BRUNSWICK

The 2018 high school football season for area teams begins this weekend with a full slate of games.

After raising the Gold Ball in 2016, Brunswick took a step back in 2017 after the graduation of a slew of seniors, winning only one regular season game, but qualifying for the postseason, where the Dragons won a game … and almost two. They are looking to build upon that late success this season.

The Morse Shipbuilders are also coming off a season where they made the playoffs, falling to Gardiner in a tightly-contested semifinal match.

Mt. Ararat will be playing its home games at the Topsham Fairgrounds this fall as the construction of the new high school is underway, adjusting to home games on Saturday during the day instead of Friday nights.

Lisbon/St. Dom’s will hit the ground running with second-year head coach Chris Kates as he looks to make his own mark after replacing longtime leader Dick Mynahan.

And, in Freeport, despite the lower numbers this year, prompting a move to Class E, the Falcons are excited to be playing on their new turf field under the lights beginning with tonight’s game against Boothbay at 6 p.m.

Brunswick

After winning the 2016 Class B State Championship, the Brunswick Dragons started fresh in 2017, after graduating many key members from that squad.

The team struggled at times, but seemed to find something as the playoffs began, defeating Cony in a quarterfinal tilt and nearly upsetting Lawrence in the semifinals, falling 17-12.

Coach Dan Cooper will replace players from last year that also played on that championship team two years ago. Lost to graduation were Elijah Gagnon, Max Friedman, Bailey Pelletier, Sam Dorval, Alex Demars and Dalton Dickey.

Cooper plans to build on that late season success and rely on his 16 returning seniors, many that started a year ago. He likes the depth and experience on this year’s team.

“We should have decent depth and experience that could be an important factor in close games,” Cooper said. “Last year the lack of depth and experience hurt us late in games.”

Replacing Dickey in the backfield will be Owen Richardson (Jr.) and Donald Bromiley (Sr.), while Jack Harvey (Jr.) will also see some carries. Nate Giradin returns for his senior season at quarterback, and Nathan Curtis and Parker Eckert will help hold down the lines on both defense and offense.

Senior Tyler Nadeau (WR/CB), and juniors Treyvon McKenzie (TE/DE) and Noah Goddard (QB/S) also return with another season under their belts.

Brunswick opens the season at home tonight against Class B South power Falmouth (7 p.m.) before hitting the road the following two weeks against Skowhegan (Sept. 7) and Messalonskee (Sept. 14).

“The kids have had a great preseason and are pumped to play for real this Friday against a quality opponent,” noted Cooper.

Morse

After an opening-day loss to Gardiner (26-6), the Shipbuilders rattled off six straight wins before falling to Leavitt in the season finale.

The 6-2 record placed Morse as the No. 5 seed, where the Shipbuilders traveled to Gardiner for a quarterfinal match, falling again to the Tigers, 13-8, this time in a much closer contest.

Morse graduated a good senior class from last year, but head coach Jason Darling believes he has the horses that will step up.

“We’re excited about this year. We’ve got a lot of young guys that we’re relying on, but strong leadership between our junior and senior classes will help bring us along,” Darling said. “We look to be competitive in every game we play.”

Senior Austin Baltazar returns to the backfield to carry the rushing load for the Shipbuilders. Junior Mason Savary will relieve Baltazar in the backfield and provide the ’Builders with a change-of-pace back, while sophomore Ty Knowlton will also see time in the backfield.

Corey Larmon is back under center, and tight ends Lukas Osterhout and Thomas Trundy return as targets for the junior quarterback.

Ihsan Myers (LB/G), William Carrolton (OT/DT), Boden Gould (C/DT) and sophomore Jacob Mowry (OL/DL) will provide size up front on both sides of the ball.

“We’ve had a good preseason, and the kids have given great effort,” Darling said. “They’re a great group of guys to work with. We have a lot of really high character individuals.”

Morse opens the season against last year’s nemesis Gardiner tonight (7 p.m.). Road dates against Hermon (Sept. 7), Gray-New Gloucester (Sept. 21), York (Oct. 5) and Mt. Ararat and sandwiched around home contests with Lake Region (Sept. 14), Yarmouth (Sept. 28) and Leavitt (Oct. 12).

Mt. Ararat

With the football field completely torn up — the foundation for the new school where the football field once sat — the Eagles will move their home games to the Topsham Fairgrounds this season, a move that brings the team back to their original playing field.

The new home field will entertain games on Saturday afternoons/mornings.

Co-coaches Matt Haskell and Tom Quick take over for departing coach O’Neil LaPlante, who compiled a 5-11 record over two seasons.

“The coaching staff is very excited about the upcoming season,” Haskell said. “This is a small group that has come together in a short period of time and they are motivated and excited about the season.”

Haskell and Quick return senior captain Kyle Secone to anchor the offensive line as well as the linebacker position on defense. Joining Secone is senior captain Austin Damon (TE/LB) and senior Isaac Myers (RB/DB). Juniors Riley Morin (DL/RB) and Cody Holman (LB/OL) will also provide some experience for the Eagles.

“There is a tremendous amount of upperclassmen leadership, which is bringing the younger players up to speed very quickly,” noted Haskell.

Battling at the quarterback position, according to Haskell, are sophomore Nolan Blessington and junior Cam Wallace. Other players to watch as they compete for playing time are senior Brady Mitchell (OL/DL) and freshmen Kaiden Tome (RB/DB), Jack Sillaman (LB/RB) and Kyle Graffam (RB/LB).

The Eagles open the season on the road at Medomak Valley on Saturday at 1 p.m. before coming home to host Kennebunk, a team they lost to 37-0 last season, at the Fairgrounds on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m.

Lisbon/St. Dom’s

Now that Kates has a full season on his resume, the second year coach plans to continue the ‘Greyhound’ way this fall.

“I do things a bit different than Dick did, but for the most part, we run practices the same way, organized and holding the kids accountable. I have added some new wrinkles this year.”

After finishing the regular season 7-1 (a loss at Wells), the Greyhounds entered the postseason as the No. 3 seed in Class D South. The ’Hounds lost at home to rival Winthrop/Monmouth in a quarterfinal tilt, 28-13.

Returning seniors on offense are quarterback Lucas Francis, offensive tackles Hunter Job and Kane Strout, as well as running back Isaiah Thompson. Juniors Cam Bourget (RB), Issac Burnell (WR), Seth Leeman (WR), Robbie Dick (WR) and Riley Quatrano also return.

Kates looks to fill the voids left by some of his key losses in Ben Blake (CB/WR), Morgan Perron (CB/WR), Dakota McIver (LB/OT), Brad Harriman (RB/S), Brandon Keith- Williams (OT/DE), Cole Bolduc (C/LB) and Noah Buiniskas (DT/OT).

Francis and Bourget will anchor the linebacker positions, joined by newcomer Jason Le, while Job, Strout, Thompson and newcomers Evan Houde (Sr.) and Hunter Mason (Jr.) will hold down the defensive line.

Leeman, Dick and Quatrano are joined by sophomore Daytona McIver at the defensive back positions.

This year, Kates said the team is focused and working hard after the disappointing ending to 2017. And with a difficult schedule, he feels his team will need to be ready to go right out of the gates.

“We don’t have an easy game this entire season,” Kates said. “We go on the road to open the season at Fryeburg Academy (today, 4:30 p.m.), a Class C school that had a lot of success last year. I think we have set our schedule up to be competitive every single week. We will get a lot of experience from those games, which will benefit us in the end.”

Lisbon entertains Mountain Valley in its opener on Sept. 8 at 1:30 p.m. Another notable home game is on Oct. 6, when the Greyhounds host Winthrop/Monmouth in a rematch.

Freeport

After making the Class C South playoffs in 2016 following a 4-4 season, the Falcons failed to make the postseason in 2017, finishing 1-7.

After defeating Gray-New Gloucester, 41-6, in the team’s fourth game, the Falcons dropped the last four games by 14 points or less in each, including a loss to Yarmouth late in the game in the finale that eliminated the squad from postseason consideration.

With program numbers low, following the graduation of many seniors, Freeport is playing in the developmental Class E region this season. Class E was created before the 2017 season to provide an option for struggling programs. Some schools returned to varsity competition after dropping their programs. Class E teams do not play for an official Maine Principal Association championship, but the league held a four-team playoff last fall. Heal Point standings are kept, and there is the possibility of crossover games with teams from other classes in the future.

Other teams in Class E this year are Boothbay/Wiscasset, Camden Hills, Dirigo, Maranacook, Old Orchard Beach, Sacopee Valley, Telstar and Traip Academy. The Falcons will play all of those teams (with the exception of Maranacook), as well as Class D Poland this fall.

This will come with eight or nine new starters on both sides of the football, according to head coach Paul St. Pierre.

“Everything will depend on is health and execution,” St. Pierre said. “Entering Class E, we should be competitive and find some success on the field.”

Returning is junior RB/LB Adam Ulrickson, senior Matt Hinds (G/DL), junior Tre Morris (RB/DB) and senior Hunter Demers (LB/RB).

Sophomores Aidan Michaud (RB/DB), Justin Cogswell (WR/DB), Caden Benedict (TE/LB) and Nate Hinds (T/DL) will also fill positions voided by the losses of Josh Burke (QB/LB), Garrison Thompson (C/DL), Mike Foss (WR/DB) and James Knighton (RB/DB).

The Falcons will play their first-ever regular season home game tonight at the Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field against Boothbay at 6 p.m. After hitting the road against Poland (Sept. 7, 7 p.m.) and Camden Hills (Sept. 14, 1:30 p.m.) the following two weeks, the Falcons return home to play Telstar on Sept. 21 (6 p.m.).