SOUTH BERWICK — Marshwood High looked like it’s ready to recapture some of its playoff prominence Friday night, advancing to the Class B South football semifinals with a thoroughly convincing 49-7 win against Cheverus.

The No. 4 Hawks (5-4) advance to face No. 1 Kennebunk (8-0), the defending state champion. In the regular season, Kennebunk won in overtime, 37-35. It is the only time this season Kennebunk has been truly threatened.

“We got a great team and I can’t wait until next week. That’s what it comes down to,” said senior linebacker Caden Rose, whose 31-yard interception return in the first quarter helped bust the game wide open. “We want to win for each other and we just want to keep going.”

From 2014 to 2021, Marshwood won six of the seven Class B state championships – usually having to beat Kennebunk along the way in the South regional. But the past three seasons, wins have been harder to come by. The Hawks were 2-7 with a quarterfinal loss in 2022, 5-5 last season, losing at Massabesic in the regional semifinal, and started this season 1-3. Since then they are 4-1 and averaging 41.8 points per game over that five-game stretch. That’s led the Hawks to have faith in themselves.

“Yessir. Marshwood definitely has a chance next week,” said senior fullback Cody Bubier.

“We’re not turning the ball over like we were early in the year,” said Alex Rotsko, Marshwood’s coach since 2012. “We had a lot of injuries and we had to fill in with young kids. We started two freshmen tonight and a couple sophomores. A lot of freshmen and sophomores are playing on special teams. But you know, we’ve been practicing for two months so those guys aren’t freshmen and sophomores any more. They’re sophomores and juniors and starting to play like it a little bit.”

The Hawks led 43-0 at halftime. The offense rolled up 314 yards by the half, 274 on the ground. Bubier only carried eight times but finished with 131 yards, and had touchdowns of 5 and 7 yards. On one of his final carries in the first half, he bulled through the line, then rumbled for an extra 15 or so yards with three Cheverus players clinging to him and eventually pushing him out of bounds.

Quaterback Tyler Hussey completed all four of his passes, two for touchdowns to Greg Castoras, while showing his elusiveness on three carries for 48 yards. Ryan Essex added a 16-yard touchdown run and another 88 rushing yards.

It was an impressive display against an injury-decimated and penalty-prone Cheverus team that finished 2-7 in its return to Class B under first-year coach Skip Capone.

“At the end of the day, they’re just better than us,” Capone said.

Cheverus appeared to score first. After Marshwood fumbled a punt and Liam Backman recovered at the Hawks’ 15, Igor Bitencourt ran into the end zone on second down from the 9.  A holding call negated the score, however, and Cheverus eventually had a field-goal attempt blocked. The Stags were called for eight penalties for 80 yards in the first half.

“The same thing happened to us last week against Deering,” Capone said. “That’s been our nemesis all year. We’ve had a lot of red-zone opportunities and we haven’t finished drives, and that’s on us as coaches.”

Cheverus senior Colby Ross returned to quarterback for the first time since suffering a leg injury in the first quarter of the first game of the season. He completed 8 of 15 passes in the first half for 71 yards but was intercepted twice. While the Stags got Ross back they were without injured senior Matt Baker, who Capone called “our best all-around player.”

The entire second half was played with running time because Marshwood led by at least 35 points.

Marshwood scored on its first possession with reserve back Sam Therrien going in from the 2 to finish a brisk six-play, 52-yard drive. Cheverus scored its only touchdown midway through the fourth quarter on a 7-yard pass from freshman Will Baker to Devin Kelly.