This week in area football history: 1939, ’92, 2000 and ’13

This photo appeared in the Sun Journal on Oct. 31, 1992.

10 YEARS AGO …
Quintarian Brown helped Lewiston build a lead too big for Edward Little to come back from, but the Red Eddies tried before falling 34-26 on Oct. 25, 2013. Brown scored two first-half touchdowns and gained 139 yards on 15 carries. He also wore three uniforms because the first two were ripped beyond usefulness. An injury prevented Brown from playing most of the second half, which began with the Blue Devils leading 32-12. Edward Little began its rally with a 13-yard TD pass from Ian Mileikis to Cameron Cormier, then Mileikis scored on 1-yard run to cut the lead to 34-26 (Lewiston’s Nick Perrault tackled Mileikis for a safety in the second half). Johnny Boyd ended a Lewiston drive with an interception at the Edward Little 2-yard line, but the Red Eddies’ potential game-tying drive stalled near midfield.

This photo appeared in the Oct. 26, 2013, edition of the Sun Journal.

23 YEARS AGO …
Randy Hutchinson became Mt. Blue’s all-time leading rusher in the Cougars’ impressive 26-14 win over Skowhegan on Oct. 27, 2000. In Rumford that night, Leavitt fell to Mountain Valley 49-14. However, when the dust cleared the following day, it was the Hornets who earned a postseason berth, while Mt. Blue’s season was over. Leavitt finished tied with Morse in the Heal point standings, and that was broken by the Hornets’ head-to-head win. Mt. Blue needed a few upsets to happen in order to advance. Those didn’t occur, so the Cougars’ season was over. Hutchinson ran for 221 yards and scored a pair of TDs against Skowhegan. That was more than enough for Hutchinson (who finished with 2,522 yards) to surpass Scott Pratt’s career mark of 2,431. Eric Gallant scored three first-half touchdowns (runs of 40, 55 and 11 yards) and Kevin Carrier tossed a couple of first-half TDs (to Chris Gross and Jesse Aylward) to help Mountain Valley put Leavitt away early. Carrier and defensive end Matt Bennett returned interceptions for scores. The following day, Lisbon forced the high-powered Winthrop offense to run the ball, and Jason Pierce (105 yards on the ground) and Ryan Jeffe (102 yards, both TDs) did enough for the eventual state champion Ramblers to blank the Greyhounds 12-0.

This photo appeared in the Oct. 31, 1992, edition of the Sun Journal.

This photo appeared in the Nov. 1, 1992, edition of the Sun Journal.

31 YEARS AGO …
Mt. Blue head coach Ray Caldwell headed into retirement with his 19th winning season in 21 years as the Cougars ended their season with a 27-12 win over Oxford Hills on Oct. 30, 1992. Mt. Blue started the season 4-0 before losing four straight (matching the longest skid of Caldwell’s career) heading into the finale. Despite the disappointing 5-4 finish, Steve Sherlock of the Sun Journal wrote, “The Mt. Blue players, though, felt like champions after the game Friday, lifting their veteran coach onto their shoulders as time expired.” Ken Tyler ran for 115 yards for the Cougars. Sophomore Jeremy Tardiff, two years away from earning the Fitzpatrick Trophy, returned a kick 91 yards for a score. “The season didn’t end like we wanted, but I’m real happy,” Caldwell said after the game. “The players came to play. Even though we weren’t going to the playoffs, the practiced real hard all week.” That same night, Livermore Falls won its third straight game, defeating rival Jay 16-12 at Griffin Field. Two TDs by David Polky helped the Andies take a 16-0 lead heading into the fourth period. The Tigers rallied in the final period — T.J. Plourde ran in a TD and Mark Fournier passed to Todd Castonguay for another — but came up short. The following day, Edward Little earned its first postseason victory since its 1977 state championship season when it upset Thornton 29-22 in Saco to advance to the Western Maine Class A semifinals. With Edward Little holding a 17-14 lead, Jon Gautier recovered a fumble — forced by Bob Nixon — in the end zone. Jon Haley (29 carries, 132 yards, two TDs) later scored on an 8-yard run right after Gautier forced a fumble to make it 29-14. Gautier also blocked a punt, had three sacks, caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Brady Dearborn and attempted three option passes. He also forced an interception by hitting Thornton QB Kirk Purvis, resulting in a wobbly pass that Dan Coleman picked off. Tom Smith contributed 204 yards rushing.

84 YEARS AGO …
Unbeaten Lewiston didn’t play well on Oct. 30, 1939, but still managed to defeat Cony 13-6 in a game postponed form Saturday to Monday due to rain (the game started at 2:30 p.m. to, as the Lewiston Daily Sun reported, “allow the Cony team ample time to get here following their regular classes.” Dick Gibson connected with Jiggs Delisle for both of the Blue Streaks’ scores. On the first, Gibson rolled right and leaped in the air as he heaved a pass to the goal line, where Delisle outjumped a Cony player, tipped the ball and then caught it on the way down. The second TD pass came soon after the Rams tied the game at 6-6 in the fourth. It was a 22-yard pass by Gibson, again to the end zone, where it was caught by Delisle. In a game that was played in Saturday’s rain, Edward Little became only the second team to score on Thornton when “Little” Henault (newspapers didn’t always include first names) passed to “Big” Parker for a 40-yard catch and run, but Thornton remained unbeaten with a 19-7 victory.