Leavitt’s Allen Peabody, right, gets a good block from Damion Calder on Wells’ Jacob Scott to open a hole during the first half of Saturday night’s football game in Turner. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Leavitt was patient in its attack on Saturday night as the Hornets took their undefeated record into their Class C South clash with also-unbeaten Wells.
The Hornets only scored once in the first half, but also Wells’ Payton MacKay to only 41 yards in the first two quarters.
At halftime, Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway had a few plays he knew would work, and at the start of the third quarter the Hornets ran for one yard, which then set up the 74-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Hathaway to Damion Calder.
“We thought we would get that coming out of halftime,” Mike Hathaway said. “We ran the ball on the first play and figured we’d get the wheel to Damion on the second play, and sometimes when they’re so open like that you worry the quarterback is going to overthrow them, but Wyatt did a good job putting it on him and Damion has good wheels so it was a good way to start the half.”
Leavitt’s offense is deadly when it gets going.
Later in the game, Hathaway hooked up on four consecutive passes for a total of 65 yards, a couple on which the junior quarterback had to scramble away from the front seven of Wells. The Hornets go with what works, whether it’s through the air or on the ground.
Saturday, they needed both at different times. In the first half, Leavitt ran the ball over and over, while in the second Hathaway aired it out.
Against York, Hathaway only completed two passes while Damion and Desean Calder ran all over the field to lead the Hornets to over 400 rushing yards.
Heading into its clash with Cape Elizabeth, Leavitt has all of the pieces moving in the right direction with great momentum.
“It just feels great,” Leavitt’s Cam Jordan said Saturday. “It’s going to take us into next week against another good team, so we’re going to try to keep it rolling and get home field in the playoffs and take it all the way.”
JUST A WARNING
When the yellow flags descended and an unsportsmanlike conduct calls were being handed out like parking tickets, officials at the Lewiston-Bonny Eagle football game on Friday night summoned coaches to the middle of the field and encouraged them to lay the law down with their players.
Lewiston head coach Darren Hartley and Bonny Eagle head coach Kevin Cooper immediately set their players straight and the yellow flags became intermittent.
“It has been an issue for us,” Cooper said. “Something we have to get corrected. If we hope to have a chance at the end, we got to get the penalty thing corrected. Obviously, I wasn’t very happy for a while with our guys. We have good kids, but sometimes we don’t do smart things and so we have to go back and correct that.”
HARD-LUCK EDWARD LITTLE
Edward Little was down at halftime, both on the scoreboard and on the roster. But the Red Eddies weren’t out, and senior Isiah Lewis wanted to make sure his team knew.
Lewis pulled his team together on the sideline before the second half started, and he began to implore his team.
“We got players down! We don’t give up! Do it for them!” Lewis said.
The Red Eddies did show some fight in the third quarter. They entered the half trailing Bangor just 7-0, and the third quarter ended with the same score. But the period saw EL run just three plays on offense, and Bangor doubled its lead two plays into the fourth quarter.
To add insult to injury — literally — Lewis made his way to the trainer’s table after an extra point put the Red Eddies behind 14-0. The running back/defensive end stayed on the sideline for the remainder of the game, alongside too many starters for EL to overcome. That included three of Edward Little’s four seniors. Storm Jipson was in street clothes before the contest, and both Cooper Watkins and Tony Fournier went out with injuries during the game. Only Gunnar Winslow made it out unscathed — well, as unscathed as a lineman can be after a 48-minute football game.
Someone like Lewis was forced to speak up, but the injury bug had the last laugh Friday night.
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