Lisbon’s Daytona McIver is run out of bounds by Winthrop/Monmouth’s Gavin Perkins during last year’s Class D South quarterfinal game at Lisbon High School. (Sun Journal file photo)
Say what you will about the NFL, but at least it doesn’t pass up a chance to schedule a good, old-fashioned conference grudge match.
Maine high school football’s schedule-makers failed in that regard last year, keeping Class D South rivals Lisbon and Winthrop/Monmouth separated during the regular season. The previous fall, the two had squared off in one of the most memorable (or, in the Ramblers’ case, forgettable) conference championship games ever played, a 20-17 Lisbon win. The Greyhounds trailed, 17-14, with 16 seconds left before a miracle pass set up a winning 1-yard TD run with less than a second to go.
On second thought, perhaps the schedulers knew what they were doing, giving the Ramblers nearly a full year to stew in the loss before being unleashed and pulling off one of the biggest upsets of recent playoff vintage. As a No. 6 seed, Winthrop/Monmouth dominated the third-seeded Greyhounds on their own field in last year’s regional quarterfinals, 28-13.
Perhaps the best small school Campbell Conference rivalry, Lisbon-versus-Winthrop has endured a number of changes — moving from Class C to Class D, no regular-season meeting in 2017, the additions of Monmouth, Hall-Dale and St. Dom’s — but remains a must-see matchup in Class D South.
The Ramblers (3-2) and Greyhounds (4-1) meet again Saturday (1:30 p.m., Thompson Field), with Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale once again playing underdogs to once-beaten Lisbon.
Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale bounced back from a 36-18 loss to Wells on Sept. 14 with back-to-back wins over Poland and Maranacook, a 33-29 nail-biter and 37-7 blowout, respectively.
Week to week, junior QB Keegan Choate is making better use of his many weapons, led by Ryan Baird. Evan Burnell and Dylan Lajoie have emerged recently as other options. Choate, Dylan Boynton and Ian Steele are the biggest threats in an improved running game.
If the Greyhounds didn’t have enough to snarl about on Saturday based on last year’s matchup, they are coming off of their first loss of the season, 39-18, at unbeaten Wells.
Like the Ramblers, Lisbon wasn’t interested in moral victories. The Greyhounds showed they were there to win by recovering an onside kick to start the game. Wells played a little less mistake-free against Lisbon, but overcame it with Tyler Bridge and a ground game that churned up 348 yards.
Senior QB Lucas Francis and running back Isaiah Thompson led a couple of long scoring drives for Lisbon. Both will try to keep Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale’s defense on the field, while Francis will try to keep it honest with a passing game that, with Robbie Dick as a top target, can’t be ignored.
While it’s not the only game in D South on Saturday (Poland and Oak Hill will play a game with playoff implications just a few miles away in Wales), another Rambler win over Lisbon would throw the conference into a wild two-week battle for seeds 2-7 and a feeling that anyone has a chance as long as they avoid Wells. A bounce-back win for Lisbon might eliminate some of that intrigue, which would be fine by the Greyhounds
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