York County neighbors Noble and Marshwood, who went a combined 3-13 last season, are at or near the top of their standings through three games.

Marshwood, of South Berwick, is tied with Greely, both 3-0 and atop Western Class B. Noble, of North Berwick, shut out Sanford 14-0 last Friday night and is 2-1 in Western Class A.

Both teams have new head coaches, though certainly not new to the profession.

Alex Rotsko of Marshwood was a highly successful coach in Longmeadow, Mass., and Noble Coach Tom Daubney had his share of success at Portsmouth (N.H.) High.

Marshwood, which will play winless Lake Region on Friday night, has victories against York, Mountain Valley and Falmouth.

Noble, which will be home Friday night against Biddeford in a game important to both teams, opened by beating Gorham, then lost to Windham in Week 2.

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Biddeford Coach Scott Descoteaux isn’t surprised by Noble’s start.

“I coached there. I know the type of kids they have,” he said.

Daubney hadn’t coached since leaving Portsmouth in 1993, and wasn’t planning to coach until Noble officials approached him, saying the school was in dire need of a coach.

“It got my interest because my grandson is a senior on the team,” said Daubney.

Daubney’s grandson is quarterback Ethan Beaulier.

Daubney, 70, retired from coaching 19 years ago because he had a bucket list of things he wanted to do.

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“I’m a big outdoors person and I wanted to do some hunting. I couldn’t do it when I was coaching,” he said.

Daubney said he made a one-year commitment, which will give the school enough time to find a replacement, possibly one of the assistant coaches.

But that’s a few months away at the earliest. At the moment the Knights are focused on winning, something that hasn’t happened in a while at the school.

“That’s all it is, a start,” Daubney said of the 2-1 record. “It’s a long way from where we want to be. We played really well on defense against Sanford.”

Against Sanford, David Thibault, a tight end/defensive end, scored both touchdowns. He caught a 12-yard pass from Beaulier in the first quarter, then returned a fumble 56 yards late in the game to seal it.

“We have good skill position kids,” said Daubney. “We have some good linemen, too, but they’re all sophomores. We don’t have a lot of depth but the kids work hard every day.”

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Daubney’s assistant coaches are Andrew Elwell, Dan Lawrence, Dean Truax, Mike Brown and Alan Robertshaw, who coached at Marshwood for years.

This is Marshwood’s second year in Class B after dropping from Class A.

“It was a great move,” said Athletic Director Rich Buzzell. “We could compete in Class A this season but with an enrollment of 738, it would be hard to do it on a yearly basis. We’re right where we should be.”

The Hawks beat York 28-13 in the opening game. In Week 2, Marshwood downed Mountain Valley, 19-12. Last week the Hawks beat Falmouth, 54-0.

After Friday’s game, the Hawks play at Wells, the defending Class B state champion. Marshwood and Greely won’t meet in the regular season.

“The biggest thing is that the kids have picked up the system so quickly. They’ve worked hard off the field learning their assignments,” said Rotsko, 59, who left a Longmeadow High program that went to 15 straight Western Mass Super Bowls, winning 11 championships.

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Rotsko said quarterback Cameron Roll has done a nice job running the wing-T offense despite being new to the position. Brett Gerry has had some nice runs at halfback.

“They’ve really carried the offense,” he said.

Rotsko also said center Ethan Joy has played well.

“Out of 33 practices so far, we’ve only had one bad one. The kids are trying to get better every day,” said Rotsko.

SCARBOROUGH IS another team off to a fast start, beating Kennebunk, Bonny Eagle and Windham while showing strength on offense, defense and special teams.

Quarterback Dillon Russo obviously has been a big factor but not the only one. The Red Storm have talented pass catchers, strong and elusive runners in halfbacks Dan LeClair and Kenny Adams, and a defense that swarms.

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Scarborough is at Deering on Friday night, followed by games at Thornton Academy and home to Massabesic.

JARED JENSEN of Brunswick is the top rusher in the state with 964 yards on 88 carries. He has 12 touchdowns.

Staff Writer Tom Chard can be reached at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: TomChardPPH


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