Lisbon’s Riley Quatrano (8) runs against Winthrop during the Class D South championship game Friday at Don Roux Field in Lewiston. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan Buy this Photo
LEWISTON — Riley Quatrano was sitting in trigonometry class with Lisbon teammates Colin Houle and Cam Bourget on Friday afternoon as the uncertainty of where or even whether the Greyhounds would have a game that night hovered over them.
There was a few small patches of icy snow left on sidelines before Class D South championship game Friday at Don Roux Field in Lewiston. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo
“We couldn’t even focus,” Quatrano said. “We just wanted to know when and where we were going to play. We finally got the notification on our phone — 7 p.m. at Lewiston — and we said, ‘Let’s go.'”
Thanks to the more-than-neighborly hospitality of Lewiston High School, the Greyhounds and the “home” team, Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale, were able to produce another classic regional final, this time at Don Roux Field. And Quatrano and his teammates had the night of their young lives in a 25-15 win over top-seeded Ramblers.
“It was like a track meet out here,” said Quatrano, a senior wide receiver and cornerback.
Count Quatrano among the biggest advocates for turf fields after he showed his speed on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Seth Leeman on fourth-and-8, and later on a momentum-shifting 51-yard kickoff return after the Ramblers took a 15-14 lead with a touchdown and two-point conversion.
Winthrop athletic director Joel Stoneton had no choice but to ask his Lewiston counterpart Jason Fuller for help after Mother Nature spoiled Winthrop’s yeoman work in an attempt to get Maxwell Field ready for play. The snow from earlier in the week, combined with the freezing, melting and re-freezing over the final 30 or so hours before game time had turned Maxwell Field into an unplayable bowl of ice and mud.
Lisbon and Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale players and coaches waited nervously for most of the school day before word came down around 1 p.m. that the game had been moved.
“It was tough for the kids, but we knew we were getting on a bus all day long. It was just a matter of where we were going,” Lisbon coach Chris Kates said. “It’s never easy this time of year. Winthrop had the same issues as we did, not knowing where or when it was going to be. I was just happy to get the game in today and I’m excited for the kids.”
Once the aluminum walkway at the front of the bleachers was shoveled out and everyone settled in, an exciting game was more than enough to keep everyone warm through the first three quarters.
At almost precisely the start of the fourth quarter, a stiff wind started to cut through the palpable tension hovering over the sidelines and bleachers of Don Roux Field. The frosty gale started whipping from the west end zone right around the start of the fourth quarter and sent an audible shiver through the Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale sidelines and cheering section.
Lisbon didn’t know it at the time, and it certainly never occurred to the Greyhounds after the Ramblers took a 15-14 lead, but having the wind at their back was just the boost they needed.
Quatrano immediately shifted momentum back in Lisbon’s favor with his ensuing kick return to the Ramblers’ 28.
“Coach (Scott) Harrington told me to take off,” Quatrano said. “I just listened to him.”
After converting, barely, on fourth-and-1, Cam Bourget scored from five yards out to put Lisbon back in front for good.
After a Leeman interception and return to Winthrop’s 18, the Greyhounds faced another fourth-and-1. This time, they sent senior Levi Levesque out to attempt a 31-yard field goal, and, with a little help from the wind, Levesque split the uprights to make it a two-score game with 1:45 left.
“We talked at halftime, me and (assistant) coach (Shawn) Robishaw, about what our range is,” Levesque said. “He said, ’15 (yards).’ I said, ‘Put me down for 20.'”
Levesque maintained his concentration even though the snap to his holder, Leeman, was high.
“It kind of went into slow motion in my head,” Levesque said. “I saw it was high, and then I quickly looked down, and I just wanted to send it. Seth did a good job of adjusting to that.”
Levesque was also grateful to have the wind at his back, and the fake grass under his feet.
“You definitely are sturdier on your traction,” he said. “You don’t worry about it as much, so you can really go through on your kicks.”
“I knew he had the boot,” Leeman said, “but it couldn’t have come at any better time that this.”
And, as it turned out, it couldn’t have come at a better place for Lisbon than Lewiston’s Don Roux Field.
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