HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton football team got off to a quick start in Friday night’s game with Orono, but the Shires were unable to sustain that momentum resulting in the team’s third straight loss of the season.
Orono defeated Houlton 26-6 to improve to 3-2 on the season, while the Shires fall to 2-3.
The Shires took an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter as junior quarterback Jared Fox connected with senior wideout Garret Ring on a 65-yard bomb. The extra point was blocked by the Red Riots.
From there, things went downhill for Houlton as Orono settled into a steady dose of its ground game led by running backs Keenan Collett, Josiah Grace and Matt Fowler and quarterback Jackson Coutts.
The Red Riots scored 26 unanswered points in the victory.
“We came strong out of the gate again this week, but lost our focus as the game went on,” Houlton coach Brian Reynolds said. “We need to find consistency on both sides of the ball. A key injury sort of blew up our game plan. “We have been looking for a solid 48 minute effort from the team but haven’t gotten it yet, but on the bright side we still haven’t played our best football.”
Fox completed six passes for 159 yards and a touchdown for the Shires. Ring hauled in five passes for 153 yards and a score. Houlton rushed for just 28 yards in the game, with Austin Brown carrying the ball 10 times for 26 yards.
“We have the horses, we just need to be more consistent,” Reynolds said. “We will get back to work in practice this week and I look for a better effort moving forward. The kids are just as upset as the coaches that we aren’t achieving on the field. Practices go well, we put our work in but the results aren’t there. These kids work hard and I have full faith in our team that we will pull it back together and make a playoff run.”
Senior running back Josh Upton was forced from the game after re-aggravating a low-ankle sprain suffered previously.
Brown led the Shires in tackles with 10, while Gary Tucker had nine and Nick Botting and Daniel McNally each had six. Penalties hurt the Shires as the team was flagged eight times for 90 yards. Houlton also had three turnovers, losing all three.
“We just played a stretch of games vs the 2nd, 3rd and 5th place teams in our conference, so we knew it was going to be a grind,” Reynolds said. “I think we can reverse things. For the first time this season we are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, it’s time to dig down deep and go on a little run of our own so we can secure a playoff spot.”
Orono 0 12 8 6 – 26
Houlton 6 0 0 0 – 6
