Don’t look now, but the final weekend of the high school football regular season is already upon us and Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough and South Portland head into it riding high.

The Red Riots remain the highest ranked team, third but not far behind Bonny Eagle or defending champion Thornton Academy in the Western Class A Crabtree Points standings.

Last week, South Portland improved to 5-2 with a 55-24 home win over Biddeford. The Red Riots went ahead for good when Duncan Preston hit Jordan Susi with a touchdown pass. After the Tigers pulled within 7-6, but missed the extra point, Preston hooked up with Matthew Stearns, Joey DiBiase and Stearns again to make it 27-6. Biddeford got a touchdown pass, but Preston answered, hitting Owen from beyond midfield. The Tigers got back to 34-18 at halftime and 34-24 in the third period, but a Preston TD run, a long DiBiase scamper and a sixth Preston TD pass, this one to Susi, slammed the door.

South Portland closes at Crabtree Points-rich Portland (6-1) in Friday’s “Battle of the Bridge” (see theforecaster.net for game story). Last year, the Red Riots upset the visiting Bulldogs, 19-6. A win this time around could propel South Portland to the top of the standings heading into the playoffs.

Scarborough won its third game in a row and improved to 4-3 last weekend with a 50-21 win at Massabesic. On the heels of its epic double-overtime victory over South Portland, the Red Storm didn’t have a letdown. After a scoreless first period, Scarborough went on top to stay when Ben Greenberg broke free for a 27-yard TD. After the Mustangs got on the board, Greenberg hit Chris Cyr for a touchdown pass and a 14-6 advantage. A fumble return for a score and a long Dan LeClair run pushed the lead to 29-6 and short runs from Zach Carriero and Greenberg made it a 43-6 contest at halftime. Kevin Caldwell added a final Red Storm TD and Massabesic got a couple scores late against Scarborough’s reserves to account for the final score.

The Red Storm (fourth in Western A) close at home versus Noble (1-6 and seventh in the region). The teams didn’t meet last year. Scarborough is hoping to win and hold on to the No. 4 spot so it can host a quarterfinal round playoff game next week.

In Western C, Cape Elizabeth got back on track, following its home loss to Yarmouth with a 57-14 win at Gray-New Gloucester. The Capers close at home with Mountain Valley (1-6) Friday night. Cape Elizabeth is fifth in the Crabtrees, but not far behind Yarmouth, and the Capers would love to leapfrog the Clippers to host a quarterfinal next week.

Football’s playoffs begin next weekend and continue the weekend of Nov. 8-9 with the semifinals and Nov. 16 with the regional finals. All of those games will be played on the fields of the higher seeds. The Class A and C state games are Nov. 23 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

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

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