By Michael Hoffer
MaxPreps.com
The 2008 fall sports season is only a week old, but there's already been an abundance of excitement in Maine. The biggest football story in Week One was preseason favorite Bonny Eagle living up to the hype. Soccer fans got to enjoy a pair of games between fierce rivals Falmouth and Yarmouth.
Football: Bonny Eagle starts with a bang
Bonny Eagle might meet its match at some point this fall, but the Scots weren't about to be slowed in their season opener at Cheverus. Bonny Eagle senior quarterback Nate Doehler, the Fitzpatrick Trophy hopeful, did his thing and got plenty of support in leading the Scots to an easy win.
Just 2:13 into the contest, Doehler scored on a 56-yard scamper. He'd add a 12 and a 7-yard TD run to make it 20-0 Bonny Eagle after one period. In the second quarter, senior Josh Ruby got in on the fun, scoring on a couple of runs to make it 34-0 at the break. Doehler played one final series in the third period and left in style with an 88-yard TD pass to junior Ryan Nason. Each team then scored once in the fourth and Bonny Eagle left town with an emphatic 46-6 win.
“Obviously we're very happy,” Bonny Eagle coach Kevin Cooper said. “Anytime you can come here on a Saturday and especially in week one and win 46-6, it's a great showing for us.”
The final statistics were overwhelmingly in the Scots' favor. Bonny Eagle mustered 555 yards of offense to 234 (197 in the second half) for the Stags. The Scots forced three turnovers and gave the ball up once.
Doehler carried nine times for 92 yards and three TDs. He also completed six of 10 passes for 148 yards and another score.
“I think (Nate) comes as advertised.,” Cooper said. “He's a heck of a player. He's such a great runner and thrower and such a good athlete.”
The Scots have their home opener Friday night when improved Windham pays a visit.
Soccer: Clippers and Yachtsmen split
While football was on everyone's mind last weekend, two of the most compelling sporting events featured Falmouth and Yarmouth and the sport of soccer, which is a passion in those towns.
Friday night, the Clippers boys' team traveled to Falmouth to face its longtime nemesis, the two-time defending Class B state champion Yachtsmen. This one would be a classic.
Falmouth's talented junior Gabe Hoffman-Johnson gave his team the lead, but Yarmouth bounced back late in the first half, when junior Ebrahim Fazeli scored on a rebound.
Despite good chances for both sides, the game remained tied at 1-1 and went to overtime. There, with time winding down in the first of two possible five-minute, sudden-death sessions, Hoffman-Johnson won a free kick and sent the ball toward the Clippers' goal. A Yarmouth defender cleared it, but the ball bounced off a teammate and went into the net, giving Falmouth the 2-1 win with just 0.5 seconds left in the OT.
“I guess we just got kind of lucky,” Hoffman-Johnson said. “I don't really know what happened. I think it was an own-goal. I just tried to put it in the middle and see what happened. It was unfortunate on their part. They tried to clear it out and it hit one of their guys.”
“It's just one of those things in soccer,” added longtime Yachtsmen coach Dave Halligan. “There was a scramble with time running out. Gabe had the foresight to put the ball on the frame and it went off a player in the scramble; unfortunate for them, fortunate for us.”
Yarmouth coach Mike Hagerty could only shake his head in disbelief and tip his hat to Hoffman-Johnson for his awareness.
“Gabe's smart enough to know he's got to get the ball in a congested area where it's dangerous,” he said. “Our kids said it bounced off the back of someone's head after a miss-clear and was an own goal. They're a terrific team. They're dangerous. If you told me we were going to hold them to one goal in 80 minutes, I would have been happy. I'm not so happy now with the result. I think a tie would have been a deserving result.”
The Clippers will get a chance at revenge Sept. 27 when they host Falmouth.
The next evening, in far worse (and ever-deteriorating) weather conditions, the Clippers got a dose of payback against the Yachtsmen at home in a girls' game.
The game's lone goal came courtesy of a quirky bounce. In the 18th minute, senior Haley Knaub sent a pass toward the goal, but high over the head of the Yarmouth attackers. Luckily for the hosts, the ball bounced high on the turf and went over the head of the Falmouth goalie. Clippers' junior Nalini Robins got to the ball just before it went out of bounds, and steered it home. In a torrential downpour in the second half, the Yachtsmen did their best to draw even, but couldn't do so and Yarmouth held on for the 1-0 victory.
“It was fun,” Clippers' coach Rich Smith said. “It's been awhile since we beat Falmouth. I didn't think one goal was going to be enough. It was just pouring in the second half. Coming down really hard. It was a hard fought game. Both teams played well. It was tough to battle the conditions.”
The Yachtsmen were disappointed with the loss (their second in a row after a 39-game unbeaten stretch), but know it's a long season and that they're still capable of doing great things.
“We knew it would either be a tie or a one-goal differential,” Falmouth coach Deb LeBel said. “It could have gone either way. I felt we dominated the second half. They're tough and young and looked good. In different conditions it might have been different.”
The teams will meet again Sept. 26 in Falmouth.
Michael Hoffer is the sports editor of The Forecaster, a family of weekly newspapers based in Falmouth. Michael can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.
