(Ed. Note: For the complete Cape Elizabeth-Wells game story, with additional photos and a detailed box score, please visit theforecaster.net)

The high school football season is heating up and it’s becoming clear that our three local teams will be in it for the long haul.

Last Friday evening, Cape Elizabeth registered a statement victory over visiting Wells, 26-12, while South Portland got back in the win column with a decisive 40-7 home triumph over Massabesic and Scarborough fell just short at defending Class A champion Thornton Academy, 19-15.

At Hannaford Field, the Capers couldn’t have produced a better first half, controlling the football, outgaining the Warriors, 262 yards to 5, and opening up a seemingly commanding 20-0 lead behind touchdown runs from Nick Moulton and Jack Drinan and a TD pass from Noah Wolfinger to Ethan Murphy.

Wells wasn’t about to roll over, however, and roared back with two third quarter touchdowns, but at the start of the fourth period, with all the momentum against them, the Capers rolled the dice and went deep and a 75-yard Wolfinger to Murphy TD pass restored order.

“We saw something we thought we could exploit,” said Murphy. “I didn’t have to do much, just run down the field. Noah put it exactly where he needed to and I was off to the races. Great play call and great throw. We were reeling, but that changed momentum.”

“We saw Moody line up on the wide side, so we put Ethan on the other side of the field,” said Wolfinger. “We ran a ‘jet’ over his head and got a nice play. Going into the fourth quarter, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.”

Cape Elizabeth went on to an inspirational 26-12 victory.

The Capers controlled all aspects of the game, getting 202 rushing yards from junior Chrisitan Lavallee, and improved to 2-1, dropping Wells to 2-1 in the process.

“At halftime, a couple of us thought we had the win, but the rest of us kept the intensity up.” said Lavallee. “The third quarter was a little flat, but we got the win.”

“It was an impressive victory,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Aaron Filieo. “I thought we did a nice job taking a couple of punches they threw in the second half and responding well. We didn’t let them get us down. We stuck with the game plan and kept going. I was proud of our resolve.”

The Capers will have a tough test at 2-1 Spruce Mountain Friday. The teams have no history.

“We still have things we can work on,” said Filieo. “We had penalties I’d like to erase. We’d been good. Tonight was not good. We need to fix that. Spruce Mountain is pretty good. They run the spread well. They have a lot of players.”

South Portland, which stunned Thornton Academy in the  opener, then let a 14-0 lead slip away in a loss at Bonny Eagle, had little trouble with Massabesic. The Red Riots scored on the first play of the game, a 49-yard touchdown pass from Duncan Preston to Jordan Susi. Then, after a pair of turnovers stymied the offense and allowed the Mustangs to pull even, South Portland scored the game’s final 33 points, extending a 13-7 lead to 27-7 at halftime on a touchdown run from Joey DiBiase and a TD pass from Preston to Matthew Stearns, and adding two more touchdowns in the third period to prevail, 40-7. DiBiase rushed for nearly 200 yards and three TDs, while Preston threw scoring passes to Susi, Stearns and Jaren Muller.

“The kids did a good job,” said South Portland coach Steve Stinson. “It was a nice showing of our athleticism.”

The 2-1 Red Riots welcome 1-2 Noble Friday night. The teams didn’t play last fall.

“I’m very impressed with their new coach (Andrew Elwell),” said Stinson. “They have some athletes. They’ll show up to play. We’ll focus this week in practice on getting better. There’s still a lot of heavy lifting to do.”

Scarborough was coming off its first victory, a 34-7 win over Bangor, and almost beat Thornton Academy for the first time in 10 tries.

An early TD pass from Ben Greenberg to Chris Cyr gave the Red Storm a short-lived 7-0 lead, but the Golden Trojans returned the ensuing kickoff for a score to make it 7-7 after one period.

Greenberg then hit Brendon Smith for another touchdown and hooked up with Cyr for the two-point conversion, giving Scarborough a 15-7 second quarter lead, but the Red Storm wouldn’t score again. Thornton Academy pulled within 15-13 at halftime, then went ahead in the third period. Scarborough had ample chances, but couldn’t answer and fell to 1-2 with a 19-15 loss.

The Red Storm looks to even its record at 2-2 Friday when it visits red-hot 3-0 Bonny Eagle. Last year, Scarborough defeated the visiting Scots, 35-18.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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Cape Elizabeth junior Christian Lavallee bulls his way through the Wells line during the Capers’ 26-12 win Friday. Lavallee finished with 202 yards.

Cape Elizabeth senior Caelan Houle registers a sack during Friday’s win.

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