PORTLAND – It has been a season to remember for Yarmouth High.
The Clippers won a Class C football state title in their first attempt Saturday, two weeks after the boys’ soccer team also won a state title.
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It’s likely the first double in Maine schoolboy history.
The 34-6 victory over Stearns of Millinocket capped a 12-0 season.
Nate Pingitore, hampered by a hip injury a week ago, ran for three touchdowns to lead the Clippers, celebrating their fourth year as a varsity program and seventh overall.
“Once the adrenaline kicks in,” Pingitore said, “you don’t feel anything.”
“He couldn’t walk all week,” said Coach Jim Hartman of Pingitore, who also returned the opening kickoff 50 yards. “How he showed up and played like he did was really something.”
Anders Overhaug and Nick Proscia carried much of the running load for Yarmouth, with Overhaug gaining 108 yards and Proscia adding 97. Freshman Brady Neujahr completed two of his five passes and didn’t throw in the second half with a 20-0 lead.
Stearns (11-1), playing on artificial turf for the first time all season, lost quarterback, Jared McGreevy with a knee injury late in the first quarter when he was sacked by Ben Weinrich.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Weinrich said. “He fell down and started to grab it.”
Jordan Morrow took over but the Minutemen were out of synch, fumbling on Morrow’s first play and dropping a pitch on his third.
Both turnovers led to Yarmouth touchdowns. The Clippers, held scoreless on their first possession despite Pingitore returning the kickoff to the 19, took a 7-0 lead on their second possession when Neujahr rolled to his left and threw a 17-yard pass back across the grain to tight end Ryan Perrier.
Bryce Snyder, who sat out the regional final with a swollen knee, added the point-after kick.
It was Proscia who recovered the fumbled Stearns handoff near midfield and sent Yarmouth on a 46-yard scoring drive. He carried for 41 yards, but it was Pingitore who skirted left end for a 4-yard touchdown run. A high snap led to a low kick Stearns blocked, leaving it 13-0.
Less than a minute later, the Clippers gained possession again when Billy Clabby pounced on a muffed pitch at the Minutemen 30. Two carries by Overhaug brought the Clippers to the 5, and Pingitore took another pitch and zipped into the right corner of the end zone for a 20-0 lead after Snyder’s kick.
Any hope of a comeback evaporated shortly after halftime. A Carter Dorsett sack of Morrow spelled the end of the first Stearns possession, and Yarmouth began an 11-play scoring drive.
Proscia carried on the final four plays of the drive, scoring from the 2, and the lead was 27-0. On the next play, Stearns tried its own halfback pass, but Eric Deerwester sacked Billy Eurich and poked away the football, which Weinrich picked up.
Weinrich made it to the 7, and Pingitore swept left from there for the touchdown that, with Snyder’s kick, made it 34-0.
Stearns finally scored in the final minute of the third quarter on a 45-yard pass from Morrow to Ethan Michaud.
“When we were 1-19,” said Hartman, referring to Yarmouth’s first two-plus years, “it was like, ‘Whoa, do I even belong out here? Do we run this system? Do I quit? What do we do?’ Then the kids finally believed.”
Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:
gjordan@pressherald.com
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