Lisbon’s Jack Ramich runs the ball into the end zone for an early touchdown during Saturday’s game against Bucksport at Lisbon High School. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
It’s hard enough to prep for a playoff game. Throw in some inclement weather, and those preparations become all the more challenging.
That’s what’s several football teams face this week, as rainy and cold conditions could impact practice schedules.
“Last week was the bigger change with no game and a lighter week of practice,” said Morse coach Jason Darling, whose team had a bye last week in the opening round of the eight-man large North quarterfinals. “We want to keep things as normal as possible. We hope the weather won’t affect that.”
The No. 2 Shipbuilders (5-2) host No. 3 Camden Hills (4-2) in a regional semifinal Friday night.
Elsewhere in eight-man playoffs, No. 2 Mt. Ararat (6-1) will host No. 3 Spruce Mountain (6-2) in large South semifinal Friday night at 6.
The Eagles, the 2019 eight-man state champ, already moved Tuesday’s practice to the Topsham indoor sports complex.
“Hopefully it doesn’t get us too bad, but we’re going to go full today (Monday),” said Mt. Ararat head coach Frank True. “We get an extra day to work this week that we want to take advantage of.”
Morse plans to practice on its turf field this week, but Darling said a backup plan is place should the team need to adjust.
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Morse last played on Oct. 15 in a 58-48 loss to Waterville. A few key Shipbuilders were banged up in the loss, but Darling on Monday sounded a bit optimistic they would return against Camden.
Lisbon’s Mason Booker scores a touchdown in the final play of the first half of Saturday’s game at Lisbon High School. Buckport’s Kamryn Webber plays defense. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
“It’s still a day-to-day type of thing, hopefully we’ll know more at practice today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday),” said Darling. “I think that we’ll get two of the three injured players back, but it’s still up in the air.”
The Shipbuilders played the Windjammers twice in the regular season, losing 60-42 in September before pulling out a 44-30 victory on Oct 8.
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In Class D, Lisbon/St. Doms (2-3) won its second consecutive game — a 34-20 win over visiting Bucksport on Saturday.
The Greyhounds rushed for nearly 300 yards.
“We played sound football and attacked the ball on defense,” said Lisbon head coach Chris Kates. “We didn’t turn the ball over on offense, something we hadn’t done yet this season. … We have a young team, it took a little but for them to get acclimated with the speed of varsity football in the beginning of the season,” he said. “We’re feeling great, but we know we have another challenge ahead of us this week.”
Buckport’s Ty Giberson loses possession of the ball to Lisbon’s Ben Ridley during Saturday’s game at Lisbon High School. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
The Greyhounds sit at No. 6 in the Class D standings and will close out the regular season next week against Poland (2-3). The winner could end up securing the No. 5 seed in the Class D playoffs.
Eight out of the nine Class D teams will qualify for the postseason.
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The Class B North postseason is set to begin this weekend. Eight of the nine teams were originally going to qualify for the postseason, but things changed when Brunswick canceled its season. Now, all eight teams from Class B North will play at least one postseason game.
Here are the matchups: No. 1 Windham (6-0) will host No. 8 Mt. Blue (1-5) while No. 2 Cony (5-2) is set to host No. 7 Brewer (1-7). No. 3 Lawrence (4-3) will host No. 6 Messalonskee (3-5) for the second straight week after the Bulldogs won the regular-season finale 42-38 on Friday in Fairfield. Lastly, No. 4 Skowhegan (4-4) will host No. 5 Falmouth/Greely (3-3).
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