Old Orchard Beach celebrates the first ever touchdown in eight-man-football in Maine against Telstar. Ryan Crockett, left, is greeted by teammates, left to right, David Anderson, Peter Coleman, Kobe Weinstein and Plaithian Dayton. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald)

OLD ORCHARD BEACH – Old Orchard Beach football head coach Dean Plante didn’t see much of a difference of play during the Seagulls season opener against Telstar Regional High in the state’s inaugural eight-man football game.

He’s hoping the result for his team Thursday night doesn’t change during the season, either. 

Jaden Davies threw for six touchdowns, four to Ryan Crockett, and the Seagulls rolled past the Rebels 44-28 at Old Orchard Beach. 

“There’s no difference,” Plante said. “It’s football. A little thinner field, but it’s football … It’s not going anywhere, and it’s going to grow.”

Ryan Crockett of Old Orchard Beach crosses the goal line for the first ever touchdown in Maine eight-man football. On defense is William Doyle for Telstar. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald)

The Seagulls took a 12-6 lead in the first quarter and started to pour it on the second. After a Seagull safety, Davies found Crockett for TD passes of 26- and 50-yards as Old Orchard took a  30-6 lead with 1:21 left in the second quarter. Davies punctuated a brilliant first half when connected with David Anderson on the final play of the quarter to give Old Orchard a 38-6 halftime lead.  

“We knew we were going to come out throwing a lot,” Old Orchard Beach wide receiver Ryan Crockett said. “We watched a lot of film on their cornerbacks and thought we had an advantage there.”

Old Orchard took its biggest lead of the contest when Davies connected with Crockett for a 52-yard touchdown to make it 44-14 with 2:11 left in the third. Despite coming away with a decisive victory, running back Jacob Payea said there’s much room for improvement in the Old Orchard Beach huddle.

“We got to work on a lot of stuff,” Seagulls running back Jacob Payea said. “But I think we showed that we can handle this. We showed that we have a lot of potential and we also saw what we need to get better at in the future.”

Despite facing a 30-point deficit, Telstar didn’t back down and was able to pull off some big plays for scores behind the legs of running back Brayden Stevens. 

The junior escaped for a 53-yard touchdown late in the third, and punched in another TD, this time from three yards out, to cut it to 44-22 with 5:56 left in the fourth. Stevens then caught for a score from quarterback Davin Mason.

Despite the margin on the scoreboard, head coach Tim O’Connor saw a fight in his team in the third and fourth quarters that he hopes they can build off of as the season progresses.

“We were pretty upset with our performance in that second quarter and we let our kids know,” he said. “We wanted to see some character in them in that second half and that’s what we got.”

For Plante, he was just happy to make it through the game in one piece. 

“We were running around with our heads cut off this week,” Plante said. “You want to brand eight-man and you want to promote your program, and show the community that it’s still football. And the community’s been great. I couldn’t ask for a better start.”