WELLS — The Class B football semifinals begin tonight, and for No. 2 seed Wells, the road to the state title game begins with a powerhouse opponent.

The Warriors will host perennial Class B challengers Cape Elizabeth tonight at Warrior Memorial Field. Though Wells delivered the Capers one of their three losses on the season (Cape has a 6-3 record), the Capers have made four consecutive appearances to the regional finals.

“It’s tougher than normal, said Wells running back/linebacker Chad Whitten. “We have to prepare for a playoff game. We can’t lose this week. We have been practicing really hard, so we need to be on top of everything. I feel like things have come together though.”

Wells head coach Tim Roche said the team has a different mentality now from their first win to now, and expect to go out and win games.

“Last year, I think we were just excited about being [in the playoffs],” Roche said. “We knew last year, going into Cape, we had all those injuries, they were undefeated, we were like, jeez let’s just hang around. This time, they want to win.”

While the Warriors don’t boast the playoff record Cape does, they do have the necessary tools to head to a state championship game. Namely, the Wells defense, which has only given up an average of nine points per game.

Roche said a big factor in the defensive play has been the speed of the group, who worked hard in the offseason in the weight room.

“I think it’s speed and strength, without a doubt.” Roche said. “Mark Lewia, he’s a coach and our strength and conditioning guy, puts them through workouts to make us quicker. It’s good to be big, but we’re not blessed with size. So what do we have to do, we have to get stronger and faster. Someone asked me when I thought I had a decent team. I knew I had a decent team in July when I had 35 guys show up to some pretty tough workouts. Once you have the work ethic, once you have that feeling, that makes it easier as a coach. Now all you can do is screw it up.”

Whitten said the unit also has experience on the field.

“We’ve been together a while,” Whitten said. “Most of us played together last year on this unit, so we know the defense. Everyone takes care of their own square, so as long as that gets done, there won’t be any slip ups. It’s just straight defense.”

The Warriors took the first matchup of the season, a 14-7 decision, on Oct. 8. In that game, the Warriors held the Capers to less than 50 yards of offense in the second half of the game, and quarterback/defensive back Paul McDonough took an interception back 22 yards for a touchdown. Wells running back Michael Moats-Carpenter scored the other touchdown for Wells, on an 8 yard run.

Defensively, the Warriors are expecting the Capers to come back at them with a power running game, but have been preparing for other possibilities as well.

“We saw film of them against [Mountain Valley],” Whitten said. “They ran a lot of power and stuff. But we’re really preparing for anything.”

Penalties have been a problem for Wells this season, and almost hurt the Warriors in their 27-14 win over York last week.

“It’s essential, I think we had 90 yards of penalties in the York game,” Whitten said. “That’s unacceptable. Like [McDonough’s 49 yard touchdown, which was called back by penalty], we had a touchdown, but somebody decided to block in the back. That should of never happened.”

Roche said the keys for the game will be the control of both penalties and turnovers.

“If we don’t turn the ball over, and we’ve done pretty well with that and we don’t get those penalties, I think that’s key,” Roche said. “I don’t know what the whether will be like, I think it’s going to break in the morning, the wind will dry [the field] up some and we’ll work on it. If we can cut out the turnover and penalties, we’ll be fine, and just do our thing. That’s the biggest thing. We just want them to play, go out and play. It’s a fun game. That’s what it’s supposed to be. There’s no pressure.”

For the players, they know all they have to do now is go out and execute.

“We just have to play like the coaches have taught us to play and know our assignments,” McDonough said. “Just get the job done.”

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.