BIDDEFORD — With 0-4 and 3-1 records going in, Friday night’s Scarborough v. Biddeford Western Class A football game looked like a mismatch.
It was, only in a way very few would have predicted.
Scarborough scored on its first play from scrimmage on a 58-yard pass from Jack Hughes to Griffin Madden and never looked back, running up 509 yards of total offense ”“ including 310 off the arm of Hughes ”“ while holding Biddeford to just 207 total yards of offense in a 34-13 rout of the Tigers at Waterhouse Field.
It was the first win of the season for Scarborough, which has played teams with a combined 17-7 record in its opening five games. Biddeford, which has now played five opponents with a combined record of 6-18, fell to 3-2.
“They were 0-4 and they certainly didn’t play like it and deserved to win,” Biddeford coach Brian Curit said. “At the same time, I am absolutely mortified by our effort, our physicality ”“ we talked about how physical we were going to be this week and I didn’t see that. I think we were very happy about being 3-1, and in this league if you’re happy you get your head taken off.”
Scarborough took advantage of a size mismatch on the outside all night as Hughes was able to stretch the field, finding receivers Milani Hicks and Madden and tight ends Jacob Gardner and Anthony Quintiliani ”“ all of whom stand over 6-feet tall ”“ easy targets against an undersized Tigers secondary that averages 5-foot-7.
“We had a pretty good size advantage on the outside,” Hughes said. “Our receivers matched up on their corners and we were just trying to take advantage of that and it worked out pretty well. We watched a lot of film on them and worked on passing all week.”
“I was worried that they’d be able to exploit our lack of height on the perimeter and they did,” Curit said. “But I don’t think you can get beat off the line like we did. That was ridiculous and a lack of concentration. Our kids are athletic, they’re fast, you can’t tell me they were just getting beat five yards off the line. It’s undisciplined play.”
That undisciplined play was there from the get-go as Hughes found Madden wide on a seam route over the middle on the first play of game. Madden went untouched into the end zone, and Wyatt Tanner added the first of his four extra points to make it 7-0 just 16 seconds in.
“We thought that was a play that would work for us,” Hughes said. “Coach made a great call and we executed it.”
“We talked all week about not getting beat deep,” Curit said. “Then to start the game like that, it was bad.”
Scarborough scored again on its third drive, marching 67 yards on eight plays, capped by a Drew LeClair 4-yard score.
The Red Storm looked to be headed in for another score on their next drive before linebacker Capen Macomber provided the Tigers a ray of hope, stripping Hughes at the line of scrimmage and outrunning two Scarborough players on a 60-yard return for a score, with Lucas Rhoy adding the extra point.
But the momentum shift was short lived as Scarborough again struck through the air with precision on the first play after the fumble. Dropping back with plenty of time, Hughes hit the speedy Hicks on a fade route down the right sideline that went 64 yards for a score.
“I instantly saw a mismatch because my defender was like a foot smaller than me,” said the 6-foot-2 Hicks. “We practiced that and Jack and I made a connection. That was a big play, to score after they just did.”
Biddeford had a chance to get back to within a touchdown before halftime as several tough runs by Rhoy and Macomber (16 carries, 83 yards) and two Red Storm penalties set up the Tigers with a third-and-goal from the 2. But a holding penalty backed them up 10 yards, and two Casey Twomey passes fell incomplete as Biddeford squandered a chance and Scarborough held for a 21-7 lead at the break.
The Tigers had another opportunity to get closer on the Red Storm’s opening drive of the third quarter as a Sasha Kurlycheck-Godard sack of Hughes and a delay of game set up Scarborough with a third-and-17 from its own 17.
But on the next play, Hughes took off for a 66-yard scamper down the right sideline, and then found Quintiliani three plays later for a 15-yard score to make it 28-7 midway through the third.
The Red Storm put the icing on the cake in dominant fashion in the fourth, driving 99 yards for their final score after a Biddeford punt had pinned them inside the 1. Showing it can move the ball on the ground too, 65 of those yards came on just four carries by Zach Carriero, including a 2-yarder for a score.
Isaiah Charles added a late TD run for Biddeford’s first offensive points of the game, but it was too little, far too late for a Tigers team that will hit the meat of its schedule in the final three weeks of the season, starting at Sanford next week.
For Curit, who held a lengthy postgame discussion with his players on the field, it will need to be a 180-degree turn around from Friday night’s performance.
“I’m very embarrassed. I was embarrassed with the lack of discipline that this program has displayed. This program has always been built on being physical and working our tails off, and our effort tonight was atrocious,” Curit said.
“For ever and ever this program was built on don’t beat yourself, don’t be undisciplined, let’s play with our on fire. Now we’re back to 3-2 and struggling to be where we need to be, and we’re probably back on the road in the playoffs.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.
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