Our Communities. Our Teams. Our Future.
We’re proud to make high school sports coverage free for everyone—because these moments matter. At Maine State Credit Union, we’re here for the people and places that make Maine strong. Let’s Go! Learn more at mainestatecu.org. 

WELLS – This was about respect. For the last several years, Wells High’s football team has been good — but never good enough to beat a top team.

Until Friday night.

Behind the individual brilliance of junior Paul McDonough and a smothering team defense in the second half, the Warriors defeated previously unbeaten Cape Elizabeth 14-7 at Warrior Memorial Field.

McDonough, a quarterback and defensive back, scored a touchdown on a 22-yard interception return and set up the other with a play that Cape Coach Aaron Fileo likened to “playing backyard football.”

“This feels great, the best win I’ve ever been part of,” said McDonough. “We worked really hard. We overcame adversity and we got it down. We’re a big group, we stay together.”

Both teams are now 5-1, with Wells’ loss coming in Rumford to Mountain Valley, 14-7. This win, said Warrior Coach Tim Roche, proved a lot to his players.

“For us, it’s been a while since we’ve won what I think is a big game,” he said. “I think it gets us over the hump. Cape’s a great team. We went to Mountain Valley and played well, but we lost. We needed this one.”

It was, at times, a brutally physical game with both teams pounding away at the inside of the opposing defense. Wells’ defense shut down the Capers in the second half, giving up only 37 yards and two first downs — 29 yards of those yards and both first downs coming on the Capers’ last drive.

“We just tightened up,” said linebacker Louis DiTomasso. “They ran the veer dive a lot, we figured it out and jumped all over it.”

Wells had a little more success offensively in the second half. Both McDonough and fullback Chad Whitten ran for 69 yards in the final two quarters, and McDonough completed two huge passes.

Still, it was 7-7 entering the final quarter — Wells scoring first on McDonough’s 22-yard interception return and Cape tying it in the second quarter on a 1-yard pass from Derek Roberts to Kyle Danielson — and the Warriors had the ball.

On fourth-and-11 from the Capers 42, McDonough stepped up into the pocket to escape a sack and threw for 18 yards to Zach Deshaies. Whitten then ran for 21 yards on two carries.

On second down from the 4, McDonough rolled left. As he was being tackled by two Cape defenders at the 8, he flipped the ball out to Michael Moats, who had no one in front of him. Moats ran untouched into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown with 9:09 left. Joey Spinelli’s kick made it 14-7.

“I trust my teammates,” said McDonough. “He knows the play. We practice it.”

Maybe, but not many players could pull that off.

“He’s a hell of a football player,” said Fileo. “That play that he made, we had two guys on him, squirts it out. When the ball came out I thought we were going to get it back. It’s just one of those plays like playing backyard football.”

Cape had one last chance, getting the ball back on a punt with 46 seconds left.

Two first downs put the Capers on the Wells 45 when Roberts rolled left to pass. Wells linebacker JT Sherburne came all the way from the backside to sack Roberts, forcing a fumble that was recovered by the Warriors’ Brandon Pridham to seal the victory.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get to him before he threw the ball,” said Sherburne. “I went for the ball and luckily someone recovered it.”

Sherburne said the win “showed a lot of character. We worked hard all week and when it came game time, we actually proved we could play.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at: mlowe@pressherald.com