Leavitt’s Mason Henderson escapes the grasp of Josh Blake on the way to the end zone during Medomak’s 49-6 loss to the Hornets on Friday, Sept. 26 in Waldoboro. (Mic LeBel photo)
The Medomak Valley football team was thumped by Leavitt 49-6 on Friday, Sept. 26 under the lights in Waldoboro.
The Hornets scored early and often, and their defense stifled the Panthers offense throughout the game on the way to a dominating win in a key Class C matchup. Leavitt quarterback Landon Marquis scrambled for a 20-yard touchdown run with 3:46 left in the first quarter and Randan Hutchinson kicked the first of five extra points he would boot in the game to boost the Hornets to a 7-0 lead.
After thwarting the Panthers offense during their next set of downs, Leavitt received a punt and methodically advanced the ball up the field. Marquis tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Mason Henderson to cap the drive and the Hornets led 14-0 with 9:31 left in the second quarter.
The Hornets defense got in on the scoring action less than one minute later during when Brody Poland intercepted a pass by Wyatt Simmons during Medomak’s next set of downs and sprinted for a touchdown to stake Leavitt to a 21-0 lead with 8:31 left in the half.
Hutchinson capped Leavitt’s first half scoring when he rammed the ball in from the one yard line to make it 28-0 after the Hornets recovered the ball deep in Panther territory after a high snap eluded the Medomak punter.
Despite being dominated by Leavitt throughout the first half, the Panthers almost gained some momentum in the closing seconds. Leavitt had the ball at their own one yard line after a fortuitous Medomak punt, and the Hornets opted to throw a long pass to burn the remaining time on the clock. The pass by Marquis was picked off by Owen Dostie at around the 40-yard line. Dostie broke a tackle and sprinted toward the end zone before being driven out of bounds by a diving Hornet just before crossing the goal line and the half expired.
Leavitt got on the board quickly in the second half, scoring on a touchdown pass from Marquis to Wyatt Reny with 10:38 remaining in the quarter to take a 35-0 lead.
Owen Dostie scored the only touchdown for the Panthers during a 49-6 loss to Leavitt on Friday, Sept. 26 in Waldoboro. (Mic LeBel photo)
Medomak responded with their only score of the game when Simmons threw a long pass to Dostie who caught the ball in stride and outran a pair of defenders up the right sideline to the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt failed and the score was 35-6 with 3:11 left in the third frame.
Leavitt countered with a short touchdown run by Nathan Karkos a minute and 45 seconds later, but the Hornets missed the extra point kick and the score stayed at 41-6. The Hornets would shut down the Panthers and tack on another touchdown in the waning minutes to set the final score at 49-6.
The Panthers’ passing game was a bright spot in an otherwise frustrating game. Simmons completed six out of eight pass attempts for a total of 72 yards and tossed one interception and one touchdown. Dostie was the primary target for Simmons, hauling in four passes for a total of 54 yards and a TD. Grady Pease had one catch for six yards, and Logan Vigue caught one ball for 12 yards.
The Hornets were able to keep Medomak’s star running back Jaydiin Ruiz in check during his first game of the season after sitting out with an injury the first three games. Ruiz was held to just 32 yards on 12 carries and did not break free into open space on any plays.
Also running the ball for the Panthers were Shamus Pease (eight carries for 25 yards), Jack Simmons (two carries for eight yards), Will Trainor (two carries for nine yards), and Mitchell Collins (one run for five yards).
Max McCabe, Grady Pease, and Cole Bales led the Panthers defense with four tackles each. Also making tackles for Medomak were Keith Miller (two), Vigue (two), Reid Grindle (two), Dostie (two), Josh Blake (two), Grayson Downing (one and one assist), and Jack Simmons (one and one assist).
Leavitt improved to 3-1 with the victory. Medomak dropped to 2-2 on the season. The next game for Medomak is another Class C showdown on Friday, Oct. 3 at undefeated Gardiner (4-0).
