Foxcroft football team eyes injury-free start to 2016 campaign

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Twelve months ago uncertainty filled the air within the Foxcroft Academy football camp, with preseason injuries leaving the Ponies in re-boot mode even before they played their first countable game.

Coach Danny White’s club rebounded well enough to post a 4-4 regular-season record and defeat Madison-Carrabec in the Class C North quarterfinals before falling in the semifinals to unbeaten Old Town.

The upside of coping with those early injuries, particularly one that sidelined University of Maine recruit Hunter Smith for his entire senior season, may be on the immediate horizon as Foxcroft awaits its 2016 debut at Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor on Friday night.

“I’m pretty excited and encouraged about the direction of this team,” said White, Foxcroft’s eighth-year head coach. “The experience that several kids got last year because of Hunter’s injury really propelled them and has put them in good position to start this year from a confidence standpoint.

“We didn’t have those hurdles to overcome this year, they could just come out and play.”

Foxcroft figures to contend for a high finish in its division this year, thanks to versatility and depth at the skill positions and steadily developing line play.

Nick Clawson returns for his second season at quarterback after stepping in when Smith was injured during a preseason game. Clawson battled through his own injury woes last fall — a broken hand — but offseason surgery has him healthy and poised for a productive junior year.

“He’s feeling a lot better and it sure looks like it,’ said White. “He’s physically matured, he’s in a much better place now and he’s definitely running with it.”

Senior halfback Billy Brock, who suffered a broken hand during the 2015 preseason and was unable to carry the football until Foxcroft reached the playoffs, also is healthy and could be one of the division’s top two-way players after earning first-team All-Class C North honors at linebacker last fall despite missing three games and wearing a cast on his hand throughout the season.

Other big-play threats for the Ponies include sophomores Hyatt Smith and Jeremy Richard and senior wide receiver Nick Dyer, all working behind a line that graduated four starters but returns right guard Reggie Johnston as well as senior right tackle Matt Storer, who started for the Ponies as a sophomore before living last year in North Carolina.

Storer, at 6-foot-1, 275 pounds, also will anchor the Ponies’ defensive front, with Brock, Richard at safety and Smith at cornerback — where he had six interceptions as a freshman and returned another pick 105 yards for a touchdown in last Friday’s exhibition victory over Orono — as additional playmakers.

“I’m trying not to get too excited because it’s such a long road and things are so fluid, but I’m pretty happy at this point,” White said.

Foxcroft expects a tough test in its opener against an MDI team coming off a 6-2 regular season and a berth in the Class C North semifinals.

“I definitely expect MDI to play well,” said White. “I think they’re going to be very good at running the ‘T’, they always are. They have at least two very good backs with (Croix) Albee, their fullback who’s a big, bruising kid, and (Colby) Lee, who’s dangerous in the open field, and their quarterback (Andrew) Phelps does everything they ask him to do efficiently.

“We have to have a good week of preparation because in my mind, if we can both stay healthy this could be a playoff preview in Week 1. We both like to think we’re going to be playoff teams, and I think we will be, but for Week 1 this is a big one.”

Foxcroft’s home opener will follow Sept. 9 at Oakes Field with a rematch of last year’s playoff quarterfinal at Madison-Carrabec when the Ponies avenged a regular-season defeat with a 21-14 overtime victory.

Foxcroft plays its lone Saturday afternoon game of the year at Waterville on Sept. 17 before visiting Old Town on Sept. 23. The second half of the Ponies’ schedule features home games against Hermon (Sept. 30) and Winslow (Oct. 7), a trip to Belfast on Oct. 14 and a home game against John Bapst of Bangor on Oct. 21.

Winslow, the two-time defending regional and Class C state champion, brings a 22-game winning streak into the 2016 season.

“I certainly think Winslow will be the team to beat, they bring back many starters on each side of the ball from last year’s squad including their tailback (Nate St. Amand) and fullback (Kenny Rickard),” said White. “Their line may have taken a hit but I fully expect them to be back at the top of the league.

“But I think between us and MDI and Madison and Belfast and Old Town, this league could be six-deep in teams that get four wins if not more, so something’s got to give. There’s going to be some talent in this league, for sure.”