For every high school football team driving for a championship, there’s another at the opposite end of the standings.

The challenge struggling teams face is daunting. It’s not easy to stay positive — and keep working to improve — in the wake of repetitive blowout losses.

Two southern Maine teams, Scarborough and Westbrook, showed the fortitude to keep fighting and Friday night were rewarded.

Class A Scarborough, now 2-5, snapped a five-game losing streak when it went to Turner and beat Class C Leavitt, 45-35. Scarborough was coming off a 70-14 loss to Bonny Eagle, which followed three straight scoreless efforts. In 2023, Scarborough won one game and scored only 30 points in the entire season.

“Especially with this being the second tough year in a row, it is hard to keep positive,” said Coach Packy Malia. “But we keep pointing out the good things and try hard not to let frustrations boil over.”

Scarborough benefited from being as healthy as it has been all season, Malia said, and limiting the youthful mistakes that plagued it in earlier games. That led to an overall better effort with numerous key contributions.

“The big thing is you don’t want it to become a miserable grind,” Malia said. “You want to make sure the kids are still having fun, that it doesn’t become a chore to show up every day. That was a good thing last week. We had a lot of enthusiasm and fun in practice, and that was encouraging, considering we’d just given up 70 points.”

In Westbrook, the host Blue Blazes won for the first time, edging Biddeford 21-18 in a B South game.

Westbrook Coach Sam Johnson said following a 33-7 loss to defending Class B champion Kennebunk in Week 1, he wrote on the team’s white board, “Adversity equals opportunity.”

“And it’s still there,” he said. “Six games later, the message doesn’t really change, but the challenge is to stay positive and improve every single day.”

Sophomores Camilo Jones and Cole Tanner were defensive standouts. Jones had three sacks, including one to end the game, and blocked a point-after kick on the Tigers’ first touchdown. He also caught a 54-yard touchdown pass. Tanner had an interception and several tackles.

“Camilo and Cole, those are two kids that have embraced this challenging season, and they are super engaged. Kids like that make it easier for me to stay positive,” Johnson said.

If Westbrook (1-6) can win at Cape Elizabeth (4-3), it’s quite possible there will be four teams tied at 2-6, with two advancing to the B South playoffs. The current two-win teams in B South finish at home against tough opponents: Cheverus plays Deering (6-1), Gorham has Fryeburg Academy (5-2) and Biddeford gets Kennebunk (7-0).

“I’m telling the kids, ‘Hey, there’s a chance we’re all 2-6. Let’s control what we can and let’s see. We have a lot to play for,'” Johnson said.

THE WELLS WARRIORS overcame two two-score deficits to win 21-20 at Fryeburg Academy. Wells is now 7-0 and will host unbeaten Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale/Kents Hill (7-0) on Friday to determine the top seed in D South, where six teams make the playoffs.

The game did not start well for Wells: Fryeburg blocked a punt for a touchdown on the Warriors’ first possession. The Raiders then scored on their first play from scrimmage for a 13-0 lead.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh, boy, if we don’t do something right here, we’re going to be in trouble,’ ” said Wells Coach Tim Roche.

Wells, which also trailed 20-7, got two rushing touchdowns from Eli Potter, one from Dominic Buxton and a key 41-yard pass from Cal Moody (120 passing yards) to Riley Murphy to set up the go-ahead score in the third quarter. Murphy and linebacker Elias Curley had interceptions to help hold off Fryeburg the rest of the way.

In last year’s Class D championship game, Wells trailed Foxcroft Academy 21-0 at the half and won, 22-21. Roche said he didn’t remind his veteran team of the title game. “We purposely don’t talk about comparisons,” Roche said.

Fryeburg, the top team in Class C South, is 5-2. Its other loss was also by one point, 15-14 at Falmouth (7-0), the B North leader.

“I think your best teams in B, C and D would be a really interesting state tournament,” Roche said. “We scrimmaged Kennebunk and Deering (first and second in B South). And I know you can’t take anything from a scrimmage, but if you went by when the varsity played, we beat them both.”

FOXCROFT ACADEMY will be Class D North’s top seed. That’s been settled for a while. After that? With one game to go, it’s still anyone’s guess.

Four teams — John Bapst, Winslow, Old Town and Maine Central Institute — are fighting for D North’s No. 2 seed. With each team boasting at least one win over the other three, the result is a logjam with endless possible outcomes.

John Bapst (4-3, 103.6 Crabtree index) is currently in second, and its path to keep it that way is straightforward. If the Crusaders beat Foxcroft at Cameron Stadium on Saturday, they will finish 5-3 and lock up a second seed that – if they win in the quarterfinals – puts them in line for a home regional semifinal.

Given Foxcroft’s continued dominance in D North, though, a John Bapst win is far from guaranteed. Should the Crusaders lose, it would set up the winner of Friday night’s game between third-place Winslow (3-4, 94.6 Crabtree index) and fourth-place Old Town (3-4, 89.8) to snatch the No. 2 spot.

That would be a welcome development for Winslow, which endured major midseason struggles. After starting 2-0 with blowout wins over MCI and Madison, the Black Raiders dropped four straight before getting back in the win column with Saturday’s 48-6 victory over Belfast.

“(That scenario) should be enough to bump us up, with the strength of our schedule and everything,” said Winslow Coach Wes Littlefield. “We’ll have to see what happens with the other teams, but that’s where I project it. We’re excited to get back on track with the win Saturday and hopefully another one on Friday.”

MCI (4-3, 87.5 Crabtree) can also throw a wrench into things with a home win Friday against Mountain Valley. Beating the Falcons would bump the fifth-ranked Huskies into a top-four spot that would land them a home playoff game, and with some help from Foxcroft and Old Town, they might go even higher.

Mattanawcook Academy (2-5, 78.6 Crabtree) is behind the others in sixth place, but an upset win over a Dirigo team that’s 5-1 in Class D South would likely shoot the Lynx up the standings. Madison (2-5, 65.6) and Belfast (0-7, 53.6) are seventh and eighth. All eight teams make the playoffs.

AN INJURY forced Lewiston to make a change at quarterback last week, and Jeffrey Randall stepped in to lead the Blue Devils to a 34-29 victory over Windham on Friday night.

“It was a great team effort, and we had a bunch of guys step up and play with a lot of heart and a lot of desire,” Coach Jason Versey said. “They knew this was a must-win for us.”

The player Randall replaced at QB still made major contributions. Lonnie Thomas, who moved to wide receiver because of bone bruises on his knees, caught three touchdown passes, including the winner in the final minute.

That wasn’t the only positional change Versey and the coaching staff made last week.

Joe Dube and Ryker Paradis moved from the backfield back to the offensive line because they are better at getting to the second level and opening holes for the running backs, such as sophomore Josue Luis. It also allowed the Blue Devils to throw more in their triple-option offense.

“We were tweaking things and just trying to get to where we felt everybody was in their proper place, and I feel like that’s where we are now,” Versey said. “Now it’s about just getting better every week. No matter who’s in front of us going forward, I just feel confident that our kids are getting better.”

After winning their first two games, Lewiston (3-3) dropped three straight before Friday’s victory. The Blue Devils finish the regular season with a home game against Brunswick (2-5) on Friday and at Edward Little (1-6) on Nov. 1.

DIRIGO HAS BEEN playing solid defense, highlighted by its 40-0 victory over Madison on Sept. 27 and a 10-0 victory over Maranacook on Oct. 11.

The Cougars’ shutout streak ended in Friday’s 44-30 win over Poland, but the defense still made a big impact. Nathan Wainwright intercepted two passes, Leighton Waite and Trevor Crosby recovered fumbles, and Dakota White had a sack.

Wainwright, White, Tanner Bradeen and Hudson Lufkin each finished with 10 or more tackles.

“Our defense, we’ve been working hard on great angle pursuits and rallying to the ball,” Coach Craig Collins said. “We’ve been working hard on that.”