CLASS C STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

#1 Fryeburg Academy (8-2) vs #1 Hermon (8-2)

When: Saturday, Nov. 23, 11 a.m.

Where: Lewiston High School

Gates Open: 9 a.m.

Tickets: All ticket sales will be sold online through GoFan (gofan.co/app/school/MPA). There will be an iPad on site with a worker operating it as a “help desk” to sell tickets to those that need assistance.

There will not be any cash sales.

Ticket costs: $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens (65 and older). College students considered as adults. Children ages 5 and younger admitted at no charge.

Colors: The North teams will be considered the home teams and will wear their dark-colored jerseys. So, Fryeburg Academy will sport their white-colored jerseys.

About Hermon: The Hawks reached the state final with a 32-6 victory over Oceanside in the semis, and beat Medomak Valley 24-14 to advance to the championship game.

Senior running back Max Hopkins scored four touchdowns — 14, 6, 3 and 6 yards — to lead Hermon past Medomak (7-3). Hermon built an 18-0 lead in the third quarter, but Medomak struck back on a one-yard TD run, followed by a fumble recovery that lead to a 27-yard TD jaunt as the game tightened, 18-14.

Hermon had Lady Luck on its side in the fourth quarter as quarterback Ethan Curtis rolled right and was hit hard by a Panther defender, popping the ball into the air. Hopkins saved the day, making the recovery and running for four yards to pick up a crucial first down (the Hawks were faced with a 4th-and-3 at the Medomak-46) to keep the drive alive. Hopkins bulled ahead for a first down on a fourth-and-inches call, and then scored from 6 yards out with 2:23 left in the game to seal the Hawks’ ticket to the state championship.

The Hawks put the ball up just once in the first half, a 22-yard slant completion from Curtis to Sam Hopkins for a first down with 30 seconds left. Curtis completed passes to freshman Griffin Dunton along the sideline, good for 11 and 12 yards, setting up a Max Hopkins TD (6-yards out) with 4.7 seconds left in the half.

• Points For: 266 points, 26.6 points per game.

• Points Against: 139, 13.9 points per game.

The Hawks allowed just 12 points over their final three regular season games, logging their only shutout, a 42-0 victory over Brewer.

• Hermon is used to tight games. They beat Medomak 14-8, Hampden Academy 22-21 and Nokomis 28-26. They lost to Messalonskee 35-34.

• The Hawks were 3-2 at home, 4-0 away and 2-0 on neutral turf (Hermon played both playoff games at a neutral site due to field conditions).

About the Raiders: Fryeburg Academy will look for its first state football title since 1965.

The Raiders came up short in 2019, losing to Nokomis 13-12. The Raiders had the lead late in the game, but Nokomis returned a punt for a touchdown to stun FA.

• Points For: 356, 35.6 points per game.

The Raiders pose a major headache for any defense because of their depth, speed and physicality. It starts up front. FA’s line is opening gaping holes, including one which sprung Jagger Helwig, who was barely touched, for a 50-yard TD against Leavitt. If teams try to spread out their defense to protect the outer boundary from FA’s speed, then bulldozing backs Malik Sow and Daniel Ruiz will churn out big gains. Although both backs enjoy contact, they also possess good speed to break free for long runs.

Although the passing game has been a bit quiet the past few weeks as the Raiders heavily used their Wildcat package, featuring burner Ty Boone at quarterback, partly due to weather conditions and wanting to wear down their opponents, Coach Turner won’t hesitate to sprinkle in some passes with rookie Benny Arnason or Boone to keep Hermon’s defense from loading up their defensive front.

• Points Against: 96, 9.6 points per game.

The Raider defense enters the state title game on a serious roll with shutouts of 48-0 against York and 38-0 against Leavitt. FA surrendered just 45 total yards to the Wildcats, and stymied the Hornets running game to just 2.9 yards per carry (28 rushes, 81 yards) while refusing to give up the big play as Leavitt’s longest pass completion was a 17 yarder. FA turned two interceptions into touchdowns leading to a rout of Leavitt.

He said it…As the post-game meeting between Raider Coach David Turner and Leavitt Coach Mike Hathaway ended, Hathaway had a short, simple, final comment to Turner, “Finish it.”

They said it…FA has all the tools needed to win a title, but games are won not on past accomplishments, reputation or words — it is all about making plays on the biggest stage.

Several FA players spoke about how losses to Falmouth and Wells by a point taught them winning can be decided by “the little things” such as costly penalties, missed assignments, and thinking too highly of oneself.

“It really lit a fire under us. It made a lot of people realize that we weren’t as good as we thought we were. We just need to come to practice every day, show up and give 100%, and just get better every day,” senior lineman Holden Edenbach said.

Senior center Anton Kravchuk agreed. “The losses were upsetting. There’s always ups and downs. Those losses taught us that we should not be cocky and made us seriously think about what it will take to be champions.”

Senior lineman Geza Labancz added, “Just because we have talent doesn’t mean we are going to win. Everybody has to be ready, play hard, push through and be humble.”

Senior running back Daniel Ruiz felt the losses “were the best thing that happened all season” and put the Raiders on track to be the confident and explosive team they’ve become heading into the biggest game of the year.

“It motivated us to work harder,” he said. “I helped us realize the mistakes we were making, and it pushed us to improve, not be satisfied.”

Senior Michael Malia likes the way the Raiders are playing. “Just keep playing the way we’ve been playing. Zero points allowed so far in the playoffs, so we just have to keep doing our jobs and hopefully we’ll keep this run going. Definitely a dream for a homegrown kid here in Fryeburg. Lived my whole life here and now senior year, living the dream, playing for a state championship.”

Senior defensive back and receiver Jagger Helwig added, “As long as we do our job, I think we’ll be fine. We’ve done a really good job at keeping the ball in front of us, and doing our assignments. I think if we stay like that, we’ll be fine.”

Junior Ty Boone pointed out, “I’ll just say it’s all about execution. If everybody executes what they do, everyone does their job, we’ll be fine. That’s what we’ve been doing all these playoffs and like Michael said, we have given up zero points so we don’t have to do anything too fancy. We just have to be ourselves.”

The Raiders can see the prize — the Gold Ball — and now they need to put together their best effort to take it.