By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

FRYEBURG — The sting never went away, until Friday night.

As Raider players stared across the field at their opponent — the Leavitt Hornets — before the start of the Class C South championship game, several FA seniors recalled the heartbreak and disappointment they felt a year ago.

Leavitt 36, Raiders 32.

“Every practice leading up to the game; every time I went to bed; I thought about that loss,” Raider senior Jagger Helwig said. “It was my whole motivation for this game.”

FA senior Michael Malia said the loss stayed in the back of the minds of most returning players and they approached this season with “a little chip on our shoulders.”

“It definitely lit a fire under us. It made a lot of people mad,” FA senior lineman Holden Edenbach said. “It just motivated everybody through the offseason and into the season — we wanted to beat Leavitt.”

The Raiders had a fourth quarter lead a year ago, but saw their bid to reach the state finals dashed by All-State quarterback Noah Carpenter, who erased an 11-point FA lead.

The Hornets won the South, and demolished Oceanside to claim the Class C crown.

Although the defending champs entered Friday’s rematch with a 4-5 record and were underdogs, the Raiders expected a physical game and were wary of Leavitt’s big play, big strike potential.

Fryeburg turned the tables on Leavitt, on both sides of the ball.

Behind a stingy defense, the Raiders allowed just 81 yards rushing and 79 passing to blank Leavitt 38-0 to advance to the Class C state championship.

“It was a nice calm night, which I was kind of hoping for. I was thinking they were going to chuck it all over the place with number one. But I think they were sort of limited. They took the tactic that we usually take and that is try to possess the ball, get first downs, play good defense and not turn it over. It just didn’t work for them,” Raider Coach David Turner said. “I think, in addition, to our speed, I think we’re pretty physical. Our guys are weight room guys and I think that’s really helped. We’re still pretty strong this time of year. I think we wore them down.”

Malia and junior Ty Boone electrified Raider Nation with pick-6 plays that proved to be game changers. Malia intercepted Leavitt quarterback Brock Poulin’s pass toward the sideline with 6:06 left in the first quarter and returned the ball 45-yards for a touchdown for a 7-0 Raider lead.

“I watched a lot of film and understood what routes they were running,” Malia said. “It’s a combination of just going to the spot that I’m assigned to, and doing my job.”

The Hornets were bottled up by FA’s big boys up front as Anton Kravchuk dropped Keegen Reny for a 3-yard loss, and Geza Labancz stuffed Poulin after a short gain to force a punt.

Boone returned the kick 27 yards, giving the Raiders excellent field position at the L-33. Six run plays resulted in a Malik Sow 1-yard plunge for the score.

While kicker Ricardo Schulz was perfect on extra points, his value as a game changer was on full display early in this title game.

First, FA was in a deep hole on its first possession when a bobbled snap resulted in a 6-yard loss. The Raiders were unable to budge Leavitt’s line, leaving Schulz just outside the goal line to punt the ball away. He drilled a beauty — 51 yards and no return.

By flipping the field, the Raiders then forced a 3-and-out, and Boone’s punt return set up FA’s second score.

Fryeburg was flagged for excessive celebration after the touchdown, moving the kickoff back 15 yards. Again, Schulz rescued his team with a booming kick resulting in Leavitt starting at their 20.

A short kick and Leavitt personal foul put the ball at the L-20. Although the Raiders were unable to reach the end zone, Schulz booted a 24-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead.

“On a number of occasions, we were backed up and he kicked us out of a big hole and changed field position, which was really important because we wanted to make them drive the length of the field. Ricardo (who had a second punt travel 52 yards and no return) was a real weapon for us,” Coach Turner said. “He was hitting field goal tries from 40 in warm-ups, and some were by more than that. It would’ve been good from 48.”

With 2:50 left in the half, Leavitt made a little noise. Mixing it up with Reny running inside the tackles and Poulin completing passes of 7, 7 and 12 yards, the Hornets appeared set to capitalize on a Raider pass interference call. With 6.9 seconds left, Poulin lofted a pass to the end zone.

FA defensive back Ty Boone was ready.

“There was a guy that ran inside and I knew my safety was going to switch with him. I had the guy running to the corner, and once he broke to the corner, I saw that he slowed down a bit. I saw the quarterback eyes looking in my direction,” Boone said. “I said, ‘all right, if he throws this ball, I’m going to pick it. He threw it, I made the play.”

Boone raced out of the end zone and looked up the field.

“On the run back, it was just kind of a split decision. I was like, should I cut back in? Then, I saw the sideline wide open. I said, ‘I’ll just take the sideline.’ And I took it,” Boone said. “I was confident I could take it all the way. I think I looked behind me at the like the 20-yard line. I said, ‘I’ll just slow down now.’”

Coach Turner said Boone’s interception and 102-yard score, which put the Raiders up 24-0, was a “complete back breaker.”

“If they score there and trail just 17-7 at halftime, they’re feeling pretty good about things. It’s a ball game. But instead, Ty picks it off and returns it for a score, and we have all the momentum up 24-0. It was a game changer,” Coach Turner said.

No letdown

Coach Turner and his staff were pleased with how their squad performed in the first half, but emphasized to players they still had plenty of business to handle.

“We just said we have to keep our foot on the gas. They weren’t going to quit. They were going to keep coming at us,” Coach Turner said. “As we always say at 24-0, if they don’t score, we win. So, no big plays, play smart. We just wanted to pound it at them and hope that we would wear them down upfront. We did that. And because of it, we had a few big plays that ended it.”

As expected, Leavitt attempted an onside kick, but the Raiders pounced on the ball at the L-49. The Hornets got a jolt of momentum when lineman Reid Langlois recovered a fumble. Leavitt drove inside Raider territory, but were stonewalled by FA’s front line as Edenbach and Malia combined for a tackle, surrendering just a yard, Anton Kravchuk and Geza Labancz stopped a run for a short gain, Kravchuk pressured the quarterback into an incompletion, and Edenbach ended the threat by dropping a scrambling Poulin for just a yard on fourth down.

Two plays later, Jagger Helwig delivered the knockout punch, finding a big hole over the right side and bolting 50 yards for a TD with 6:09 left in the third quarter to put the Raiders up 31-0.

“I made a couple cuts and then there was nobody in front of me from there. It was pretty great. You know, we had our ginormous line making a push, then we had Daniel Ruiz on the outside block and that really sealed it for me,” Helwig said. “I was like, oh my God, I just scored a touchdown. It was pretty rare for me, but it was a really good feeling.

And to hear our fans, they are phenomenal. It’s one of the best feelings playing on this field, especially with our fans here. It was a once in a lifetime feeling.”

Ruiz also got into the scoring column, bouncing a run to the outside and finding lots of open green space for a 50-yard TD with 3:55 left in the third.

With the second team in (Gabe Souza, 7 carries for 25 yards) and the clock running due to the score, Raider players hugged along the sideline and savored the moment.

After receiving the South championship plaque, players quickly dashed toward the student fan section of the bleachers. Linebacker Malik Sow climbed up onto the bleachers to be part of the fan celebration, which included cheers and confetti.

“It was a very nice moment after winning that game. I just saw all my friends, which come to every game. They supported us even at away games. We have a very great community here at Fryeburg Academy,” Sow said. “I was just happy and proud of our team for what we did and for all the hard work we put in.”

Now, there is just one more test to pass — Hermon, the North champion, is the lone obstacle standing between the Raiders and a Gold Ball.