HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton football squad has qualified for the postseason in just the team’s second year of eligibility since returning to the gridiron.
Houlton football coach Brian Reynolds said Monday that the Shires claimed the sixth (and final) playoff spot in the Class D North standings after a tiebreaker was used between Houlton and Bucksport.
The No. 6 Shires (4-4) will travel to No. 3 Mt. View of Thorndike (6-2) Saturday for a 1 p.m. playoff. The two teams did not meet during the regular season.
Coach Reynolds said a fourth tiebreaker had to be used to determine which team would get the sixth and final playoff spot. Last week, an email was sent stating Bucksport had clinched the sixth and final spot, which prompted him to sit down with a calculator to crunch the Heal Points.
“The way I figured, if Maine Central Institute beat Bucksport and we beat Stearns and Ellsworth beat Dexter, it would create a tie between Bucksport and us,” Reynolds said.
That exact scenario played out this past weekend as Houlton beat Stearns 44-22; Bucksport lost to MCI 35-13; and Ellsworth/Sumner beat Dexter 30-16. The Crabtree points are determined by taking a team’s winning percentage and added to their opponent’s combined winning percentage.
“We wound up tied with Bucksport at 92.19 points,” Reynolds said.
The next tiebreaker used is head-to-head, but since Houlton did not play Bucksport during the regular season, that method could not be used. It then went to Heal Points, but even then no clear winner was revealed as the two squads had an equal amount of points carried out 10 places beyond the decimal point.
Ultimately, the two team’s divisional record had to be used, which benefited the Shires as Houlton notched a 4-4 divisional record, while Bucksport was 3-5.
“It was a crazy weekend for sure,” Reynolds said. “It wasn’t officially announced until Sunday morning. It’s really unbelievable that it worked out that way.”
Reynolds said as big of a milestone as making the postseason was for the program, it was even bigger for the student athletes.
“A couple of weeks ago, we were faced with a decision,” he said. “The team had dropped to 2-4 and things were not good around the team. They had to make the decision of ‘Do we pull up the tent and go home or do we want to keep playing football?”
Reynolds points to a Monday practice following the Shires 28-14 loss to Ellsworth/Sumner on Oct. 9 as the turning point.
“We don’t normally have Monday practices,” he said. “We stood on the field, lined up for our exercises, and never moved. We just stood and talked for an hour-and-a half. We got it all out on the table.”
The coach said Friday’s win over Stearns was “the best game” the Shires have played as a team all season. In that game, Jared Fox completed 12 of 18 passes for 220 yards and four touchdowns, with one interception. Fox also had six carries for 12 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Austin Brown had 10 carries for 155 yards and a touchdown and added four catches for 22 yards and a touchdown with a two-point conversion. Garrett Ring tallied five catches for 141 yards and three scores and Josh Upton had three receptions for 57 yards to go along with five carries for 25 yards.
As a team, Houlton amassed 424 total yards of offense, while defensively, the Shires forced three fumbles and had three interceptions.
Houlton 18 14 0 12 — 44
Stearns 14 0 8 0 — 22
