence in our kids. The game is never over for us.”
There is no complacency in the ranks after securing back-to-back titles. Too much is emotionally invested. The current Oak Hill seniors don’t want to be the group to let the streak slip away.
Nor do any of them take for granted the third weekend in November as an annual experience. They have taken every opponent’s best shot for three seasons and counting.
“It really doesn’t matter. Every single year you get there, it feels great,” Nilsson said. “Like Dalton has said, we can’t be more blessed than to be there three years a row. It’s a special thing. It’s really unexplainable.”
Asking these players and coaches to explain it doesn’t exactly fit their personality, either.
Doucette makes an effort to get to know what makes each player tick on an individual level, then finds a role on the team in which each will thrive. If it means throwing out his offensive and defensive preferences and trying something completely new, so be it.
“We make it fun. It’s hard work, though. We ask the kids to commit, and if it’s not fun, they’re not going to commit. And when it’s fun, you build relationships,” Doucette said. “That’s what we do. I think that’s why we’re successful. I think all the fun activities we do as team-builders, the (summer) 7-on-7, that’s where you find your identity and feel your way through. Then you work to improve. You learn what kind of team you’re going to be. It’s worked for us.”
Easier said than done.
Just like the idea of winning three consecutive state championships.
koakes@sunjournal.com
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