Wells defeats Foxcroft for second straight Class D championship

LEWISTON — Three touchdowns in as many trips to the red zone during the first half helped Wells High School jump out to a 21-0 lead and defeat Foxcroft Academy 34-0 in a battle of the unbeaten North and South top seeds for the Class D high school football state championship Saturday afternoon, Nov. 23 on the turf at Don Roux Field at Lewiston High School.

Wells won its second straight state title and finished a perfect 11-0 on the season. The Warriors now have 14 consecutive victories dating back to the start of the 2023 postseason. A year ago the Warriors defeated Foxcroft 

22-21 in Lewiston after going ahead on a 2-point conversion completion in the final minute rather than trying a potential tying point after kick. That season the team returned to the Class D ranks after three years playing in Class C.

Foxcroft ends 2024 with a record of 11-1. The team has lost just three games in four seasons from 2021-24 with two of the three losses coming against Wells to conclude 2023 and 2024. This year’s state championship appearance was Foxcroft’s fourth in a row, a record in Class D. Foxcroft and Wells have now combined to win the last four Class D titles and six of the last seven (Bucksport High School won it all in 2019).

The Nov. 23 matchup between the two programs was the fourth in seven seasons featuring the two squads playing for the gold ball, with the Warriors defeating the Ponies 48-0 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland in 2017 (the last time Foxcroft was previously shut out) and 55-20 at the University of Maine’s Harold Alfond Sports Stadium in 2018, making the team 4-0 in these meetings. In its history Wells has now won seven combined state championships on the gridiron between Classes B, C, and D.

“Ultimately you have to tip your cap to your opponent, they are just a phenomenal team and a phenomenal program,” said Foxcroft head coach Danny White. “They are the standard and that’s what will keep my fire burning, that’s what will keep our fire burning. You want to play to the ultimate standard and while you want it to be you, if it’s not you have to recognize who it is and try to get that.”

After electing to defer and then holding Foxcroft to a 3-and-out, Wells took over at its own 26-yard line. The Warriors kept the ball on the ground to advance to the Pony-1 for a 2nd-and-goal. Here senior Eli Potter got his sixth carry of the drive and he went up the middle and into the end zone as Wells also chewed up 5:34 of clock.

In the second quarter Wells had an 8-yard touchdown run by senior Dom Buxton after running the ball on all nine plays of the 4-minute drive that began at the team’s own 28. 

The Wells backfield tandem each had a big day operating out their team’s Wing T-based offense. Potter carried 28 times for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Buxton ran the football 20 teams for 145 yards of his own with the touchdown.

“Defensively we were on our heels, they got to their angles and their spots where they wanted to be,” White said. “It’s tough when a team gets momentum like that and starts to believe in what they are doing and it’s not only that but it is what they do. It’s really tough, you have your backs against the wall. We were fighting and scratching just to get to 2nd-and-7, 2nd-and-8 in those few and far between opportunities where we were able to have a little defensive success, but ultimately they were really good today and we had to be nearly perfect. ”

Late in the first half Foxcroft got into Wells territory at the 28, which would be the furthest the Pony offense would get for most of the game until a drive late in the fourth stalled on the Warrior-23 following four straight incompletions. 

On this drive in the second quarter Buxton made a fourth down interception. An 87-yard pick six was nullified by a holding call on the return but Wells still had possession at the Foxcroft-21. A half dozen plays later junior Dominic Carbonneau scored on a 17-yard counter to the left to put his team ahead 21-0.

Potter and Carbonneau would both run the ball into the end zone a second time in the third and fourth quarters respectively on 9- and 3-yard runs. Carbonneau gained 49 yards in his half dozen carries, and he made his team’s only catch (which went for 29 yards).

Foxcroft junior Finn Holmes led the team with 39 rushing yards in 10 attempts. Senior Silas Topolski made a game-high three receptions for 27 yards. Junior quarterback Griffin Caruso was 7-for-16 with 60 yards and two interceptions.

Pony junior Landon Smith intercepted Wells junior quarterback Cal Moody’s first pass of the day, on his only throw other than the completion to Carbonneau. Smith made the pick inside Foxcroft territory near the left sideline at the Pony-36. A few plays later Wells forced a punt with the ensuing drive culminating in the Buxton touchdown.

“It puts a lot of pressure on kids when you are really only going about 15 deep and they are probably going into the 20s,” White said about Wells’ depth advantage. “It just makes it a big challenge and they were able to execute today.”

The shutout was the third of the season for Wells. The team also had a 65-29 advantage in offensive plays, and held onto the football for a 31:34 time of possession.

This year’s roster featured five seniors, Cody Bagley, Shane Birungi, Fynn Eigan, Silas Topolski, and Jaxson Zimmerman.

“They have been to the state championship game all four years of their high school careers, they have been fundamental to our success and we will be forever grateful for their efforts,” White said about these Ponies who are members of the Class of 2025. “This year, with only five of them, that’s a big task to lead a football program. They stepped up and they were really special for us.”

The four straight championship berths is a new Foxcroft school record. The Ponies played in the 2005-07 Class C games with Lisbon High School winning the 2005 and 2006 gold balls and Foxcroft defeating Boothbay Regional High School 26-8 in the third game of this run.

In the more than six decades the Maine Principals’ Association has recognized state champions Foxcroft has now appeared in 19 finals with the team playing in different classes over the 60-plus years based on enrollment and/or the number of divisions offered by the MPA. The Ponies are 8-11 in these finals, which includes falling to Wells in the 2017, 2018, 2023, and 2024 Class D championships.

The Ponies were part of a four-way tie for the Class D title in 1963 based on regular season records and had sole possession of the 1983 Class D championship. Foxcroft claimed Class C championships in 1967, 1996, 2003, 2007, and 2012 before winning the Class D title in 2021 for the school’s first of back-to-back championships on the gridiron with 2022 being the most recent football championship.

Wells won its seventh state championship overall over the weekend — the sixth for long-time head coach Tim Roche who has headed the program since the late 1990s. In addition to the Class D championships in 2023-24 and 2017-18 the program earned Class C honors in 2016 and Class B titles in 2011 and 1997. The Warriors have been to 10 football finals, falling in the Class B championship in 1987, 1992, and 1993.

Foxcroft team members are seniors Cody Bagley, Shane Birungi, Fynn Eigan, Silas Topolski, and Jaxson Zimmerman; juniors Aidan Bryant, Griffin Caruso, Aiden Harvey, Henry Holman, Finn Holmes, Lucas Sands, Isaac Sinclair, Landon Smith, Beckett Taylor, and Daniel Turgeon; sophomores Thomas Day, Eduardo Garcia, Pepe Garcia, Steven Li, Kain Niland, Garrett Rogers, Evan Seavey, Aiden Sickler, Colby Simmons, Eamon Vandermast, Tyler Wing, and Kaleb Worthing; freshmen Brody Arcaro, Jaedon Haack, Preston Hutchinson, Charles Keeton, Miles Luellen, Lucien Pearl, and Kaleb Weymouth; coaches Logan Martin, Chris McGary, Mike Niles, Austin Seavey, DJ Scheel, Ryan Taylor, Gary Worthing, and head coach Danny White.

FOOTBALL

CLASS D CHAMPIONSHIP

Wells 34, Foxcroft 0

WEL 7 14 6 7 – 34

FOX 0 0 0 0 – 0

First: W – Potter 1 yd (Piatek kick)

Second: W – Buxton 8 yds (Piatek kick); W – Carbonneau 17 yds (Piatek kick)

Third: W – Potter 9 yds (kick wide)

Fourth: W — Carbonneau 3 yds (Piatek kick)

Passing: W – Moody 1-of-2 29 yds Int; F – Caruso 7-of-16 60 yds 2 Int

Receiving: W – Carbonneau 1, 29 yds; F – Topolski 3, 27 yds; Harvey 2, 10 yds; Holmes 1, 19 yds; Sands 1, 4 yds

Rushing: W – Potter 28, 186 yds 2 TDs; Buxton 20, 145 yds TD; Carbonneau 6, 49 yds 2 TD; Moody 2, 15 yds; DeMauro 2, 14 yds; Albright 1, 14 yds; Murphy 1, 11 yds; Bourque 1, 2 yds; F – Holmes 10, 39 yds; Smith 3, 2 yds

Records: W 11-0, F 11-1