Falmouth Navigates to a B North Title

Tres Walker throws for 3 TDs on his birthday

Let's start with the Gold Ball games.

Last year, OOB was an absolute freight train all year long, only to fall short at the end. They're back this year, cruising along with a +486 scoring differential in 10 games. That's a lot. But not as much as last year and it's also against the easiest schedule in the state. What happens when they're finally tested? There are 79 football teams in the state and their highest-rated opponent is #56 Spruce Mountain, who they beat 60-14 last week. They'll play a Stearns team that's 2-1 against the Top 40, with wins over Orono and Houlton and a loss to Greely. You could tell me any number of outcomes here and I'd believe them all.

Speaking of Greely...

When they met all the way back on October 19th, Greely beat Mt. Ararat 30-26 in a thriller. The Model thinks that's just about right, making them 4.6 point favorites (roughly a 55%/45% proposition). WHOU will have the stream. They also have the C North and B North games at Hampden.

All year, Falmouth has had the stingiest defense in the state, allowing fewer than 7 points a game and no more than 14 in any contest. It stood to reason that Lawrence was going to have to keep the score low to pull off the upset.

With less than a minute left in the first half, Falmouth got the ball back up 7-0 and proceeded to drive down the field. After a big play got them down to the 9 yard line, Lawrence needed a stop .

With 2 seconds left in the half, Tres Walker finds Logan Mcveigh 14-0 Falmouth at the half
— Maine Basketball Rankings (@mebballrankings.bsky.social) 2024-11-15T23:50:26.397Z

Side note: props to the parent who yelled "PUT ANOTHER SECOND ON THE CLOCK!" Great job telling everyone you don't know ball.

Falmouth went on to roll in the second half to a 35-7 win over the defending Regional Champs, putting the cap on a remarkable turnaround of a program that was in turmoil after last year's 2-6 season and player-initiated coup led to the hiring of new head coach Spencer Emerson.

I caught up with him after the game.

You can listen to my interview with him from earlier this year on the podcast.

Behind the Scenes of Falmouth's Resurgence

Contrary to popular opinion, the Model thought the Kennebunk/Deering was more or less a toss-up, with Kennebunk favored by just under a point. And at the half, with the game tied at 14, that was looking pretty good.

The second half was all Kennebunk.

They'll face Falmouth for the Gold Ball next Saturday in Portland.

I wrote in yesterday's newsletter that the Friday night games probably wouldn't be close (with the potential exception of Kennebunk/Deering) and they sure weren't.

We'll try and do better today.

Mike Mandell has a nice story about Winslow turning their season around by shuffling their offensive line.

The final rankings are in for soccer and field hockey.

There's a new show from Tennessee called High VOLume and our very own JP Estrella is on the first episode.

High VOLume OUT NOW 🔥@jestrella_13 & @cameroncarr43 sit down for the debut episode of Rock Media’s New @Vol_Hoops Series 🏀 pic.twitter.com/wWlURmX05C
— Rock Media (@TheRockMediaCo) November 16, 2024

The Bluesky revolution continues.

I made a Starter Pack of coaches, journalists, etc to help you get up to speed. If you join and want to be included, let me know!

The Model's picks today are a little wacky, fair warning. The Hermon/Medomak Valley line flipped overnight thanks to Foxcroft Academy, so you can choose to believe today's line or yesterday's line. I won't judge. If you're a Hermon fan, it went from -0.4 to +0.6. The line on the Stearns/OOB seems high, but I think it checks out. Whether or not it holds up is a different story. But the TA/Noble line feels like a miss. If it was on DraftKings, I'd take Noble. But we'll see! It should be a great day of football.

The Model's picks for today's games are after the jump.