TOPSHAM

The undefeated York High School football team showed up on Thursday ready to show its stuff against a Mt. Ararat squad coming off its first win just six days earlier.

In a rare Thursday night affair, the Wildcats offense was certainly not on the field much, running just five plays in the first quarter.

But in those five plays, York produced a 21-0 lead en route to a 43-8 Western Maine Class B win, dropping the Eagles to 1-4 with a visit to Oceanside slated for Oct. 10.

The Wildcats rode the speedy running of Cullen McCarty, who sprinted his way to 209 first-half yards on just 11 carries, busting off touchdown runs of 47, 93, 3 and 33 yards. York quarterback Cole Merritt also helped out, turning a Mt. Ararat turnover, one of three for the Eagles in the first half, into a 27-yard TD pass to receiver Mark Mac- Glashing.

“To compete with them we had to play mistake-free football,” said Mt. Ararat coach Frank True. “We can’t put the ball on the ground and expect to play with a team like that.”

McCarty praised his offensive line for opening up huge holes for the back to run through.

“The line was doing awesome and I am extremely proud of them,” said McCarty, who remained on the sideline in the second half. “I am just running through the holes they are making. We focused in practice this week, even though we had one less day to prepare. We came in focused for this game despite the short week.”

Yom Kippur

Playing on a short week due to the observance of Yom Kippur, Mt. Ararat looked to grind things out against the York ( 5- 0) defense. Running back John Heatherman (20 carries, 97 yards) ran for 13 yards and a first down on the opening play for the Eagles, but the York defense held and forced a punt.

On the third play for the Wildcats, McCarty burst through a huge hole and went untouched for 47 yards for a 7-0 lead after a Trevor LaBonte extra-point kick.

A fumble deep in Eagles territory was recovered by York’s Jack Neary, and one play later Merrill threw over the top of the Mt. Ararat defense to Mac- Glashing for a 14- 0 lead with 8:27 left in the opening quarter.

“They’re a very strong, physical team with good fundamentals,” said True of York.

The Mt. Ararat defense put together a solid drive, moving from its own 18- yard line to the Y-8. After running off nearly six minutes of the clock, a fumble recovery by Brendan Carney ended the promising Eagles drive.

York didn’t mess around, with McCarty going straight up the middle for a 93- yard TD burst on the next play for a 21-0 advantage.

Two more touchdowns by McCarty followed in the second quarter to give York a 35-0 halftime lead. Despite possessing the ball for under seven minutes, the Wildcats picked up 240 total yards.

Mt. Ararat continued to move the ball, picking up 18 first downs in the contest and 256 total yards.

“Hats off to York, but we matched them play for play in many of those drives,” said True. “ We need to learn to finish and be patient. Our offensive line played very well, opening up some big holes, and John Heatherman just keeps going without saying a word.”

True felt the short week hurt his team.

“ It did hurt us some, with our jayvee gone Monday. When we send our players off, we only have 12- 13 players left,” said True. “ Preparing for York, we know how tough they are. We backed off the hitting on Wednesday and did a light walk-through. I wish we had one more day to prepare for them.”

York tacked on another long touchdown run, this time by backup running back Colton Santora, who went 90 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 43-0 lead.

Mt. Ararat avoided the shutout, driving 72 yards on seven plays with Robert Heatherman (nine carries, 43 yards, TD) diving into the end zone with 8:01 left. Ryan Mello (40 yards rushing) ran in the 2-point conversion.

Michael Tran and Nate Brewer paced the Eagles defense with five tackles each. Neary had eight tackles, including a sack, and recovered a fumble to lead the York defense.

York 43,
Mt. Ararat 8

At Topsham
York— 211408—43
Mt.Ararat—0008— 8
First quarter
Y — Cullen McCarty 47 run (Trevor
LaBonte kick), 9:11.
Y — Mark MacGlashing 27 pass from
Cole Merritt (Trevor LaBonte kick),
8:27.
Y — Cullen McCarty 93 run (Trevor
LaBonte kick), 2:37.
Second quarter
Y — Cullen McCarty 3 run (Trevor
LaBonte kick), 7:22.
Y — Cullen McCarty 33 run (Trevor
LaBonte kick), 4:28.
Fourth quarter
Y — Colton Santoro 90 run (Trevor
LaBonte pass to Daniel Bock), 11:44.
MtA — Robert Heatherman 2 run
(Ryan Mello run), 8:01.
Records — York 5-0, Mt. Ararat 1-4.
Up next for the Eagles — Oct. 10 at
Oceanside, 7 p.m.