Foxcroft comeback bid falls just shy in battle of unbeatens

Waterville makes stop on late
conversion try to win 20-19

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Trailing 20-7 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Foxcroft Academy used a pair of touchdown passes from senior quarterback Hunter Law to sophomore Hunter Smith to get right back in the game on Oct. 4 vs. Waterville High School in a contest featuring a pair of 4-0 Class C East teams.

Observer photos/Stuart Hedstrom

    MR. SMITH GOES TO THE ENDZONE — Foxcroft Academy sophomore receiver Hunter Smith would catch three touchdown passes from senior quarterback Hunter Law — part of nine receptions and 150 yards on the evening — during an Oct. 4 game vs. Waterville. Smith had a 24-yard score in the first quarter, above, as he got by Purple Panther senior Jordhan Levine.

    The second of the two touchdowns made the score 20-19 with 1:53 on the clock. The Ponies then opted to go for the victory rather than play for the tie and the possibility of overtime with the offense staying on the field. Law took the snap from senior center Craig Chambers and he handed the football off to junior Peter Boyer.
    The tailback looked to find a hole in the right side of the line but the Purple Panther defensive front was able to keep the line of scrimmage in place. Boyer was tackled shy of the goal line as Waterville maintained its one-point advantage.

Observer photos/Stuart Hedstrom

Smith snagged the football out of the air ahead of Levine’s coverage in the fourth to start a 54-yard scoring play. Smith’s third touchdown made the game 20-19, but Waterville stopped the conversion rush to win by a single point and finish ahead in the battle of 4-0 squads.

    The Ponies then tried an on-sides kick to get the football back, but the return team covered up the ball and a flag for a late hit gave Waterville possession at the 50-yard line. A first down two plays later helped the team run out the clock to improve to 5-0 and become the first team in 2013 to defeat the Ponies.
    After a scoreless third quarter, Waterville extended its lead early in the fourth. Senior David Bailey took a toss from senior quarterback Brian Bellows and ran left, sneaking just inside the pylon for the touchdown to make the game 20-7 in favor of the Oakes Field visitors.
    Needing a pair of touchdowns, Foxcroft took to the air as a pair of completions from Law to Smith — the two would connect for nine receptions, 150 yards and all three Pony touchdowns — and a flag for a late hit moved the ball from the Foxcroft-47 to the Waterville-16.
    On second-and-10 Law found Smith open on the right side of the field. Smith then made a move to get away from senior Jordhan Levine on the coverage and he turned up and ran into the endzone. The PAT was wide left but the Ponies were within a possession of Waterville, 20-13, at the 8:14-mark of the quarter.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    FOOTBALL DEBUT — Sophomore Nate Church converted the PAT during his very first time stepping on the gridiron on Oct. 4, as classmate Hunter Smith holds. The Ponies had been without a kicker during the first half of 2013 before Church — who also plays soccer — joined the team.

    Several minutes later the Foxcroft defense forced a Purple Panther punt, and Boyer made the fair catch at the Pony-38. Eight plays later the offense had the ball at the Waterville-23, but the Purple Panthers forced a turnover as senior Dalton Denis intercepted a pass at his team’s own 7-yard line with less than three and a half minutes to go.
    Waterville could only get to the team’s own 15 on the ensuing possession, but did force Foxcroft to use its remaining two timeouts, and punted after first trying to get Foxcroft to jump off-sides on fourth-and-2. The punted football went out of play at the Foxcroft-46 with 2:09 on the clock.
    With Smith split out to the right, Law fired off a pass in the receiver’s direction on first down but Levine was able to knock the ball down for the incompletion.
    Undeterred Law went to Smith again on second down, this time putting the ball up in the air. The 6-foot-3 Smith out jumped the shorter Levine and snagged the football in his gloves. As the two returned to the turf, Levine slipped and fell while Smith stayed on his feet. The receiver quickly took advantage of the miscue on single man coverage and raced up the field all the way for the touchdown to set up the ensuing go-ahead conversion attempt.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    THREE TOUCHDOWN PASSES — Pony senior quarterback Hunter Law passed for three touchdown passes and 173 yards during the game vs. Waterville. The 19 points scored by Foxcroft was the most given up by the Purple Panther defense all season, as the team had surrendered just 30 combined points in the previous four games.

    Smith and Law’s first touchdown of the evening came in the opening quarter. On a fourth-and-7 at the Waterville-24 the quarterback found the receiver with the same first name open to the right. Smith then ran along the sideline, avoiding several attempts by the defense to knock him out of bounds, for the score.
    After Smith crossed the goal line, Foxcroft went for the team’s first PAT of the season. New team member sophomore Nate Church lined up for the kick and, with Smith holding, drilled the ball through the up-rights on the very first football play of his career.
    Next up for Foxcroft is the team’s regular season home finale on the evening of Friday, Oct. 11 vs. Mount Desert Island High School (3-2) in a battle of teams ranked third and fourth in the Crabtree standings. While the Trojans are another new addition to the varsity football schedule, Foxcroft and MDI regularly face off in other sports such as basketball and baseball.