PARIS — Brady Truman has stepped in and kept Oxford Hills’ high expectations for this season on track.
Filling in again for starting quarterback Eli Soehren, Truman led the Vikings to a 34-3 Class A football win over Sanford on Friday at Gouin Athletic Complex.
Truman played well in relief after Soehren injured his ankle early in last week’s win over defending state champion Thornton.
In the first start of his career Friday, Truman completed 16 of 18 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns, both to fellow junior Teigan Pelletier.
Pelletier, who is close friends with Truman, said the Vikings weren’t worried when Soehren, the 2021 Gatorade Maine Player of the Year, went down.
“Quarterback-wise, we are best friends,” Pelletier said of Truman. “We have every single class together, we eat dinner together before the games, we all have chemistry. We weren’t worried at all at the quarterback position.”
Truman said that leading Oxford Hills to a big win over Thornton last week increased his belief in himself and the team’s belief in him.
“It boosted my confidence but it also helped the rest of the team’s confidence knowing that I can come in and do things,” Truman said. “Changing from Eli can be hard because he does everything, but now they know I can do it, too, so it makes me feel better and them feel better.”
The Truman-to-Pelletier connection sparked the Vikings (3-0), who are ranked No. 1 in this week’s Varsity Maine poll, to a pair of early scores in Friday’s game.
On the team’s second possession, Truman found Pelletier for a 30-yard pass up the middle to set up Oxford Hills at the Sanford 2-yard line. Two plays later, Jake Carson took a direct snap and ran it up the middle for a touchdown. Brady Delamater, who is filling in for Soehren as the Vikings’ placekicker, made the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Oxford Hills’ Grayson Foster intercepted a pass to end Sanford’s (1-2) next possession.
Three plays into the ensuing drive, Truman hooked up with Pelletier again on a long pass, this one a 43-yarder for a touchdown that gave the Vikings a 14-0 advantage.
Sanford’s Jayden Payeur kicked a 24-yard field goal on the next drive to cut the deficit to 14-3 with 6:25 remaining in the half.
The Spartans forced a turnover on downs and then drove deep in to Vikings territory, but Pelletier picked off a pass with 41 seconds left.
“We were driving the field, it’s 14-3, and we get into the red zone, and we’re thinking maybe we go and score and go into halftime down 14-10,” Sanford coach Mike Fallon said. “But we threw a pick and they had to go 80 yards in 40 seconds, and they did.”
The Vikings were 77 yards away from the end zone, but Truman led the offense down the field and found Pelletier once again, this time on a fade pass in the right corner for their second touchdown connection, giving Oxford Hills a 20-3 lead at halftime.
“It was the easiest decision of my life to throw it up to him,” Truman said. “I had 11 seconds and I just turned around and threw it to him.”
Over the first two quarters, Truman was 10 of 12 passing for 203 yards, while Pelletier caught four passes for 100 yards.
“Brady has been throwing to Teigan forever,” Oxford Hills coach Mark Soehren said. “I teach both of them in AP Physics, they have the same classes and they see each other in practice every day.”
It certainly helps that Pelletier is 6-foot-6 with good hands and athleticism.
“He started the year with a broken hand, but he’s got two games in now,” Soehren said of the junior receiver. “I think that when he was a sophomore last year, he was tall but he wasn’t as thick and strong, and now has (had) a year of lifting.
“This year he has a different mentality and is a fearless player. He’s incredibly athletic, the kids believe in him, and I think he could go Division I in three sports. He’s fast and physical and incredibly difficult to account for.”
Oxford Hills added to its lead on its second drive of the second half when Carson scored on a 2-yard run, again on a direct snap, making the lead 27-3 with 23 seconds left in the third quarter.
On the drive, Truman completed all five of his pass attempts for 53 yards.
With a big lead, the Vikings ran the ball on every play of their next possession. Running back Hunter Tardiff finished the drive with four consecutive carries, and on the fourth he slipped through the defense on the left side and jogged in for a 14-yard score, pushing Oxford Hills’ lead to 34-3 with 7:24 left in the game.
Tardiff (seven carries, 65 yards) and fellow running back Trey Morrison (11 carries, 49 yards) combined for 114 yards, and Carson had the two TDs on three carries.
Fallon said Sanford played well but that Truman and Pelletier were too much for the Spartans’ defense.
“We had them off schedule at times and looking at the back end of the defense, we were in good positions,” Sanford coach Mike Fallon said. “Their backup quarterback can sling it. He was throwing seeds out there. He was throwing perfect footballs to big, strong targets. It’s not like we blew a bunch of coverages and weren’t in places we needed to be, but they were really good throws with exceptional athletes.”
Pelletier caught one pass in the second half, giving him five in the game for 108 yards. Carson added four receptions for 86 yards and Tanner Bickford caught five passes for 58 yards.
Sanford running back Jordan Bissonette finished with 79 yards on the ground, but Oxford Hills’ defense was stout all night.
“Our defensive line is pretty tough,” Soehren said. “We knew our defensive ends were strong and they played a lot last year, and the interior line stepped up. Sanford is big and tough and runs the ball well, and we didn’t want them to be going north to south, and we did a good job of stopping them.”
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