RUMFORD — Cape Elizabeth coach Aaron Filieo lit into his unbeaten team at halftime of Friday night’s Campbell Conference Class C game against Mountain Valley in hopes of getting a more consistent effort from the Capers in the second half.
Then the kickoff to start the second half went off the Cape kick returner Brett McAlister and out of bounds at the two yard line, making the Capers 17-3 lead suddenly seem tenuous.
“I gave them a halftime speech from hell, and then when it went off Brett’s helmet, I said, ‘Well, that didn’t work.'”
Filieo spoke too soon. The Capers marched 98 yards in 13 plays for a touchdown that started a run of 21 unanswered points as they pulled away for a 45-9 victory at Chet Bulger Field.
“I was happy they were able to come out and just kind of simplify things,” Filieo said. “We’ve just been a little inconsistent the last couple of games, so our message tonight was, despite the distraction, to just come out and play clean and execute, and quite frankly we didn’t to start the game. I was glad that they responded in the second half.”
Cape Elizabeth (5-0) quarterback Jeb Boeschenstein completed four straight passes for touchdowns in the second half to lead the onslaught. An 18-yard strike to Marshall Peterson capped the 98-yard drive.
The Falcons fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which Cape’s Camden Turner recovered at Mountain Valley’s 35. Four plays later, Boeschenstein and Peterson connected from 18 yards again to make it 31-3.
Boeschenstein, who in the first half split snaps at QB with Andrew Hartel and Ben Ekedahl, added touchdown throws of 28 yards to McAlister and eight yards to Nat Spicer.
Kyle Farrar led the Falcons by collecting 94 of his 111 yards rushing in the second half. He also kicked a 31-yard field goal. Eli Turner scored the lone Mountain Valley touchdown on a 16-yard run in the fourth quarter.
“We have a young team that hasn’t quite found their feet yet as far as winning goes,” Mountain Valley coach Pat Mooney said. “We’re changing the culture here and we’re trying to get them on the right track, but it’s a process.”
The process included some stretches of solid defense in the first half along with a couple of costly breakdowns early.
The first breakdown came on special teams, which surrendered a 52-yard punt return for a touchdown to McAlister midway through the first quarter for a 7-0 Cape lead.
The Falcons (2-3) covered better after going three-and-out on their next series, but the defense gave up a 63-yard touchdown run by Ben Ekedahl on the Capers’ first play from scrimmage to make it 14-0.
Staked with bad field position after a second quarter punt, the Falcon defense buckled down to force the Capers to settle for a 33-yard Peterson field goal.
Mountain Valley’s special teams redeemed itself when Curtis Gauvin tackled the Cape punter after he bobbled the snap at his own 12. The Falcons couldn’t take advantage, though, and had to settle for Farrar’s 31-yard field goal to pull within 17-3 with 1:59 left in the half.
Led by Jacob Jordan, Ryan Weare and Justin Kimball, the Capers limited the Falcons to 32 total yards and two first downs on offense in the first half. Mountain Valley got the running game going in the second half, but by then, it faced a four touchdown deficit.
“We just didn’t play smart. We played hard, not smart,” Mooney said. “The way our offense is designed, if we can keep it close, we wear teams down in the third and fourth quarter. I felt like we did that tonight, but we didn’t run our first play of the second half until there was five minutes left (in the third quarter).”
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