If you were looking for homegrown entertainment in Houlton last Saturday, you had no further to go than the Maliseet Sports Complex. All the youth and high school teams faced opponents in an unusual convergence of schedules at home last Saturday.
The high school played the undercard role to the junior high and peewee teams.
Played on a bye week for both teams in a hastily planned match up on Saturday, the non- conference rival Caribou Huskies met the Houlton High Shire varsity football team, which is 5-0 . If you are a fan of football, you not only had the opportunity to watch not one, but three games. The junior high team played Madawaska and the peewees faced off against Millinocket. A football trifecta delighted parents, players and fans.
In the first game, Head Coach Brian Reynolds sat nine starters, but recruited veteran Nick Hagan to help bolster the young squad.
“We only had a couple of practices to put in an offense,” said Reynolds. “This was a chance to give the younger kids more time on the field. I think they responded quite well.”
The team performed well both offensively and defensively, winning 19-6.
Senior walk-on DJ Shuurman found Garrett Ring on a half back option wide open for a pass good for 53 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Nick Botting rumbled 38 yards for a score and Shuurman tallied a touchdown. Hagan bulled in for the one-point conversion.
Caribou scored late in the contest, but were not able to crack the defense.
The defense shone with Chris Stoddard playing many positions. Jordan Violette killed a Caribou drive with an interception to go with an earlier interception by Ring. Trey Whitney, Walker Webb and Josh Beaton played strong in deep coverage, according to their coach.
Sam Richardson, Mike Holmes and Hagan played iron man roles on the highly effective line for Houlton.
“Regardless of the result of this game, the kids played well, gained confidence and experience,” Reynolds said. “The results were all positive and the team might have caught me smiling a bit too.”
The Shire high school team travels to Lincoln on Tuesday, Oct. 15 to face a tough Mattanawcook 11 at 430 p.m..
In the second contest Houlton’s junior high team trounced Madawaska 47-8. (See adjacent story).
The third game had the Houlton peewee outlasting Millinocket in a 26-18 thriller.
