By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

They can’t catch a break.

A year ago, Fryeburg Academy made their own breaks with a stingy defense and a potent offense that could stretch the field with deep passes from quarterback Oscar Saunders to wideout Nathan Knapp.

Very tough in all facets of the game, the Raiders reached the state finals. There, one break didn’t go their way…and you know the rest of the story.

So far this fall, the Raiders have displayed plenty of pad-popping stops on defense and flashes of what could be a very good offense.

Could be….if they were more consistent.

Locked up in another tight, hard-hitting battle on Saturday, the Raiders felt there were certain things they could take advantage of against an undefeated Freeport squad.

They didn’t.

Instead, Freeport capitalized on some incredible catches over the middle by tight-end Joe Coleman (4 grabs, 129 yards) to set up touchdown runs of 11 and 8 yards by junior Anthony Panciocco in a 14-7 victory, spoiling FA’s Homecoming.

“They made some big plays in the passing game. Every time they needed a play, they made it. Some of them were (defensive) breakdowns, but they got a couple of great catches by their tight end (#32),” FA Coach David Turner said. “At first glance, we made mistakes that allowed them on third-and-long to make some first downs. When you convert two 3rd-and-15 plus, there was a reason they were 3rd-and-15 plus, we kept them there. But giving up those big plays killed us. It led to both of their scores.”

This was a somewhat of a pivotal game for the Raiders — a chance to pull even at 2-2 after tough losses to Leavitt and Cape Elizabeth.

Early on, the two teams tried to establish their run games, but found little success as the front lines were stout. FA linebacker Jack Campbell was like a heat-seeking missile all afternoon, quickly targeting Falcon ball carriers to the tune of 17 tackles. The FA defense kept workhorse back Adam Ulrickson under wraps, limiting the senior to just 43 yards on 17 carries.

Freeport had a chance to jump the Raiders out of the gate when a wobble kickoff was snagged at midfield, and a FA late hit tacked on 15 more yards to give the Falcons the ball at the FA 35.

But, the Raider defense answered the bell as Eli Mahan made two stops, and Bobby Hallam dropped the quarterback for a three-yard loss. Freeport completed a fourth down pass, but Dawson Jones and Jaycob Lindgren stuffed Tre Morris for no gain.

Freeport moved the ball on their next touch as Morris and Tony Casale each scooted for 10 yards. Panciocco zipped a pass over the middle to Coleman for 27 yards, moving the ball into FA territory. Needing five yards on third down, the Falcons were dumped for a three-yard loss by FA end Eli Mahan. Freeport attempted a 41-yard field goal by Gabe Wagner, but the kick failed.

Penalties (holding and a block in the back) prevented the Raiders from gaining any traction on offense.

With 3:11 left until halftime, Freeport was backed up to its own 20 after a booming punt by Campbell.

But, the Falcons quickly changed field position when Panciocco again spotted Coleman roaming free deep down the middle. Panciocco hit Coleman in stride, but the tight end was chased down from behind by FA junior corner Armel Maloji, who made a TD-saving tackle at the FA 15.

With their backs up against the goal line, the Raiders stood tall against the Freeport run as Campbell and Charlie Stokes made big stops. Freeport converted a 4th-and-one to keep the drive alive. FA appeared to catch a break when the Falcons were whistled for an offside. But, Panciocco showed off some nifty footwork and patience, scrambling to his right then cutting back left for an 11-yard TD with just 11.1 seconds left on the clock. Wagner booted the extra point for a 7-0 Freeport halftime lead.

Fryeburg showed a little life on its second possession in the third quarter as quarterback Calvin Southwick rifled a pass to Dawson Jones on the sideline for eight yards and Job Fox gained nine yards. But, the Falcon secondary tipped away passes intended for Mahan and Isaak McKenney to stop FA.

Another big, booming kick by Campbell set the Raiders up, this time for a score. FA kept the Falcons pinned inside their own 5-yard line on stops by Ethan Burk and Campbell. On third down, Panciocco looked over the middle, but his pass to Morris was incomplete.

McKenney gave FA great field position with a 22-yard punt return to the FRE 33. Southwick wasted little time getting the Raiders on the board, following solid blocks to his left and then beating two Falcon defenders to the end zone. Eddie Thurston booted the extra point to tie the game 7-7 with 1:18 left in the third.

With both teams pounding the ball, time quickly disappeared off the game clock.

Freeport milked nearly seven minutes off the clock with a 10-play, 54-yard drive to take the lead as Panciocco absorbed a big hit near the goal line by linebacker Eddie Thurston to score on third down from the FA-8 with 6:39 remaining in the contest. Big plays on the drive were again the combo of Panciocco-to-Coleman over the middle for 20 yards on a critical 3rd-and-19 call and 17 yards on another third-and-long situation.

FA had plenty of time to answer, and started well when Southwick connected with Fox for a 16-yard gain. Freeport was slapped with a late-hit penalty, adding another 15 yards to the play. At the FRE-35, Southwick gained five yards, but a high snap sent the senior signal caller scrambling for the loose ball, only to be dropped by The Hammer — senior lineman Treyvon Murhammer — for a loss of 15 yards. Back up to the FRE-45, Southwick looked for Bryce Micklon, but the pass was intercepted with 3:25 left.

“It’s always the case that there are critical plays down the stretch that in the end, you end up losing the game. Realistically, look back in the first half and the plays we gave up. We just didn’t play as well in the second half as we have done the last three weeks,” Coach Turner said.

Freeport gained one first down, taking 1 minute 10 seconds off the clock as the Raiders used all three timeouts to preserve some time for a possible fantastic finish.

Southwick gave Raider faithful some hope with completions of nine yards to Gabe Rogers and 12 yards to McKenney. But, time ran out on the Raiders.

While Coach Turner liked the effort his team showed, he was disappointed with the lack of consistent execution.

“On warm days, it does wear you down when you have guys playing both ways, which means you need to limit the big plays. Give credit to them, they made the big plays and we didn’t — and that’s what was the difference today. We thought we had things we could do, but weren’t able to do it, particularly offensively. It felt like we had things there but just kept missing them. There was a play that went for five or six yards, but we were thinking it should be a big play. We couldn’t get anything consistent going,” he said. “Every game we’ve played has been physical. In this particular one, we just couldn’t get anything going offensively all day and gave up big plays defensively that were critical.”

FA looks to end a three-game losing streak with a home game Saturday against Morse (1-3) at 3 p.m. (Note the time change, which was made due to SAT testing).

The Shipbuilders notched its first win last week with a 29-26 win over Medomak Valley, scoring with 6.4 seconds left. Morse is led by running back Gabe Acouin (16 carries, 117 yards and a TD) and quarterback Corey Larmon, who fired a 15-yard TD pass in the win.

“We have to play better and be more consistent. Our goal this week was to try to start faster in the first half. Once again, we didn’t. We just have to do a better job of starting faster,” Coach Turner said. “It’s as simple as early on knowing what we’re doing, using the right technique and playing at full speed. That’s something we try to do all of the time. When we do that, we’re pretty good. But today, we were hit and miss in that regard.”      

Up next: The Raiders )1-3) host Morse (1-3) this Saturday at 3 p.m. Due to SAT testing, the game has been moved from 1:30 to 3 p.m.