CAPE ELIZABETH — Jack Glanville said he and his Cape Elizabeth High football teammates needed to prove they could finish a win against a top opponent.

Cape did just that Friday night, using a stifling defense and Glanville’s 73-yard pass-and-run touchdown to shut down Fryeburg Academy and come away with a 23-7 victory in a key Class C South game at Hannaford Field.

Both teams are now 5-2. Fryeburg had come in ranked second behind Leavitt – which lost for the first time Friday night at Mount Desert Island. Fryeburg and Cape had lost to Leavitt by fewer than six points, and Cape also had a hard-fought 14-7 loss at Class D power Wells.

“They’re ranked above us and we had something to prove after coming out of a loss at Leavitt in a tight game,” Glanville said. “We just had to step up our game. We got exposed in the pass game last week so that’s something we really worked on this week. We were just sending (linebackers) getting pressure and then we were solid back deep.”

Cape held Fryeburg to 139 yards, just 18 in the second half. The front seven pressured Raiders quarterback Oscar Saunders into rushed throws, blitzing linebacker Louis Daukas had two sacks, and numerous players were in on a sack for a safety for the game’s final points.

Fryeburg ran only 12 second-half plays, partly because Ryan Weare of the Capers was pounding his way to a 36-carry, 123-yard effort with 26 second-half carries.

“We had confidence in our defense and I just wanted to wear them down,” said Cape Coach Aaron Filieo. “The offensive line can wear a team down but a physical runner like him that you really have to chase and work to bring down takes a toll on a defense.”

Weare pushed a 14-7 halftime lead to 21-7 with a 2-yard touchdown run before Alex Morin converted his third PAT.

Kickoff specialist Hajmil Carr was then able to hit a hard, low bouncing kick about 25 yards down the field that caromed off a Fryeburg player and was pounced on by Sean O’Sullivan of Cape at the Fryeburg 39.

Cape didn’t convert that extra possession into points but did burn another 4:13 off the clock, pushing the game into the fourth quarter.

“Down 14-7 at the half with the way we had played, I thought if we could play a little better in the second half maybe we could make something happen, but I mean we didn’t have the ball for the whole third quarter,” said Fryeburg Coach David Turner.

“We couldn’t establish a whole lot of rhythm and frankly they just kind of took it to us.”

In the first half, Cape hurt Fryeburg with two big pass plays. After some nice movement outside the pocket, 6-foot-8 Cape quarterback Andrew Hartel (8 of 15, 219 yards) found Ethan Convey behind the defense for a 42-yard play that set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Weare.

In the second quarter, on a third-and-3 play, Hartel hit Glanville with a pass in the left flat designed to get a first down. Glanville proceeded to make a series of Fryeburg players miss with good cuts and went 73 yards for the score.

“It’s just a couple yards but I saw an opening and took it,” Glanville said.

Fryeburg answered with a 38-yard option run by Jared Chisari, who showed eye-opening speed once he got to the edge. Other than that one play, Cape’s defense was nearly airtight against a big-play offense that entered averaging 32.7 points per game.

Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:

scraig@pressherald.com

Twitter: SteveCCraig

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