The Massabesic High School football team may be sitting at 0-5, but if you stopped by one of the Mustangs’ practices this week you wouldn’t know it.
“Coming into this week we are bringing a lot of intensity. We just had one of the most highly intense practices we’ve had all year and we’re ready to play Bangor,” said Massabesic junior QB Nick Roberge.
“We are very fired up,” added Massabesic sophomore tight end/defensive end Ricky Hendrix.
The Mustangs will host Bangor on Saturday afternoon as they look to get their first win of the season and keep their Class A South playoff hopes alive.
“It’s definitely crunch time. We came out here after getting blown out 47-6 (by Sanford) and that didn’t sit well with us,” said Massabesic senior running back/linebacker Jason Guinard. “We’ve come out and really turned it up another gear and raised the intensity because we know it’s do or die — if we win out, we make playoffs.”

Massabesic is currently seventh in the Class A South standings, but with wins over Bangor (1-5) this week and Deering (2-4) in Week 8, the Mustangs could jump into the sixth and final playoff spot.
“That’s our focus. If we can win these next two games we’ll have a chance to play another game and that hasn’t happened here for a long time,” said first-year Massabesic coach Eric Ouellette.
Ouellette knows his team will have to play their best football if they are going to get the job done.
“Bangor is a tough team and we’ll have to come and bring our best game if we’re going to win,” Ouellette said. “The same thing with Deering. They are really athletic and we just have to be able to match their intensity in both games and hope for the best.”
The Massabesic coach has been impressed with his team’s ability to stay focused and fired up throughout the 0-5 start.
“One thing that’s really cool this year is we have a lot of good kids on the team. Kids that are positive. Kids that want to be here. Kids with really good attitude,” said Ouellette. “It says a lot about their character and what type of kids they are. They give me all they’ve got every single day and that’s really all that I ask of them.”
Massabesic junior Owen Roberts echoed that sentiment.
“I think it says a lot about us and our determination and how we feel about coming into this week. Last week was a little rough obviously and a lot of 0-5 teams wouldn’t come in as fired up as we are, but I’m pretty excited. I’m sure the whole team is excited and we’re just going to come full force and give it our all,” said Roberts.
The Mustangs have been in this situation before as they were 0-6 last season before Roberge and company won the final two games of 2017.
“We know that we’re going to finish the season no matter what. This whole team is really coming together. We’ve had injuries, we’ve had this, we’ve had that, but we’ve really come together as a team and we’re really working together to beat Bangor,” said Roberge.
The Mustangs know how big it would be for the program and the entire community if they can make a run to the playoffs.
“It would be really big … a playoff game (at Massabesic), it’s been a while, but now we have another chance,” said Roberts.
“It would be very big … it would mean a lot,” Hendrix added.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.