TOPSHAM – A year removed from finishing 2-7 that included a 55-7 loss to Kennebunk in a Class B South quarterfinal game with a dwindling roster of 20 or so athletes, Mt. Ararat finds itself playing for the State 8-Man Championship against Old Orchard Beach at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Saturday at 2 p.m.

For head coach Frank True and his coaching staff, the belief was always there, it was just a matter of executing the process.

“At the time I was hired, I wasn’t sure if we were going to be 11 or eight man. Every coach wants to believe he’s got a shot at winning it all. Deep down we knew we had some work to do and things would have to break right for us here and there,” True, who returned to the Eagles after coaching them from 2011-2014, said. “By and large the kids have bought into the process. They’ve bought into my philosophy and how we do stuff. They have worked really hard at both the offensive and defensive schemes. It’s really hats off to them to get to where they are now.”

It was just a few short months ago when the coach and players were just getting to know one another.

“It was a process. Most of them didn’t know me, they’ve heard of me before. I didn’t know a lot of these kids, I knew a few of them through (youth leagues) by going to a game or two last year,” True said. “There was a feeling out period, but if anyone knows me, I don’t wait too long to start implementing on what I want to do. Any coach knows you have that short window from the first week of practice to that first scrimmage with games just a few weeks away. They understood at our camp over the summer of what I was looking for, being consistent with our play calling and terminology and that helped a lot.”

The early work paid off, with the Eagles winning the season opener with a 56-28 road victory over Gray New-Gloucester. The following week the Eagles fell at home to a talented Maranacook squad.

“I’ve been preaching all year don’t get too high on the wins, don’t get too low on the losses, and understand it’s a new week,” True said.

Mt. Ararat rattled off four more wins before falling to the Black Bears again on Oct. 18 before defeating Telstar, 42-14 to end the regular season. The 6-2 record was good for the second spot in the 8-man Large division. A 52-20 win over Yarmouth followed for the Eagles, and with their best performance of the year, denied Maranacook a third win against them with a strong second half en route to a 36-14 victory in the 8-man Large School final to advance to the state final.

The Large School division has five schools, all with enrollment of 350 of higher.

On the journey to the championship game, True credits his senior leadership among his squad.

“I think their growth is powerful. From the start when I had them over for a spaghetti dinner in April to introduce myself to where we are now, all of the hard work from meetings to all of us getting to know each other, any team that is going to have success has to have these kind of guys,” True said about his seniors.

Leadership played a big part in the success, but having an offense that averaged almost 42 points a game didn’t hurt. In an offense managed by quarterback Cam Wallace, the Eagles boast a backfield, similar to another area team playing in postseason play this weekend — one which their coach feels “blessed” to have such talent in backfield.

“I think we have some combination of speed and power. That’s what we like to do and that’s a deadly combination for us,” True said. “Having Riley Morin pounding it in the middle and then be able to bounce it outside to either Cody Holman or Holden Brannan, I feel like I’m also ‘blessed’ to have that too, those don’t come around all the time.”

“We rely on Riley to get us through some of those tough times in the middle of the field where we need to bust out through,” senior back Holman said. “And having Holden outside with that great speed, that gives us great balance. Me, I’m just a regular running back in my eyes, I just like to run hard and don’t want to give up. I think that’s what keeps us going is none of us like to go down. A lot of teams know us as a hard to tackle backfield. We just like to run hard and not stop until that whistle blows.”

Morin, who led the team with 1,500 rushing yards and picked up a lot of those yards in traffic, knows the team’s backs are its strength.

“I think our backfield has been pretty extraordinary this year and it’s been a big part to get us where we are today,” said the senior.

Brannan also recognizes each other’s strengths and credits his line with creating the holes and his other backs with opening up the field.

“We all have our own strengths with speed and power. Our offensive line is unbelievable, they always have the blocks for us and I think we’ve done a good job with reading the blocks and executing on those,” Brannan, who rushed for over 1,000 yards, said. “As a team we always say trust the process and that’s what we’ve been doing up to this point. So far it’s been working, so we’re going to stick to it and see what happens.”

After many years of struggles since football started at Mt. Ararat High School in 1973 — which included no varsity program from 1984-1999 — the team matched a program high in regular season wins with six (the team also had six wins in 2002), and eclipsed the mark after winning its first ever playoff games the last two weeks. Building the program is what True desires, and feels that this first year of 8-man football was a success, not just in wins and losses.

“I am full in for eight man as far as Mt. Ararat goes and our situation right now. We’ve got about 25 kids out here, the biggest part about this I keep

saying is that our underclassmen got games this year against their peers with the same skill levels and had some success,” True said during Wednesday’s practice. “The upperclassmen are feeling success as well and that helps develop our program. We’re working to build off this year and get another jayvee program and who knows what happens down the road.”

And having the junior varsity schedule only helps the program going forward according to True.

“Having the jayvee schedule is so important, that’s what’s going to help this program the most going forward,” True, a 1983 graduate of Mt. Ararat High School, said. “I’ve seen it when the program didn’t have it and to put some of those freshman and sophomores out there, it wasn’t safe. Out of necessity we had to put some of those players in those situations and it wasn’t fair to them. Now they’re getting a chance to develop against guys the same size.”

And the players have also enjoyed the season’s success.

“We had been struggling the past few years and this year feels not like an ending spot, but this empty spot was filled in,” Morin said.

“Feels great, for once we’re following what coach does and everything seems to be working and we’re on the same page, everything is clicking right now,” Holman added.

As for the game against a team they have already beaten this season — a 46-8 win at the Topsham Fairgrounds in October — it’s a clean slate and nothing from the past matters. Old Orchard Beach (7-3) comes into the game on a five-game winning streak, including a 54-6 victory over Traip Academy in the 8-Man Small School Division Final. The Small School division is comprised of schools with enrollment of fewer than 350 students.

“They’re a dynamic team and can score some points. They’ve gone through the playoffs on a roll,” True said. “Whatever happened in week 5, that was a long time ago now. We’ve got to come ready to play. They’re well-coached and have a lot of great athletes on that team and we’ve got to play at our best.”

 “Coach and the seniors have been preaching that they’re going to come to play and we need to come more prepared than they’re are going to be and hit even harder,” Morin said.

And Brannan knows anything can happen.

“We have to forget about that. We can’t go into the game taking them lightly as anything can happen. They’ve gotten a lot better,” the senior said. “We have to give 100% every play like we did against Maranacook and hope for the best.”

Win or lose on Saturday, there’s no doubt about the future of Mt. Ararat football and the excitement it has brought to the community.

“There’s no question that this is a special season for us,” True said. “The excitement has been crazy with the amount of text messages and emails, as well as a sign at the Topsham Fair Mall wishing us good luck. The whole community is behind us.”

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