CAPE ELIZABETH — On Monday afternoon, members of the Cape Elizabeth football team burned an old shoe.

On Friday night, they lit up the scoreboard.

The second-seeded Capers scored early and often, cruising to a 50-7 Class C South quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Lake Region on a windless evening at Hannaford Field.

“It’s to symbolize putting the regular season behind us,” fullback Ryan Weare said of the burn-and-bury ritual, which took place before the first postseason practice. “We put any issues or confrontations within the team behind us and move on to the playoffs and make a run at the Gold Ball.”

Weare rumbled for 131 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries as the Capers secured a semifinal home date next Friday against the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal between No. 3 Fryeburg Academy and No. 6 York. As a linebacker, Weare also helped stymie the offense of Lake Region (5-4), which had just two first downs in the first half – a first-quarter touchdown and a fourth-and-short conversion on the final play of the half.

By that time, the Capers already had six touchdowns and needed only one third-down conversion. They didn’t face fourth down until the second string had taken over midway through the third quarter.

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“We played really well,” said junior quarterback Andrew Hartel, who completed six of seven passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns, all before halftime. “We just have to keep playing like this the next couple of games. Hopefully, we can.”

Cape Elizabeth’s offensive line of center Spencer Sprague, guards Lou Daukas and Nate Labrie and tackles Luc Houle and Bear Huffard opened sizable holes for Weare and running back Jack Glanville, who ran for 92 yards on eight carries and scored twice on the ground (19 and 23 yards) and once through the air (turning a flare pass into a 20-yard touchdown).

Alex Morin was 6 for 6 on PAT kicks and Hartel pulled off a successful fake after the game’s first touchdown, firing a 2-point conversion pass to Zach Stewart.

A 38-yard connection to Ethan Convey in the final minute of the first quarter put Cape Elizabeth ahead 22-0, but Lake Region answered with Derek Mondville’s first pass – and only completion, to tight end True Meyers for a 61-yard touchdown.

“We knew we had to have big things happen and then stop them on the other side,” Lake Region Coach Brian Jahna said. “We had a couple big things happen. We just weren’t stopping them.”

The Lakers recovered a fumbled punt after their first possession, but Andrew Douglass (55 yards on 22 carries) was thrown for a loss on fourth down at the Cape Elizabeth 40. Lake Region didn’t cross midfield again until the fourth quarter.

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Weare’s TD run capped an 11-play drive early in the second quarter. Hartel hit Jacob Brydson on a 6-yard slant to make it 36-7 and, after taking over with 1:18 left in the half, found Brydson along the sideline for 31 yards to set up the short catch-and-run score by Glanville that made it 43-7 at intermission.

Jahna called a timeout with two minutes left to remove his seniors.

“The last winning season at Lake Region was 2003 or ‘4,” Jahna said. “So their entire lifetime has been hearing about how Lake Region football is not very good. To take that and flip it around, that’s a big, big deal. I couldn’t be prouder of the senior group.”

Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or

Gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH


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