HOULTON, Maine — Friday night’s game between Ellsworth and Houlton was a tale of two halves for the Shires, who were looking to bounce back from their first loss the previous week.
That rebound was not to be as Houlton (2-2) fell 28-14 to Ellsworth on the road.
“We by far had the upper hand of the play in the first half and Ellsworth had it in the second,” Houlton coach Brian Reynolds said. “I feel it was a game that got away from us, but Ellsworth did what it needed to do to win.”
Offensively, the Shires were led by Seth Holston, who carried the ball 22 times for 110 yards and a touchdown. He also had three receptions, for minus-10 yards. Ethan Carter rushed 11 times for 43 yards, adding a touchdown and two-point conversion. Dan McNally rushed four times for two yards and had one catch for seven yards while Will Belyea had one catch for 18 yards and Colby Callnan had one catch for 10 yards.
Quarterback Noah Reynolds was sacked three times, but completed six-of-12 passing attempts for 25 yards, with an interception.
“We made a couple of critical mistakes at the end of the third quarter that ultimately cost us the game,” the coach said. “It’s been hard to deal with. You never want to look back at a game you feel you should have had and find that it costs you the playoffs or positioning at the end of the season. This was that kind of game.”
Defensively, the Shires allowed 247 yards rushing for Ellsworth, including four touchdowns. Dylan Swimm led the defense with two solo tackles and four assisted tackles. McNally snagged an interception and Damon Reynolds had two tackles, one assist and a fumble recovery.
Coach Reynolds said he felt his squad was at a critical stage in its season.
“We need to find ourselves right now,” he said. “Not only was it a tale of two halves, our season has been the same way. We started out very strong but have fallen on hard times the last two games.”
Correcting mistakes remains the biggest challenge for the team.
“The kids need to decide where we want to be,” he said. “I came away from the game Friday night feeling like we got outcoached, but upon viewing the film I saw that we left a lot of plays out on the field. Hopefully we can regroup and right the ship.”
The Shires hope to get back on the winning track Saturday at 1 p.m. hosting Old Town. The game was originally slated for Friday night, but moved to Saturday afternoon at Old Town’s request.
“We have Class C Old Town (1-3) coming up and they are a big, physical team, so it isn’t going to get any easier,” coach Reynolds said. “We need to get back to work in practice this week and fix the mistakes we are making so we can be successful again. I feel like it’s up to us. I tell the kids all the time that nobody can stop us, but us and so far I think that has been true.”
