PARIS — Taking over a winless team is never an ideal situation for a coach, particularly when his predecessor resigned due to reasons that had little to do with the team’s win-loss record.
But one of the advantages of being in such a situation, as Lewiston alumnus Matt Riddell is discovering in his two-week tenure so far at Deering, is that the new guy can start fresh because, let’s face it, what the other guy did wasn’t working.
Deering’s adjustments on both sides of the ball sparked its offense and shut down Oxford Hills’ ground game as the Rams rallied to their first win of the season, 18-8, while simultaneously dealing the Vikings a crippling blow to their playoff hopes.
Senior Mike Marzilli alternated at quarterback in the first half, then took over the duties full-time to lead a Rams’ offense that tallied 203 of its 275 total yards in the second half.
“It feels amazing to finally get a win under our belts,” said Marzilli, who rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. “There’s some weight that’s been lifted off our shoulders, definitely.”
Deering (1-5) was playing its second game since head coach Scott Parsons resigned after being ejected from a Sep. 27 loss to Massabesic. Riddell, an assistant coach, was named interim head coach and lost his first game last week, coincidentally to his alma mater.
“It’s been rough to see coach Parsons go, but we came back and battled. We played our hearts out here,” Marzilli said.
“I think that this is a game that is hopefully going to catapult us to something real big, not only this season but as a program,” said Riddell, who played on the 1985 state runner-up team at Lewiston. “This is a very young team, and our seniors came out tonight, all six of them, and played their butts off.”
It was senior Geoff Mathews who gave the Rams the spark they needed trailing 8-0 late in the first half. He took advantage of the Vikings (1-5) being a man short in punt protection and got a hand on Patrick Macro’s punt at the Viking 21 with 32 seconds left.
“We worked on that blocked punt. We had something specific for this team and it worked for us,” Riddell said.
After two incompletions, sophomore Max Chabot, who split duties under center with Marzilli in the first half, found Dominick Bernard over the middle for the touchdown that put the Rams on the board with 14 seconds left.
Marzilli, who played QB for the Rams last year before getting injured but hadn’t taken any snaps their this year until this week’s practice, drove into Oxford Hills territory on two of the first three possessions of the second half. The Viking defense, led by Andrew Hatch and Kyle Rogers, stopped him on downs both times.
But a fumble recovery by Baylee Lewis set up the Rams at the Viking 47 late in the third quarter. Marzilli had a long run called part way back by a block in the back, but he completed a 24-yard pass to Ricardo Delgado, then scored on a sneak from two yards out to put Deering on top once and for all, 12-8, with 11:22 left.
“Some things weren’t working in the first half, so we went to his senior leadership and he led this team, on both sides of the ball,” Riddell said.
Marzilli led a defense that held Oxford Hills to 91 yards and forced three turnovers in the second half after allowing 183 yards in the first half.
“They pound the ball right up the middle. They gave us a run for our money,” Marzilli said. “We’ve had a rough couple of weeks, and we came together as a team finally and showed the rest of the class what we could actually do.”
The Vikings’ hopes for a comeback faltered when Kahlil Brown dropped QB Brady LaFrance for a six-yard loss on 3rd-and-5, forcing them to punt. Marzilli’s younger brother, sophomore fullback Dan, scored a 19-yard touchdown run with 7:25 left. Fritz Gemmer’s interception of LaFrance with 4:32 left sealed the win.
Oxford Hills started the game with excellent field position on its first three possessions but stalled on downs at Deering’s 26, 20 and 25, respectively.
The Vikings’ defense stymied Deering’s ground game, however, then made up for a pass interference penalty with a stand that ended Deering’s first big scoring threat at the 12.
The offense then went on a 15-play drive, featuring Malik Geiger (28 carries, 155 yards, TD) and LaFrance (14 carries, 72 yards) on the ground, mostly up the gut, which is precisely how Geiger scored from four-yards out. With Geiger’s two-point run, the Vikings had an 8-0 lead with 4:06 left in the first half.
“We had a decent game plan to run Malik,” Oxford Hills coach Mark Soehren said. “We knew they would start blitzing linebackers at some point, so we wanted to start getting outside a little bit. We couldn’t with pitch, which is a big issue for us. Clearly, we need to prepare our kids better for that.
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