Mount Ararat gets revenge over Camden Hills, trip to state championship

ROCKPORT – The last time Mt. Ararat played football at Camden Hills, gave the Eagles a 24-point first-half lead and walked back to the buses with his head down and his feet dragging.

The Eagles remembered that feeling Friday and rode it to a 48-12 victory, sending them back to the buses with big smiles and a regional championship plaque.

“We’re over the moon,” junior running back Nick Doughty said. “We’re exhausted, but coach (Frank True) always tells us to hate losing more than winning. The feeling after being 24 ahead in the (first half) and losing after such a stupid game was terrible. If we can come back in the fourth quarter and get a running clock, it’s indescribable how good we feel.”

The unrest over top-seeded Camden Hills leaves fourth-seeded Mt. Ararat (8-2) advances to the 8-man Large School state championship match against second-seeded Greely (8-1) next Saturday in Kennebunk. It will be the Eagles’ first state finals appearance since winning the inaugural eight-man championship in 2019.

“Time of possession was huge against these guys,” senior running back Dash Farrell said about Friday night’s game plan. “We knew we had to work the clock, run the ball downfield, just play tough offense and defense, bring the aggression on every play and try to establish the momentum for us early.”

The banging duo of Doughty (18 carries, 126 yards rushing, two TDs) and Farrell (28 carries, 201 yards, three TDs) did just that. The two exchanged handoffs on the opening drive before the Farrell turned into the end zone from 8 yards out.

Mount Ararat’s (8-2) defense forced Camden Hills (7-2) to punt, then the offense marched to the 1-yard line early in the second quarter. Quarterback Trent Bailey sneaked the ball in from there to give the Eagles a 12-0 lead.

The visitors forced another three-and-out, but Camden Hills quickly regained possession by jumping on top of a Farrell fumble. Three plays later, sophomore quarterback Ryder Lombardo found Isaac Dutille in the end zone for a 27-yard scoring connection. Lombardo, starting for the injured Hollis Schwalm, completed six of his 15 passes for 55 yards.

The Windjammers attempted to recover an onside kick, but the momentum was quickly blown away when Farrell stepped in front of a pass near midfield and returned the interception close to the red zone. He later smashed it in from 2 yards out.

Camden Hills nearly struck back, but not out for the count, and nearly struck back with a 64-yard touchdown pass, but the play was called back due to illegal man in the field. From that moment on, the home team only collected 47 meters of attack.

“We had some injuries in the last game of the year,” Windjammers head coach Chris Christie said, “and those guys just didn’t recover. The boys stepped up, but just didn’t go our way today. That’s a good football team, Mount Ararat.’

The Eagles’ lead grew quickly after halftime, following a Doughty 21-yard touchdown run and a long pick-six from Aidan Ramsay to make it 32-6, but Braden Beveridge responded by sending the ensuing kickoff 70 yards to the to take home for some peace and quiet. Windjammers.

Unhindered by the potential of another lead, Mount Ararat put its foot to the pedal, and Doughty (11-yard run) and Farrell (12-yard run) each scored once more before time expired.

“The first time we came out we made a lot of mental mistakes,” Mount Ararat coach Frank True said. “We had guys pulling the wrong way and pulling against each other. We’ve had a lot of bad luck on our own, and you can’t do that against a good team, because they’re going to take advantage of that…

“Tonight we limited those mistakes. We were working on our ground game. We changed a little bit of our blocking schemes in terms of how we suspected they would join us. Dash and Nick just took advantage of it and ran hard.”

In the state championship game, Mount Ararat will look to avenge its other loss this season, a 30-26 setback to Greely in Topsham on Oct. 19. The Rangers reached the state finals by defeating third-seeded Lake Region 40-6 on Friday.

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