The Maine Mayhem women’s football team is one win from the Women’s Football Alliance Division III national championship game in Canton, Ohio, on July 21.

This week, the Portland-based Mayhem (5-2) travel to West Palm Beach, Florida, to take on the Palm Beach Coyotes (5-1) in Saturday’s Eastern Conference championship. Maine defeated the New York Knockouts 13-12 in double overtime in the North East regional championship on June 24.

Chelsea Watson, who lives in Auburn and is an assistant athletic director at Central Maine Community College, is one of 12 players with area ties on the Mayhem roster. She has an extensive athletic background includes playing basketball and softball player at Lyndon State College, but nothing tops winning the regional championship last month.

“Winning our region championship a couple of weeks ago on an extra point in double overtime is probably the coolest experience I have ever been in,” Watson said. “I have been playing sports my entire life and through college, and this is the most exciting and best athletic experience I have ever had.”

Cassidee Couture of Jay kicked the game-winning extra-point that sent the Mayhem to the first final four of their existence, which dates back to 2016.

Watson said this year’s team was strong from the beginning.

“We had a lot of people coming back who already played,” Watson, who is from Eliot and attended Marshwood High School, said. “So we really picked up from last year, and we could build our offensive game plan, our defensive game plan; we didn’t really have to teach too many new things to people. The people who joined this year, they had great minds and absorbed all the new material really well. That first game, seeing how well we could click, every game, we got better. We are more cohesive, more supportive of each other.”

Running back Mahala-Dineh Smith, who is from Sabattus and is a 2019 graduate of Oak Hall High School and played football for the Raiders, also said it was clear early on that the Mayhem had the talent to make a playoff run this year.

“At the beginning of the season, I always had the vision of being in the playoffs where we are now,” Smith said. “Towards the beginning of the season, we had a good enough team to make it to where we are now.”

The Mayhem opened the regular season with a 76-0 win over the Northern Connecticut Nightmare before losing to the Knockouts 12-8 and the New York Wolves 30-6. Maine won three straight to end the regular season: back-to-back wins (40-0, 35-0) over the Connecticut Hawks and a 45-0 rout of the New Hampshire Rebellion in the season finale.

Smith, who also plays linebacker, said the defense is doing well at stopping the opposition’s offense. The Mayhem tallied 15 sacks, 13 interceptions, and six fumble recoveries during the regular season.

“We have a good set of linebackers this year, which helps with (stopping) the running game,” Smith said. “Our secondary has stepped up, especially this last game. One of our cornerbacks had two, almost three interceptions in that playoff game.”

The Knockouts were the first-place team in the North East Division, while the Mayhem finished second to set up a meeting in the regional championship. Maine was excited about the rematch.

“We didn’t beat the New York Knockouts the first time — we had a lead late in the game and lost,” Watson said. “We knew right away we were going to see them again, and we were going to beat them.”

Smith scored both touchdowns in the Northeast regional championship victory over the Knockouts, while Watson had two interceptions on defense.

Smith credited her teammates for her being able to find the end zone. The importance of teamwork to a team’s success is something that she learned as a member of Oak Hill’s 2015 state championship team — the Raiders’ third consecutive Class D title.

“My freshmen year of high school is when we won the state championship; if our team wasn’t working as a team, it wouldn’t have been done,” she said. “And the last playoff game we had with the Mayhem, I wouldn’t have scored my touchdowns if the (offensive) line didn’t block or my wide receivers didn’t block; I wouldn’t have been able to get there. It really takes a team effort.”

Watson is a cornerback and wide receiver. She enjoys playing defense the most.

“That’s a tough one: I have more of a pull towards the defensive side,” Watson said. “I love reading the quarterback and love making it hard for the wide receivers to catch the ball. … Defensively, though, that’s where I feel right at home. You are almost like an underdog on the defensive side. I love getting those picks.”

Now the Mayhem are focused on the Coyotes of the South East region. Smith said they need to be ready for the trash-talking that may happen.

“It’s going to be tough because of a different lifestyle,” Smith said. “Florida, they are going to run their mouth, and us Mainers aren’t used to getting hard teams like that.

“Skill-level, I think we can beat them no problem.”

Watson said it should be a hard-fought game with the Coyotes.

“We have studied them quite a bit,” Watson said. “At this point of the game, it’s always going to be a battle, and it’s never going to be easy, especially us traveling there — they have home-field advantage. They are used to playing in the heat. In Maine, we don’t have that heat yet.

“It will be interesting; I think we have a good opportunity; it’s a matter of not making as many mistakes as the other team and trying to stay healthy as much as possible because it’s going to be hot.”

Along with Smith, Watson and Couture, the other Mayhem players who are either from the area or live here are (area high school, if listed on the team’s roster, in parenthesis): Samantha Aspinall and Tricia White (Oxford Hills) of South Paris, Emily Brzycki of Poland, Angelica Bulgin of Lisbon, Frankie Curtis (Oak Hill) and Erin Fisher of Sabattus, Kelly Denlinger (Oxford Hills) of Norway, Shandra Rubchinuk of Winthrop and Angelina Sanchez-Dow of Hebron.

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