Soggy conditions at Saturday’s Festival of Champions cross country meet in Belfast prevented any runs at course records.

Seniors Abbey Leonardi of Kennebunk and Matt McClintock of Madison both defended their titles, with Leonardi clocking an 18:16 over the muddy 5-kilometer course to easily outdistance Lawrence junior Erzsebet Nagy’s runner-up time of 19:02.

“It was really muddy and slippery the whole way,” Leonardi said. “You couldn’t get into a consistent pace. It was more slowing down and making sure I don’t fall down around the corners.”

Leonardi owns the meet record of 17:58 but was shooting for the course mark of 17:52 set by Old Town’s Cassie Hintz in 2004.

McClintock won by 20 seconds over a runner from Nova Scotia Saturday in 16:08, well off the two-year-old mark of 15:33 held by Brunswick graduate Will Geoghegan.

Falmouth’s boys won the team title over schools from Nova Scotia and Rhode Island. Mt. Desert Island took the girls title over Camden Hills and Falmouth. Scarborough’s boys were fourth.

“We knew Scarborough was going to be good, so we were very excited to win,” said Falmouth co-coach Jorma Kurry. “It’s not our No. 1 goal for the season, but we had never won it for the boys.”

More than 1,200 runners from 60 schools took part in the event, which included schools from Vermont as well as Rhode Island and Nova Scotia. The varsity girls and boys races were the fifth and sixth of the day, which made for sloppy footing.

WINDHAM TRAILED Portland 7-6 at the half of their football game on Friday, the difference was a muffed PAT kick by the Eagles’ Josh Dugas, a diminutive freshman who wears No.91.

But Coach Matt Perkins never hesitated to send Dugas out early in the third quarter when an Eagles’ drive stalled at the Portland 8. “Nah,” said Perkins. “Just send him out and let it rip.”

Dugas responded with a 25-yard field goal that would have been good from at least 35. It was his first field goal, and started the Eagles on the way back to their second consecutive victory, 16-7 over the Bulldogs.

PORTLAND COACH Mike Bailey was frustrated after the loss, which dropped the Bulldogs to 2-3.

Portland’s offense ran 31 plays to Windham’s nine in the first half, but the Bulldogs still led by just 7-6 at the half.

“It definitely was winnable,” said Bailey. “We shut them down in the first half, but we couldn’t get the scores to finish them.

“They beat us. I don’t want to take anything away from them. But we just didn’t finish drives and didn’t perform as well special team-wise to be successful in this league.

THE PASS continues to be Deering’s most effective weapon. As the Rams showed Friday night, they can strike quickly. Quarterback Matt Flaherty went to the air 21 times against Thornton Academy, completing nine for 242 yards. Three of those passes went for touchdowns, all to Renaldo Lowry.

Deering jumped to a 14-0 lead, but three turnovers in the second quarter proved costly as Thornton scored after every one to take charge en route to a 28-21 win.

CAM OLSON of Cheverus has made excellent progress in his first season as a starting quarterback. The 6-foot-3 Olson has a strong and accurate arm. He also mixes his game up with the run.

Olson doesn’t wear a traditional quarterback’s number. The senior wears No. 24 which is his number in basketball. If he hadn’t worn 24, Olson said his other choice would have been 22.

DARRYL TOWNSEND, coach of the girls’ soccer team at Oceanside High School in Rockland, is two wins away from recording his 200th career coaching win.

During his 17 years at Georges Valley, Townsend amassed 192 career wins.

The Thomaston school merged this year with Rockland to form Ocean-side, and so far this season the Mariners are 6-2-1.

Oceanside hosts Mt. View on Tuesday in Thomaston and goes on the road Friday to play Leavitt in Turner.

GORHAM RUNNING BACK Matt McKenney broke a 71-yard run before being hauled down by 160-pound defensive back Jimmie Chaisson at the Sanford 25. When McKenney later came to the sideline, Rams Coach Dave Kilborn approached him, looking stern.

“Why couldn’t you break that for a touchdown?” Kilborn said.

McKenney, a junior, looked at his coach, wide-eyed.

“I thought he was serious,” McKenney said later.

Kilborn was joking and finally smiled when he told McKenney, “You know, that was a 250-pound nose tackle that ran you down.”

McKenney does not go down easily. He gained 186 yards on 17 carries in the Rams’ 35-7 win.

GORHAM HAS WON two straight games to improve to 3-2. “We’re confident,” McKenney said. “But not overconfident. We have a tough game with Bonny Eagle (coming up).”

The border rivals meet in Gorham this Friday.

DOWN 20-7 AT HALFTIME, Sanford drove to the Gorham 3 on the opening drive of the second half, and faced a fourth down. A score may have been a momentum-changer for the Redskins.

Sanford tried a quarterback sneak and was stopped at the 1.

Two weeks ago, the Redskins went for the lead against Scarborough on a two-point conversion — at the 3-yard-line. Sanford was denied just shy of the end zone.

“Two pretty big games, we’ve come up just short of the goal line,” Sanford Coach Mike Fallon said.

— Staff Writers Glenn Jordan, Mike Lowe, Tom Chard and Kevin Thomas contributed to this report